Church property case goes back to October 2005
By Patrick Jean, June 11, 2007
The origins of the Central Presbyterian Church of Huntsville, Ala., v. North Alabama Presbytery case date back to at least October 2005. That’s when presbytery commissioners voted down an overture from the Central Presbyterian Church’s session to delete the property trust clause from the Presbyterian Church (USA)’s Book of Order.
Lawsuit settlement lets church leave
PCUSA with property – for $250,000 The church brought its lawsuit against the presbytery 15 months later. In a letter sent to congregation members the same day the suit was filed, the church’s pastor, the Rev. Dr. Randy Jenkins, emphasized that, “It is not an act of disaffiliation with the PCUSA. It is not an ecclesiastical action. Rather, it is a legal action related to our property rights.”
But disaffiliation seemed to be on the horizon. “[A]t some point in time we may need to candidly discuss our continued relationship with the PCUSA,” stated a “Questions & Answers” paper about the lawsuit prepared by Central Presbyterian Church for congregation members.
Disaffiliation came March 11, when congregation members voted 142-9 to leave the PCUSA for the smaller, more conservative Evangelical Presbyterian Church. 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 lawsuit.
The presbytery said the congregational meeting where the vote took place was “improperly called” and on March 10 authorized a seven-member administrative commission to assume “original jurisdiction” of the church by dismissing the pastor and session. The Rev. Warner Durnell, executive presbyter of North Alabama Presbytery, and commission chairman William G. Cockrill said the initial intent for the administrative commission was to respond to the lawsuit, but further powers were recommended when the presbytery got word of Central Presbyterian Church’s congregational meeting.
The presbytery – which briefly succeeded in having the case moved to federal court in late February before it was remanded to state circuit court – also gave the administrative commission authority to manage the presbytery’s defense and legal counsel in the lawsuit and “any other legal matters arising” from it.
The commission also was authorized to dissolve the relationship between Jenkins and the church, but that task became moot when the pastor renounced his PCUSA ordination. The presbytery sent a letter to Jenkins on March 8, warning him that moderating the March 11 congregational meeting would be seen by the committee on ministry as “not approved work” under clause G-6.0502 of the 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 beat the presbytery to the punch by renouncing his PCUSA ordination. Letters went to Durnell and to PCUSA headquarters in Louisville, Ky., informing them of his decision, he said, and he contacted the Evangelical Presbyterian Church about ordination in that smaller, more conservative denomination.
Cockrill, who is also senior pastor of First Presbyterian Church in Huntsville, sent out two letters March 27:
- In one letter addressed to Dr. Richard Borie Jr., stated clerk of North Alabama Presbytery, and Fred Coffey, clerk of session and elder of Central Presbyterian Church, he wrote that the commission assumed original jurisdiction of the church and dissolved the church’s session, effective immediately.
- In a second letter to the church’s trustees, he ordered them to dismiss the lawsuit by March 29. When that order was ignored, he sent another letter April 17 with a new deadline and ultimatum: Withdraw the lawsuit by April 19, or you will be assumed to have renounced the jurisdiction of the PCUSA and will no longer be a trustee of the church.
But the letters were paper tigers – the commission took no steps to enforce its jurisdiction and it had no effect on Central Presbyterian Church’s operations, Jenkins said.
The tone of the dispute changed May 12, when North Alabama Presbytery commissioners authorized the administrative commission to settle the litigation.
Final letters and report
Durnell announced the settlement May 31 in a letter to minister members and clerks of session of the presbytery. “Although we grieve the loss of an entire congregation that has journeyed with North Alabama Presbytery and its predecessor presbyteries for a hundred years, we dismiss them with God’s blessing and deed them the property,” he wrote. “We bid them God’s speed as they continue to service as a part of the body of Christ in this region of the state. Please join with me in expressing gratitude to God that a way was finally found to end the lawsuit and resolve our differences without having to rely on a civil court judge’s ruling.”
Cockrill sent a letter about the settlement May 30 to pastors and sessions of the presbytery. “The ‘mediation agreement’ also will effect the dissolution of the relationship between Central [Presbyterian Church] and North Alabama Presbytery and will transfer to Central real estate that is worth approximately $2.5 million in exchange for payment of 10 percent of that amount,” he wrote.
“We want to reiterate that they and we are still part of the holy catholic church, the body of Christ; and in the sure knowledge of that, we send that congregation on their way with our prayers,” Cockrill wrote. “It is the commission’s hope that the adversarial nature of this matter and the animosity that has grown out of it can be diluted and eventually healed as we go our respective ways.”
Cockrill wrote that the commission realizes some presbytery members “may not approve of this settlement for one reason or another, but the commission is convinced that the [Holy] Spirit was at work in the mediation process and in helping us to craft this solution.”
The administrative commission gave its final report to the presbytery May 29. “The commission has consistently taken the position that, notwithstanding efforts by the leadership of the congregation, the Central Presbyterian Church … has remained a congregation of the North Alabama Presbytery and the Presbyterian Church (USA),” the report stated. “Those leaders, however, and apparently the majority of the members of the congregation have taken the position that they have disaffiliated from the presbytery and the denomination.”
The report states the commission began its work with a pastoral approach and “with concern for the members of the congregation.” While meetings were scheduled with church members to discuss any dissatisfaction with the disaffiliation proceedings, the report stated, “Only a few members came to these meetings, however, and subsequently the commission dissolved the session and assumed original jurisdiction.”
The report details the main points of the settlement and points out a key factor in initiating mediation: “Certain aspects of Alabama law which appear unfavorable to the presbytery.”
