Kimball Presbyterian Changing Denomination

On Nov. 25, the Presbyterian Church in Kimball will officially be dismissed, and on Dec. 4, church members will celebrate their new name and church. Although still a Presbyterian church, it will be changing its denomination from PCUSA, Presbyterian Church of USA, to ECOP, Evangelical Covenant Order of Presbyterians. It will be known as Cornerstone Community Church.

According to Pastor Alan Foutz, "The congregation has really, over the years, tried to stay very conservative theologically. As PCUSA moved away from that then, my congregation decided it was time to find another denomination that was more closely aligned with their biblical beliefs, staying true to the word of God."

Even 15 or 20 years ago, the Kimball church had concerns about where PCUSA was heading. Foutz said, "This has been a progression over a long period of years." But more recently, the PCUSA branch was becoming more secular and away from biblical theology.

In addition to the moral concerns, PCUSA took on an anti-Israel stand, and the final straw was the formal stand against the natural gas and oil industry and divesting church financial interests away from the oil and gas industry.

Pastor Foutz has been the pastor at the Presbyterian Church since 2003. Foutz and the congregation "knew it was going to be difficult" to change denominations. There were some legal issues because PCUSA had a trust clause. PCUSA along with the local congregation jointly owned all the property and assets.

The congregation knew the change would be a lot of work, and that held the process back for several years.

Pastor Foutz said, "Then we had some young members come into our church. They didn't like what they saw, so they stepped up. We need to do something different, if we are going to be a church here in the next five years, then we need to be different from where we are at today. They kind of picked up the ball and ran with it, inspiring the rest of the congregation to move forward with it."

Pastor Foutz said a new revival is going on, and many denominations are going through the same self-awakening. He said Cornerstone Community Church is "trying to be a light in the community."

He said the congregation requested dismissal from PCUSA, which brought a "committee in and spent about a year talking with us." But no minds were changed, so in August, PCUSA accepted the dismissal request, and the Kimball congregation is now in a 90-day waiting period that will end Nov. 25.

One stipulation from PCUSA included a name change, and the church property will remain with the new church.

The congregation is excited, and the entire community is invited to help celebrate the new church 2 p.m. Dec. 4.