Below are comments made by Clerk of Session, Andy Lucas, on behalf of the entire Session, prior to Beverly Heights Presbyterian Church’s vote to leave the Evangelical Presbyterian Church on January 26, 2025.

The motion before the congregation upon which they would vote was:

The Session/Board of Trustees of Beverly Heights Presbyterian Church moves that the Beverly Heights Presbyterian Church dissolve its relationship with the Evangelical Presbyterian Church denomination and enter into independence. 

Andy stood before the congregation, and with great passion, he delivered the following statement:

  • Be prepared for anything but business as usual when God is at work.
  • Be prepared for the pressure that will come when God starts straightening things out. 
  • Be prepared for the weight of glory which feels like responsibility.
  • Be prepared to do the hard work of peacemaking and to fight for peace.
  • Be prepared to resist unholy tyranny wherever you find it and obey God.

These are five of the fifteen exhortations that Pastor Nate gave us in his sermon on December 29. Today certainly feels like anything but business as usual. Your Session, like you, has felt the pressure of God at work over these last two years. This is not a comfortable situation, but it is the situation He has placed us in, and so we embrace it with thankful, humble, and excited hearts. 

At this point, there’s not much I can do to convince you one way or another how to vote. I would be surprised if many of you are on the fence about what your vote will be and many of you have probably already filled out the ballot. 

It was clear at our first meeting when we voted to enter into the 5-10 dismissal process that we were out of alignment with the EPC, and that has only become more clear as we have had continued interactions with the POA and its emissaries from the Administrative Commission. 

Your Session is excited to be standing as one here today in defense of truth and in defense Christ’s body at Beverly Heights. We stand united in mind and in purpose. God has undeniably brought us to this moment. 

It is time to do the hard work of peacemaking – now is the time to fight for peace! It is time to throw off the tyranny and run headlong without a backward glance into the future that God has been and is calling us toward! I exhort you to take courage and to vote for independence!

If you believe that justice matters and that how it applies to one body is how it should be applied to another – that God calls for equal weights and measures – then vote for independence.

If you believe that the actions of the AC and POA have been divisive and have actively undermined the peace, unity, and purity of Christ’s Bride at Beverly Heights, then vote for independence.

If you believe that words matter and that what a governing document like the Book of Order says shouldn’t be nuanced, added to, or reinterpreted out of convenience, then vote for independence.

If you believe that authorities should follow the laws of the Commonwealth so long as those laws do not violate Scripture and that a congregation should not be compelled to disobey those laws, then vote for independence.

If you believe that speaking and standing up for the truth and that resisting unlawful and oppressive mandates is our Christian duty and privilege and not contempt, then vote for independence.

If you believe that membership means something more than just a label, and that you need to come to church on Sundays and stay connected to the body through worship in order to be a member, then vote for independence.

If you believe that the sacraments matter and that they are a command from our Lord and not just a personal decision, then vote for independence.

If you believe that God has told us in Scripture how He is to be praised and that worship is not a “style” to be based on our personal preferences and feelings, then vote for independence. 

If you love gathering here each Lord’s Day with your brothers and sisters, and can’t wait to come back each week, then vote for independence.

If you believe that this Session and this Pastor which you called and elected has led and will continue to lead you toward the glorious future that God is calling us to in the South Hills of Pittsburgh, then vote for independence. 

If you are excited about what God is doing here at Beverly Heights, you are excited to see what He will do next, and if you want to continue this work He has given us, then vote for independence! 

This vote does not signal an end, but a beginning. There will be more fights ahead, and some of them will likely be with the POA. Christ promised us that in this world we will have trouble. Let us not shy away from the battles He has given us for the sake of “comfort”. Let us embrace what it means to live as Christians and set Christ’s interests ahead of our own. 

Your Session and your pastor invite you to follow us as we follow Christ and seek to serve Him. The responsibility falls to you, the members of this congregation, to “choose this day whom you will serve.” Each of us proclaims before you today that “As for me and my house, we will serve the Lord.” We urge you again: vote for independence and join us! 

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