Congregational Meeting

A meeting of the Congregation of Tenth Presbyterian Church in Philadelphia is called for Sunday, April 25, 2010, to approve the motion from the Session to erect a Pastoral Selection Committee and to dissolve pastoral relations with Dr. Philip G. Ryken. The meeting will be held in the Sanctuary at 12:30 pm.

By order of the Session,
George K. McFarland, Clerk
 
This is a sobering announcement. Actually I was not accurate with the wording. In order for a minister to leave his congregation, he must receive approval from his presbytery, in this case Philadelphia Presbytery. So, at the last presbytery meeting in March, Phil "tendered the resignation of his pastoral charge to his Presbytery." Presbytery, then, "shall cite the church to appear by its commissioners, to show cause why the Presbytery should or should not accept the resignation." Thus, we are required to have "a meeting of the congregation called and conducted in the same manner as the call of the pastor."  What we will be voting on is to communicate to presbytery that we consent to Phil's resignation (not that we want it to happen). Presbytery will then act officially to dissolve the relationship.