Embattled church property on the auction block
The Layman, March 12, 2010
Less than a year after the members of Oakfield Independent Presbyterian Church (OIPC) gave up fending off the Presbytery of Genessee Valley’s claims on its property, the church and manse will be auctioned off March 18 in Oakfield, N.Y.
The bidding for the $398,000 property starts at $20,000, and there’s a $5,000 option on the contents of both the church and manse. The former property owners walked away in May 2009 after years of battling the presbytery, which argued its rights based on the PCUSA’s “trust clause.”
A ruling in 2008 and a rejected appeal in 2009 both favored the presbytery, which claimed ownership of the property after Oakfield disassociated with the PCUSA in 2007. The remaining members of the congregation surrendered the property to the presbytery after the appeal was denied.
Attorney Don Nichol told The Layman in 2009 that the group could not carry forward and that most of the former OIPC members had moved on to form a new congregation.
“To me it’s a sad case because in essence the court, by deciding what it did, destroyed the local church,” said Nichol, who represented Oakfield in the case. “There’s no question that not a penny came from the presbytery. They did not put a penny into it.”
The Oakfield Community Bible Church, founded by approximately 70 former members of OIPC, met at the Oakfield Fire Department and in October began meeting at the Oakfield Rod and Gun Club, according to an article in The Batavian blog.
Anyone interested in bidding on the 11,740-square-foot 1890 church building and neighboring manse can get a peek inside during open houses from 10 a.m. to 12 p.m. on March 13 and March 17. The winning bidder will be required to make a $10,000 deposit at the auction.