Judge asked to issue summary judgment
Kirk of the Hills property dispute hearing on Aug. 28
John H. Adams, The Layman, August 18, 2008
Chronology for case
April 2006
The Presbytery of Eastern Oklahoma files affidavits in 62 counties intended to encumber all of the property owned by the presbytery’s congregations. One of the affidavits names the Kirk of the Hills Presbyterian Church, which, with 2,900 members, is the largest congregation in the presbytery.
June 19-22, 2006
The New Wineskins Association of Churches meets at Kirk of the Hills. Tom Gray, the Kirk’s senior pastor, tells the gathering, “Having clouded our title, the presbytery left us no option other than to respond in court.” He said the congregation had taken an initial step by adopting amendments to its corporate documents, affirming its absolute title and control of the property.
August 9, 2006
The Layman publishes “the Louisville Papers,” secret documents (legal and administrative) that were prepared by the denomination’s lawyers. They told Presbyteries to use strategies that included intimidation, confiscation of property, administrative commissions that would remove pastors and local sessions, and other strategies to prevent congregations from leaving the PCUSA with their property.
August 15, 2006
The Kirk’s session unanimously votes to recommend that the congregation approve a resolution to leave the Presbyterian Church (USA) and affiliate with the Evangelical Presbyterian Church. The presbytery’s affidavits and the “Louisville Papers” are cited as motivating factors.
August 16, 2006
Kirk files request for quiet title to church property in Tulsa County District Court.
August 30, 2006
More than 1,000 of the Kirk’s members attend the congregational meeting. The vote is 967-36 (96.4 percent approval) with eight abstentions in favor of the session’s resolution. The congregation also voted by acclamation to affirm Gray and Dr. R. Wayne Hardy as its pastors.
December 18, 2006
Presbytery’s response to Kirk’s claim to property.
March 6, 2007
An administrative commission established by Eastern Oklahoma Presbytery declared that the Kirk was “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, transferred, or sold by the presbytery.”
January 22, 2008
Kirk’s motion and supporting brief for summary judgment.
May 19, 2008
Plaintiff’s motion in support of motion for summary judgment.
August 28, 2008
Hearing scheduled before Tulsa District Court Judge Jefferson D. Sellars.
One of the most closely watched and longest-simmering property disputes in the Presbyterian Church (USA) may come to a conclusion this month.
Lawyers for the adversaries, Kirk of the Hills Presbyterian Church v. the Presbytery of Eastern Oklahoma, are scheduled to make their arguments on August 28 before Judge Jefferson D. Sellars in Tulsa County District Court. The Kirk has asked Sellars to issue a summary judgment. If he does that, the case would conclude unless appealed.
The stakes are high. The court has been asked to declare the rightful owners and users of the Kirk’s 100,000-square -foot sanctuary and education/fellowship buildings on 10 acres of prime real estate in Tulsa. The property is worth millions of dollars.
The choice boils down to 1) a private corporation that has the deed to the property and provides it to the Kirk’s majority or 2) the Kirk’s minority, the “true church” in the words of the presbytery.
For the time being, the presbytery is prohibited by a temporary restraining order from confiscating the property for its own financial gain or for the Kirk members who didn’t want to leave the PCUSA. The congregation voted 967-36 (96.4 percent approval) with eight abstentions to leave the mainline denomination and affiliate with the Evangelical Presbyterian Church.
The presbytery has sought to increase the number of “true church” members by contacting people on the congregation’s membership list.
The presbytery’s lawyers are arguing that, by renouncing the jurisdiction of the Presbyterian Church (USA), the EPC congregation has forfeited the right to own or use the campus. They claim the property trust clause in Chapter 8 of the Book of Order requires that the property be taken over by the presbytery for the benefit of the PCUSA. They say the Presbyterian Church (USA) is a hierarchical body in which the national governing body establishes the requirements for the whole church.
But, citing a number of recent cases involving church property disputes, the plaintiffs say the denomination has no right to enforce a trust clause that is not ratified by the people who bought and developed the church’s land and buildings. Furthermore, they contend that the Presbyterian Church (USA) is not a hierarchical denomination in which the national denomination can impose its will on the local congregations.