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Presbyterian dissidents find church refuge: Evangelical Presbyterian Church invites them in

Dozens of church representatives of a movement of people unhappy inside the Presbyterian Church (U.S.A.) have voted unanimously to pursue possible refuge within the conservative Evangelical Presbyterian Church, which proposes to establish a temporary, nongeographic presbytery for dissident PCUSA congregations.

The show-of-hands vote February 9 at the New Wineskins Association of Churches meeting in Orlando, Florida, was reported by both the Layman Online Web site and the Presbyterian News Service.

Conservative, evangelical, charismatic-friendly: Evangelical Presbyterian Church established in 1981

The Evangelical Presbyterian Church, which is offering a refuge for breakaway PCUSA churches, began 26 years ago with 12 churches and currently has 182 congregations in eight geographic presbyteries embracing 75,000 members.

The EPC, according to moderator Paul Heidebrecht, also considers itself committed to avoiding strife and very open to charismatic expressions of worship. In St. Paul’s letters, such gifts include speaking in tongues, prophecy and healing.