Alabama church suing for property ownership votes to leave PCUSA, affiliate with EPC
By Patrick Jean, March 19, 2007
Central Presbyterian Church in Huntsville, Ala., which recently filed a lawsuit seeking to be declared owner of its property, has voted to disaffiliate from the Presbyterian Church (USA) and align with the Evangelical Presbyterian Church.
North Alabama Presbytery, however, said the congregational meeting where the vote took place was “improperly called” and has authorized an administrative commission to assume “original jurisdiction” of the church by dismissing the pastor and session.
Central Presbyterian’s pastor, the Rev. Dr. Randy Jenkins, said 142 people voted for disaffiliation at a congregational meeting following worship services March 11. There also were nine “letters of intent,” he said, signed by congregation members who could not be present. The church has about 265 members by Jenkins’ estimation.
Only nine voted against disaffiliation and there were two abstentions, Jenkins said. The question up for a vote, he said, also touched on whether the congregation’s members wanted to (1) affiliate with the smaller, more conservative EPC and (2) maintain the current pastoral leadership.
The congregational meeting was hastily arranged, Jenkins said, after North Alabama Presbytery on Feb. 28 called a special meeting for March 10 to address the litigation brought against the presbytery by Central Presbyterian. The church filed suit Jan. 29 in Madison County Circuit Court, asking that the church, not the PCUSA, be declared owner of the congregation’s property.
“There was concern that an administrative commission would be formed with powers to dissolve the pastoral relationship and the session,” Jenkins said. “We felt that that would have been catastrophic for this church.”
The Rev. Warner Durnell, North Alabama executive presbyter, said the initial intent for the administrative commission was to respond to the lawsuit. It was only when the presbytery got word of Central Presbyterian’s congregational meeting, he said, that further powers were recommended.
‘Whatever measures are required’
The presbytery authorized the seven-member commission March 10 and gave it authority to:
- “Manage our defense and legal counsel” in the lawsuit and “any other legal matters arising” from it.
- “Take whatever measures are required to restore the peace, unity and purity of the church, including (a) dissolving the pastoral relationship between the Rev. Dr. Randall T. Jenkins and Central Church and (b) assuming original jurisdiction of Central Church by dissolving the session.”
The commission also was empowered to visit the church to talk to the congregation and determine “whether the pastor and/or the session … has violated the Constitution of the Presbyterian Church (USA) and violated vows which each took upon ordination and installation into office.”
But Jenkins said the church will not cooperate with the commission. “That’s where we’ve been,” he said. “That’s not where we are now.”
The presbytery sent a letter to Jenkins on March 8, warning him that moderating the congregational meeting would be seen by the committee on ministry as “not approved work” under clause G-6.0502 of the PCUSA Book of Order. The presbytery would assume Jenkins “to have renounced the jurisdiction” of the denomination if he moderated the meeting and would remove him, according to the docket of the presbytery’s March 10 meeting.
But Jenkins said he has renounced his PCUSA ordination and contacted the EPC about ordination there. Letters have been mailed to Durnell and to PCUSA headquarters in Louisville, Ky., he said, informing them of his decision.
‘Everyone acted in such a godly way’
Jenkins denied that the congregational meeting was “improperly called,” as alleged in the presbytery’s motion for the administrative commission.
The session met to see what responses it would have to the presbytery meeting, he said. When the session assumed a worst-case scenario, he said, it recommended disaffiliation and called for the congregational meeting.
The congregational meeting, Jenkins said, was more a continuation of the worship service. “I’ve never been to a congregational meeting like that.”
He said there was singing, prayer and a handful of people who spoke without contention or debate. “I was so proud to be the pastor of that church,” he said, “that everyone acted in such a godly way.”
The proper two-week notice was given, Jenkins said, in accordance with the Book of Order. “It was not the intent of the session … to proceed with such a condensed timetable,” states a church press release. “They had hoped to settle the property issue and then, after a season of prayer and study with the congregation, ask the will of the congregation.”
Durnell said the March 10 presbytery meeting was called at the request of two members and two elder members. “There was a desire expressed at the Feb. 17 [stated] meeting to discuss Central,” he said, but they could not act or talk in detail because a temporary restraining order had been issued in the lawsuit.
Jenkins said he turned down a chance to speak at the meeting. Central Presbyterian sent a couple of representatives, he said, as nonvoting observers.
Causes and effects
Central Presbyterian chose the EPC for affiliation because “theologically, there’s not that much difference.” The church and the denomination see eye-to-eye on women’s ordination, he said, and Central already has several women in leadership positions.
“We won’t have to haggle over theological issues like we have for 20 years,” Jenkins said, “and I won’t have to drive overnight for presbytery meetings.”
Jenkins is chairman of the strategy team for the New Wineskins Associations of Churches, a conservative movement that has asked for the establishment of a transitional, non-geographic presbytery to receive groups of churches into membership in the EPC.
What effect the disaffiliation vote will have on the lawsuit is less clear. Jenkins said it “eliminates ecclesiastical considerations” from the litigation.
The case was remanded to circuit court Feb. 27, after the presbytery briefly had the case moved to federal court.
Jenkins said he looks forward to the lawsuit being settled so he can again talk freely with Durnell, to whom he referred as a close friend. Durnell agreed.
But the two friends disagree over the current status of Central Presbyterian.
“We still look at Central as a member of North Alabama Presbytery and the PCUSA,” Durnell said, “and will respond as such.”
“Now there’s no doubt,” Jenkins said, “that the PCUSA has no authority over us.”
Patrick Jean is a staff writer for The Layman and The Layman Online. He can be reached at pjean@www.layman.org.