What is in the Future for Oklahoma Presbyteries?
- Holley Sanders
- Aug 6
- 2 min read
Currently in Oklahoma we have three Presbyteries. Cimarron Presbytery in northwestern Oklahoma, Eastern Oklahoma Presbytery for all of eastern Oklahoma, and Indian Nations Presbytery in the central, southcentral and southwestern Oklahoma.
The minimum composition of a presbytery is ten duly constituted sessions and ten ministers of the Word and Sacrament, unless an exception is approved by its synod and the General Assembly giving consideration to the responsibilities assigned to the presbyteries. The presbytery is responsible for the government of the church throughout its district, and for assisting and supporting the witness of the congregations to the sovereign activity of God in the world. (Book of Order G-3.0301) The main responsibilities of the presbytery to its congregations include providing pastors, to provide that the Sacraments be administered, and to nurture the community of disciples of Christ.
So now that the book of order definition has been given, I will skip to the purpose of this article. The Cimarron Presbytery in Northwestern Oklahoma has lost congregations and are now below the required number of congregations to remain a presbytery. I believe they are down to 8 congregations; quite a few of those have pastor vacancies. They are not able to perform the responsibilities of a presbytery due to a lack of personnel.
In a meeting on May 13th the Cimarron Presbytery unanimously approved two motions to be considered for a Tri-Presbytery meeting occurring on August 9th in Norman, Oklahoma to construct a new Presbytery. There has been a task force created by the three presbyteries, and representatives from Indian Nations have set out to visit the different sessions throughout our presbytery to get an idea for how they feel about a united Oklahoma Presbytery. Our session has been visited and the situation was explained with ideas being shared.
There has been quite a bit of discussion on logistics and meeting places, different outcomes for the Cimarron Presbytery and what a new Oklahoma Presbytery will look like going forward. I have also been a part of several discussions among the people serving on the Coordinating Council of Indian Nations Presbytery during our monthly meetings. The hard truth is we at INP are also losing congregations. In 2004 we had 58 and we are now at 43. I felt that our congregation should know about all of the new developments and possible outcomes for the future of The Indian Nations Presbytery.
The meeting on August 9th is simply to say yes, we will continue to explore the idea of one Oklahoma Presbytery or no we will not. I do not want to speculate too much on the outcomes. Cimarron has said they wish to stay together as they join another Presbytery, but I believe if the three Presbyteries decide against uniting, the Cimarron Presbytery congregations would either dissolve or possibly be separated into closer ones, some joining INP and others joining further presbyteries in Kansas/New Mexico/Colorado/Texas.
If there are any members of the congregation that have any thoughts on this, feel free to text, call or email me. I know many of you have been commissioners to INP meetings over the years and would have valuable input during this process.
Holley Sanders
Clerk of Session
First Presbyterian Church
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