Agreement lets church leave PCUSA with property for EPC; presbytery to get $150,000; lawsuit to be dismissed
By Patrick Jean, The Layman Online, February 7, 2008
Exactly one year after a Mississippi church filed a property ownership lawsuit against St. Andrew Presbytery, the presbytery has agreed to let the congregation leave the Presbyterian Church (USA) with its property for the Evangelical Presbyterian Church.
About the parties
First Presbyterian Church in Corinth, Miss., was founded 150 years ago. It has about 465 members.
St. Andrew Presbytery has 66 congregations totaling 6,432 members in 2006, the most recent year for which PCUSA statistics are available. Its headquarters is in Oxford, Miss. The settlement agreement, approved without a dissenting vote by presbytery commissioners at their stated meeting Feb. 5, also will result in a dismissal of the litigation that First Presbyterian Church in Corinth, Miss., filed Feb. 5, 2007.
In exchange for being dismissed with its property, the Corinth church will pay $150,000 to St. Andrew Presbytery. The first $25,000 installment is due within 30 days, with five more $25,000 payments to be made annually by the anniversary of the first payment.
The lack of a dissenting vote came as a surprise to the Rev. Dr. Don Elliott, the Corinth church’s pastor of 22 years. He said the stated meeting was going smoothly, but sometimes at such meetings there’s a feeling that commissioners are “holding their guns for later.”
But at this meeting, “I could tell with my conversations. Everybody was cordial,” Elliott said. “Many people were telling me, ‘You know, we really think this is best,’ ‘Glad that there’s an agreement,’ and so on. So, it became clear that it was going to pass, but I was blown away that it was” without a dissenting vote.
The whole thing took less than 30 minutes, he said. “I think it was because of the way we did it, which was to try to work with their administrative commission. And their administrative commission, when they got convinced the congregation wanted to leave, then they were willing to negotiate.”
“As you can see, part of that negotiation is that we were willing to settle the lawsuit, or dismiss it with prejudice,” Elliott said. “I think both sides were really tired of the litigation that was going on.”
Origins of dispute
The dispute involving the church, the presbytery and the PCUSA originated July 9, 2006. That’s when First Presbyterian’s session told the congregation that the church “cannot stay in the PCUSA as it stands now.” Twenty-two days later, the session called for a six-month “season of prayer and discernment” to determine whether it would remain in the denomination.
On Nov. 28, 2006, the session recommended to the congregation that “we go in the direction of leaving the PCUSA in 12 to 18 months or less and moving to a new place in another Presbyterian and Reformed denomination.” The session shared that resolution Jan. 23, 2007, with St. Andrew Presbytery’s committee on ministry.
One day later, the committee on ministry sent a letter to Elliott informing him of the committee’s pending report at the presbytery’s stated meeting Feb. 6, 2007 that it “has directed the executive presbyter/stated clerk to begin the necessary legal proceedings to determine the presbytery’s legal rights, and specifically to seek a declaratory judgment as to whether the courts in the state of Mississippi will recognize and uphold our constitution’s trust clause.” The letter also warned Elliott that “actively advocating for a congregation’s withdrawal from the PCUSA is not an approved work.”
First Presbyterian filed suit Feb. 5, 2007 against the presbytery, seeking a declaratory judgment that it owns its property without interference by the presbytery or the PCUSA. A temporary restraining order was issued the same day. The lawsuit was filed to prevent the presbytery from taking action at its Feb. 6, 2007 meeting against First Presbyterian, one of the Jackson, Miss., attorneys representing the church said at the time.
Final court stop; Administrative commission starts work
On Feb. 13, 2007, the presbytery had the case moved to U.S. District Court when its attorney filed a notice of removal in federal court. But one week later, a federal judge remanded the case to Alcorn County Circuit Court.
On March 13, 2007, the presbytery filed a motion to have the case moved to Alcorn County Chancery Court. The presbytery sought the transfer, said presbytery attorney J. Hale Freeland of Oxford, Miss., because chancery courts handle matters involving trusts and real property, while circuit courts hear contractual, civil and criminal cases.
A circuit court judge ordered the lawsuit to chancery court April 17, 2007. Attorneys for both the church and the presbytery agreed that chancery court would be the final stop for the case.
There also was a key development on the ecclesiastical front last spring. St. Andrew Presbytery, at its stated meeting May 1, 2007, authorized an administrative commission to direct the legal counsel of its defense against the lawsuit. The seven-member panel also was authorized “in accordance with G-9.0503a(4) of the Book of Order ‘to visit particular churches, governing bodies or other organizations of the church reported to be affected with disorder, and to inquire and settle the difficulties therein.’ ”
The administrative commission sent informational packets to every member of the Corinth church and led two congregational gatherings, then conducted a congregational survey and shared the results and the commission’s conclusions with the church’s session, Elliott said.
The survey was the turning point, he said. “Before that, they were, I think, trying to convince us we shouldn’t leave. After the survey, they became convinced that a majority of the congregation wanted to leave. So, they wanted to influence how we were going to leave. And that’s really when we got into negotiations with them.”
‘Very little support … to remain’
The administrative commission’s consultations with the church are noted in its report to the presbytery at the Feb. 5, 2008, meeting. “It was clear to the commission, through its two meetings with the congregation, the results of the surveys and the meeting with the session, that there was very little support within the congregation to remain in the PCUSA,” the report states.
“The commission identified two essential matters of importance for the process of going forward:
- 1. “Making sure that a process for dismissal followed the polity from our Book of Order.
- 2. “Getting an acknowledgement that the polity followed by the session in its lawsuit against the presbytery did not agree with the polity of our Book of Order.
“The commission entered into an agreement with the session to create two, three-person negotiating teams to reach a settlement,” the report states.
