Kirk of the Hills ‘in schism,’ administrative commission says
By Craig M. Kibler, March 8, 2007
An administrative commission established by Eastern Oklahoma Presbytery has determined that Kirk of the Hills Presbyterian Church in Tulsa is “in schism” and that its “property, real and personal, is to be used for the use and benefit of the PCUSA and shall be held, used, applied, transferre, or sold by the presbytery.”
In a report released March 6, the administrative commission, formed by the presbytery Sept. 5, 2006, stated that, “We therefore declare the Kirk to be in schism, submit this report to the stated clerk of the EOP for report to the EOP at its next meeting, and direct the EOP trustees to take all necessary next steps in accordance with the Constitution of the Presbyterian Church (USA).”
The congregation voted in August 2006 to leave the PCUSA and affiliate with the Evangelical Presbyterian Church. That same month, it filed a civil lawsuit contending that the property and assets of the congregation are owned by an independent corporation for the benefit of Kirk of the Hills members and are not subject to control by the denomination.
The lawsuit was part of the church’s response to the presbytery’s affidavit filings in March 2006 asserting that the property of its congregations was held in trust for the benefit of the denomination, as stated in the Book of Order. Those filings sought to prevent lending agencies and insurers from doing business directly with the congregations without permission from the presbytery.
Summary judgment sought
In January, a lawyer for the congregation filed a motion in court seeking a summary judgment for the church in its property ownership lawsuit against Eastern Oklahoma Presbytery and the PCUSA.
Attorney John O’Connor filed the motion Jan. 22 in Tulsa County District Court. “We expect the judge will want to have a hearing within 30 days of the filing of our reply or rebuttal,” O’Connor told The Layman Online.
That would put the hearing date around mid-April. O’Connor anticipates Judge Jefferson D. “Jeff” Sellers will apply Oklahoma law and decide the case himself rather than defer to the decision of the presbytery’s administrative commission.
In counterclaims filed late last year, the presbytery and denomination accused officers of Kirk of the Hills and its independent corporation of a “scheme” to deprive the presbytery and the PCUSA of their property rights. They asked the court to recognize that the PCUSA is “hierarchical” and declare that its constitutional property trust requirements do not permit a congregation to leave with its property. Only the presbytery can dismiss a congregation, they contend.
Kirk ‘doing well’
Kirk of the Hills is doing well despite the ongoing legal fight, co-pastor Tom Gray told The Layman Online. Attendance is up and mission giving exceeded $1 million last year, he said.
Gray said Kirk of the Hills is conducting its business according to the Constitution of the Evangelical Presbyterian Church, but hasn’t officially joined. The denomination has been “supportive and helpful without being intrusive,” he said.
Kirk of the Hills has lost only about 30 of its 2,700 members to other congregations since the legal battle ensued, Gray said. “It’s amazing how supportive the congregation has been.”
In its report, the administrative commission leans heavily on hard-line tactics outlined in “The Louisville Papers,” including a declaration that a congregation is in schism. The report stated that, “Evidence of member disagreement with the decisions made by leadership of the Kirk:
- “At least 92 Kirk members have joined or are attending other churches.
- “At least 18 Kirk members have either requested additional information about remaining with the PCUSA or have indicated that they intend to stay with the Kirk despite their disagreement with the decision to leave the PCUSA.
- “Between 327 and 500 Kirk members have been inexplicably removed from the member lists presented to the AC.
“We thus conclude that there is ample evidence that a significant number of persons wished to remain in the PCUSA or for the Kirk to remain in the PCUSA despite concerted efforts at the Kirk to alienate dissenting voices, block direct communication with representatives of the EOP, and intimidate those who disagreed. Therefore, the Kirk of the Hills Presbyterian Church is determined to be in schism. We further believe the number of members who the Book of Order would describe as the ‘true membership’ of the Kirk (See, G-8.0601) would be impossible to accurately determine without the cooperation of the Kirk leadership, but ranges from at least 110 to several hundred.”
In response, Gray wrote in a blog posting that a lot of the administrative commission’s report “is anecdotal reportage of how anonymous people in the Kirk are supposedly feeling about the disaffiliation. I have no interest in identifying individuals; but a serious problem with the AC’s report is that it’s easy to claim member dissatisfaction without having to back it up with facts.”
Assertions in report ‘are arguable, at best’
He said some of the assertions in the report “are arguable, at best. One is that 92 Kirk members have affiliated with or are attending other Presbyterian churches in Tulsa. We wouldn’t be able to affirm exact numbers since the Tulsa Presbyterian churches (unlike our sister Methodist, Baptist, Lutheran, et al. churches) haven’t let the Kirk know that any of our members have transferred. We always have a few transfers within Tulsa each month – both into and out of the Kirk.”
“We know that a few families have joined First Presbyterian,” Gray said. “Only three families have informed us that they have so moved. One woman informed me that she was changing her membership to John Knox church (we didn’t receive notice from them, either). There are also people who settled in other Presbyterian churches in Tulsa years ago without changing their membership. At least one such person came to the congregational meeting when we voted on disaffiliation and was one of the most vocal in opposition to it. He actually made a scene at the registration table because we had officially removed him from our rolls for inactivity several years ago and, thereby, should not have attended the meeting. He went in over our protest and was one of those counted in the votes.
“Another complaint in the AC’s report is the so-called discrepancy between claimed membership numbers and actual numbers. The paper makes a big deal of the fact that I have claimed 2,700 members when the number reported to the G.A. in 2005 was 2,665. I was rounding numbers, and this 2,700 was almost a year after the 2005 report. As their paper says elsewhere, the Kirk has never shown a year with a decline in membership. When the EOP lawyers demanded our membership rolls, they received between 2,300 and 2,400 names. This is because we removed the out-of-town members as well as inactive members. However, the PCUSA includes these non-active names in their ‘official’ numbers, and the EOP has used this number to assert that these people are opposed to the Kirk’s disaffiliation.”
All of this, Gray said, “boils down to the AC’s assertion that there is a ‘true church’ loyal to the PCUSA that should receive the Kirk property. How they will do this as members of other churches, or even if they want the property, is not addressed.”
The administrative commission’s report also states that, “Reports have been received by the AC of Kirk members who have been strongly discouraged from talking to anyone in the EOP and of Kirk members who suspect there is a larger percentage of members who would like to remain in the PCUSA but are fearful of speaking up because there has been too much intimidation and outright shunning of those who have spoken up against the move toward ‘disaffiliation’ or who have left the church.”
“Of course,” Gray said in response, “the Kirk has never intimidated its members or shunned anyone. I believe that people at the Kirk will find the above description of intimidation and alienation to be utterly false.”
Craig M. Kibler is the Director of Publications for the Presbyterian Lay Committee and Executive Editor of The Layman and The Layman Online. He can be reached at cmkibler@www.layman.org.