OCEAN CITY — A new pastor for the first time in more than 30 years isn’t the only change at First Presbyterian Church in Ocean City.
Last fall, the congregation left the Presbyterian Church (PCUSA) to join the Presbyterian Church of America (PCA), a more conservative denomination that better fit the sentiments of the congregation and that they believe was worth the $750,000 separation cost.
It was a 15-month process for the Ocean City church that culminated in October 2024.
“It’s been an interesting ride,” church Ruling Elder Richard A. Colvin said about the process to join the PCA.
“It’s good because this culture needs the Word of God more than ever,” he said.
On Aug. 7, 2023, the congregation filed its rationale for dismissal from the Presbytery for Southern New Jersey, a council of the PCUSA, listing multiple reasons why it believes the USA denomination has moved away from the faith and practice of its predecessors.
It said the PCUSA has adopted a view of scripture that denies the inspiration by the Holy Spirit and denies the inerrancy and infallibility of scripture; tolerates ministers who deny the Deity of Christ; and confessed that God may be found in other religions, “thus denying the necessity of Christ for salvation.”
It stated PCUSA’s view of scripture accommodates and endorses practices they believe the Bible declares sin:
— They denied homosexuality is sin and ordained those in open homosexual lifestyles to church office
— Endorsed same-sex marriage
— Accepted abortion as a morally acceptable choice
— Denied God’s sovereign design in creating humankind as male and female.
The Presbyterian Church of America also opposes the ordination of women, which is allowed by PCUSA.
In its rationale, the local church also stated that since the pastor retired effective July 31, 2023, some 10 members said they would leave the congregation if the church remained with PCUSA and that some non-congregation members who are regular attendees would not join for the same reason.
“As we look past the retirement of our pastor of 34+ years, we have realized that the survival of our congregation is endangered by our affiliation with the PCUSA,” the rationale reads. “Our congregation believes it will be an insurmountable challenge to find a new pastor with orthodox theology within the PCUSA who has a heart for mission and supports orthodox views of human sexuality and the value of all human life.”
After the split from PCUSA, this summer First Presbyterian Church of Ocean City welcomed new Senior Pastor Luke Bert, who follows the PCA orthodoxy. (See related story.)
“We were kind of stuck with the bylaws of the PCUSA because we hold the property in trust to them,” Colvin said. “They never bought any property, they never built anything,” but over the years the church acquired property, especially when there was a much larger congregation with 500 to 700 members.
Membership has declined considerably since then. It was down to 318 in 1995. When the church applied to leave PCUSA in 2023, there were 80 members.
“When it came time to leave, we were having trouble because we didn’t have enough people anymore to pay the freight,” he said.
The cost to leave was $750,000, based on 10 percent of the assessed value of the property, which was $7.5 million, but the church did not have those cash resources. They offered $150,000, but were refused, Colvin said, and were facing the prospect of having to sell some of the church property.
Then something happened — a substantial bequest.
“One of the ladies who passed away left us a very healthy chunk of money, a million dollars, and so it came in, they (PCUSA) got their $750,000. It was all on the wire transfers,” Colvin said.
“An old blues song says you can’t miss what you never had, but God took care of this church in an amazing way,” he added.
“Most churches don’t get out with their properties, but, you know, it was divine intervention, so we got out and we have all the properties.”
Colvin said the congregation had been wanting to leave PCUSA for quite some time and the timing was right with Senior Pastor John Sheldon retiring. Usually, he said, a pastor leads the charge for being dismissed from the PCUSA, but that wasn’t what Sheldon was interested in doing after serving so long.
“We wanted and needed to get out,” Colvin said, “and because our pastor just retired, it was a good time to get out. He didn’t want to deal with that. There was a confrontation a couple decades ago about getting out of the PCUSA, so this seemed the perfect time. He (Sheldon) retired with the good graces of the PCUSA.”
Colvin said he heard it was unusual for a church to make the transition without the pastor leading the way, and the process usually took two years, but they did it in 15 months.
“They’re both Presbyterian churches, but the PCUSA is wildly different than the PCA,” Colvin said. PCUSA “is cut from a different cloth. They’re changing (the Bible) to make it fit whatever they want.”
“It’s been an interesting ride, plus it’s good because this culture needs the Word of God more than ever,” he said. “Like the Utah governor said, ‘We’ve got to take an off-ramp.’”
– By DAVID NAHAN/Sentinel staff