Those teams, one representing the church and one representing the administrative commission, began meeting last fall, said Randy Long, a member of the church’s negotiating team and a church elder. They were far apart at first, he said, “but everyone was operating in good fait
h, I believe, in trying to find a resolution.”
“We’re believers together in Christ, and we need to please Him together like the Bible tells us to as fellow believers. As we progressed in those meetings, each meeting got better and better. We prayed before, during and after. It was unlike anything I’ve ever been a part of.
“We just talked through this with a smaller group, which enabled us to work out something that was mutually agreeable to us both,” Long said. “But it took three or four meetings. Some lasted, I don’t think, any longer than an hour and a half. And some took as long as three hours. But (there was) a lot of prayer, and a lot of give and take.”
In December, the negotiating teams took their proposed settlement to the church’s session and the administrative commission. Each approved it.
The agreement included authorizing a congregational meeting to vote on whether to request that the presbytery dismiss the church with its property to the EPC. The church’s session agreed to hold that meeting Dec. 23, Long said.
More than 250 of the church’s approximately 465 members attended the Dec. 23 meeting, Elliott said. Of those, he said, 246 members or 94 percent voted to request dismissal, 14 members or 5 percent voted against the request, and two members abstained.
“That congregational vote was rather confirming about an overwhelming majority of the congregation in favor,” Elliott said. “As elders, we kind of knew that all along.”
Terms of settlement, lawsuit’s dismissal
The congregational vote was noted in the settlement agreement that the administrative commission presented to the presbytery for its approval Feb. 5. The administrative commission made two recommendations to the presbytery:
- 1. “That the Presbytery of St. Andrew approves the attached settlement agreement and joint stipulation of dismissal with prejudice, and dismisses First Presbyterian Church of Corinth, Miss., to the Evangelical Presbyterian Church in accordance with the terms of the settlement agreement.
- 2. “That funds resulting from the dismissal of First Presbyterian Church of Corinth, Miss., be placed in the St. Stephen Fund.”
In the settlement agreement, dated Jan. 10, the presbytery and the Corinth church agreed to the following:
- 1. “This settlement agreement is entered into because the presbytery and FPC Corinth have concluded that it is in the best interests of both parties to settle their differences on the terms set forth herein, and to avoid the further expense, delay, inconvenience, burden and uncertainty of continued litigation (including appeals from any verdicts).
- 2. “The session acknowledges that it is subject to and is bound by the Constitution of the Presbyterian Church (USA), and may only depart from our communion in accordance with the provisions of the Book of Order which is Part II of that Constitution.
- 3. “The session acknowledges that the only constitutionally sanctioned methods for departure from the Presbyterian Church (USA) are (1) as individuals, by the transfer of membership by the proper governing body or by the renunciation of jurisdiction, and (2) as a congregation, by action of its presbytery to dismiss the congregation from its jurisdiction to the jurisdiction of a similar governing body in another Reformed church.
- 4. “The presbytery agrees to dismiss FPC Corinth to the Evangelical Presbyterian Church for the total sum of $150,000, which shall be paid as follows:
- A. “$25,000 shall be paid to the presbytery within 30 days of the congregation’s dismissal to the Evangelical Presbyterian Church (the ‘anniversary date’).
- B. “Annual payments of $25,000 shall be paid to the presbytery for a total of five additional years, which shall be due on the anniversary date of each of these five subsequent years.”
- 5. “Upon receipt of the first payment noted in number 4 above, the presbytery shall quit claim to FPC Corinth all its right, title and interest in and to any real or personal property, including financial assets and any present or future interest therein, now or hereafter claimed by presbytery, including, without limitation, the real property that is the subject matter of the lawsuit or otherwise claimed by FPC Corinth, and all other personal or real property presently in the possession, custody or control of FPC Corinth.
- 6. “Within three business days of the approval (of) this settlement and joint stipulation of dismissal with prejudice … the parties and their attorneys shall execute the joint stipulation of dismissal with prejudice and submit it to the court for approval, execution and entry.
- 7. “The presbytery and FPC Corinth further agree, promise and covenant that they will not file, charge, claim, sue, cause or permit any further action against each other in any civil or ecclesiastical court, and that their relationship with each other is hereby fully and completely severed, except as regards the fulfillment of the terms of this agreement.”
The joint stipulation of dismissal with prejudice states: “Pursuant to Rule 41(a)(1) of the Mississippi Rules of Civil Procedure, the undersigned parties, having reached a settlement agreement … by and through respective counsel, hereby stipulate and agree that all claims and counter-claims asserted by or which could have been asserted by plaintiff First Presbyterian Church of Corinth, Miss., and defendant Presbytery of St. Andrew, Presbyterian Church (USA) Inc. in the above-captioned matter are dismissed with prejudice, with each party to bear its own costs.”
The presbytery’s vote to approve the settlement agreement and the lawsuit’s dismissal is “seen as the official authorization for all of the terms of the settlement agreement plus the joint stipulation to take place,” Elliott said.
“I’m just so grateful for the graciousness finally resulting from presbytery and from our congregational session,” Long said. “It just seems like the Lord smoothed out the rough edges for us, and there’s not all this contentiousness and anger and bitterness. I know there’s deep hurt feelings from some for a variety of things, but people were very kind today in spite of the heaviness of the situation.”
The St. Stephen Fund, which will receive the church’s $150,000 payment to the presbytery, is the presbytery’s new church development account, Elliott said. The administrative commission placed the stipulation on how the presbytery was to use the money, he said.
As for the $150,000 figure, “They started real high and we started real low, and that’s where we landed,” Elliott said. “One dynamic, I think, that was going on with the money is that they wanted at least an amount equal to what they had spent on legal fees. And I don’t know exactly what they spent on legal fees.”
What’s next?