Quote:
Originally Posted by Ferd
Not that it matters.... and I am not a pastor, but if I were I would not want my church affiliated.
that has nothing to do with being liberal/conservative or anything in between.
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Absolutely! And at one time (not sure about now) the vast majority were not affiliated. Autonomy is invaluable. But when a church is affiliated and then desires to become unaffiliated, all hell breaks loose. Decorum mandates that the district send a representative to the business meeting to explain why the church should remain affiliated. And of course, the local pastor states his case as well. In my experience, these meetings are always extremely tense and feelings are on edge. It never goes well.
Once the vote passes (they usually do) people seem to inevitably head for the exits and soon, there's a new UPC church in town.
So I would say, that once you're affiliated, you're stuck. When a church attempts to leave...for any reason...the gossip circles always tell that the church is "Leaving the truth."