“While the commission is confident that, were there to have been an unfavorable result in the state trial court, the presbytery’s position would ultimately have been vindicated in appellate courts, such a favorable outcome would have been achieved only after years of costly litigation and other cost, possibly requiring taking the matter to the U.S. Supreme Court,” the report stated.
The report states the commission will ask the presbytery at its stated meeting July 17 to dissolve the commission and “delegate the oversight of the performance of the mediation agreement to the business affairs ministry team.”
“Now that this matter is put to rest,” the report concludes, “the presbytery can get on with its mission, undistracted by further dissension and ill will that would have been the inevitable consequences of pursuing this matter further.”
Terms of settlement
The $250,000 that Central Presbyterian Church must pay to North Alabama Presbytery is broken down as follows in the mediation agreement:
- 1. “$100,000 at closing ($65,000 of which may be utilized for legal and other costs and expenses of the presbytery and $35,000 of which shall be designated for Camp Maranatha).” Maranatha is a camp and conference center in Scottsboro, Ala.
- 2. “$75,000 on or before Dec. 31, 2008 ($37,500 of which shall be designated for Camp Maranatha and $37,500 of which is undesignated).”
- 3. “$75,000 on or before Dec. 31, 2010 ($37,500 of which shall be designated for Camp Maranatha and $37,500 of which is undesignated).”
The agreement states the church will provide security “in the form of a standard mortgage on the ‘Cooper property’ during the period that Central Presbyterian has not paid any of the payments specified.”
In exchange for the payments, the agreement states, “The presbytery shall quit claim all its right, title and interest in and to any real or personal property, and any present or future interest therein, now or hereafter claimed by Central Presbyterian.” The presbytery also agrees to dismiss the church “to a presbytery of the Evangelical Presbyterian Church, or another Reformed body, with any and all real and personal property.”
In addition to “agreeing to disagree” over whether the presbytery has continuing jurisdiction over the church, the presbytery agrees “that neither it nor the Synod of Living Waters, the General Assembly of the Presbyterian Church (USA) or any other person or entity associated with the Presbyterian Church (USA) … shall attempt to exercise in any manner the jurisdiction it asserts over Central Presbyterian and its agents, representatives, trustees, members or other persons or entities acting on its behalf or in its stead.”
While the Central Presbyterian Church pastor and session acknowledge they did not follow the PCUSA’s Book of Order regarding a church’s request for dismissal from the denomination, neither the church nor the presbytery admits blame in the end. “Central Presbyterian and the presbytery expressly acknowledge and agree that nothing contained in this mediation agreement is, or shall be, construed as an admission of liability,” the report states.
There’s also a pact against future litigation. “Central Presbyterian and the presbytery further agree, promise and covenant that neither they, nor any person, organization or any other entity acting on their behalf will file, charge, claim, sue or cause permit to be filed, charged or claimed, any action for damages or other relief (including injunctive, declaratory, monetary relief or other) against the other party,” the report states.
Within three business days of the closing of the settlement, the report states, “the lawsuit shall be dismissed, with prejudice, with each party bear[ing] its own costs, including attorney fees.
“The closing date shall be 30 days from the execution of this mediation agreement,” the report states.
What’s next?
North Alabama Presbytery hopes to pay back loans from Sheppards & Lapsley and South Alabama presbyteries and the Synod of Living Waters as the financial terms of the settlement are met, Durnell said. The presbytery’s business affairs ministry team will help decide how the rest of the undesignated portion of the $250,000 is used, he said.
“There are churches that need to be revitalized,” he said. “We’ve been talking about even trying to start a new church in this presbytery. There are operational expenses of this office and staff. All that has yet to decided.”
The presbytery’s dismissal of Central Presbyterian Church could come at the stated meeting July 17, Durnell said. “It was our expectation that if the mediation process proved productive and we were able to gain a settlement, that would be reported at the meeting of presbytery, and anything that wasn’t done” – such as the final report or actions of the administrative committee – would be done then, he said.
Durnell said he hopes to talk to Jenkins and other Central members as soon as the presbytery’s attorneys give the all-clear. “I hope to cross paths with my sisters and brothers in Christ down there on occasion – and no doubt living here in Huntsville, as with me at some functions,” he said. “I just wish them Godspeed in every way.”
As for Central Presbyterian Church, Jenkins said admission into the EPC will be sought in one of two ways:
- By the traditional acceptance process for that denomination.
- By seeking to join the proposed New Wineskins Presbytery, if the EPC sets in motion the process for establishing one at its general assembly later this month in Colorado. Jenkins is chairman of the strategy team for the New Wineskins Associations of Churches, a conservative group that has asked the EPC to establish transitional, non-geographic presbyteries to receive groups of churches into membership in that denomination.
Central Presbyterian Church will decide when to pay the $250,000 and will focus on its physical structure and new ministries, Jenkins said. The initial $100,000 payment may cause a “hiccup” for the church over the next year, he said.
While his church has not yet joined the EPC, Jenkins will be installed as an EPC minister July 8. He said a celebration is planned at that service for what the Lord has done for his church.
“For this church, it’s not just what He’s done in the last six months,” he said. “But this has been brewing at Central for many, many years, and it reached critical mass just recently. We’re glad that the Lord has seen fit to see it through in a process that did not drag out for any more years than it already has.”
Jenkins said the atmosphere at the church – which was told of the settlement at the May 27 services – has remained good. One member has left for another church, but several others have joined, he said.
“I’m really amazed at the attitude of the congregation and the spiritual maturity that’s been d