Settlement reached between
FPC-Mansfield, presbytery
The Layman, December 27, 2010
Nearly one year after voting to replace the staff of First Presbyterian Church in Mansfield, Ohio, which was followed by a remedial complaint to the Synod of the Covenant, the Presbytery of Muskingum Valley has reached a settlement with the congregation.
In the settlement, which was approved at a Dec. 7 presbytery meeting, both sides accept responsibility in the circumstances that led up to the vote and agreed on a plan to move forward.
The settlement rescinds actions approved Jan. 9, 2010, which would have dismissed the Rev. Dennis Allison and likely the remaining church staff. The administrative commission (AC) that recommended the action had investigated claims of conflict, membership losses, intimidation, and irregularities in membership rolls and financial records.
A busload of supporters crowded the presbytery meeting – and individuals from both sides of the debate made impassioned pleas to the presbytery. Adding to the emotional tone of the meeting was the fact that the congregation had survived a high-publicized sexual abuse allegation involving children nearly 20 years ago. Allison shepherded the congregation through its recovery and the lawsuits that persisted for many years after the tragic events.
After the meeting, in which the presbytery voted 2-to-1 in favor of dismissing Allison, the congregation’s leadership disputed the charges and claimed a violation of its due process rights in a complaint to the synod’s permanent judicial commission. The case never made it to trial.
The settlement acknowledges that the allegations against the Mansfield church’s leadership were unfounded, but said the congregation remains deeply divided with unresolved issues. The presbytery also took responsibility for not spending more time with the session to resolve the conflict.
“We further commit to listen carefully in the future to the concerns of the churches we serve as the presbytery, by committee or commission, mindful that the members of the particular churches are professing believers seeking to discern the will of Christ as well as we are,” the presbytery’s section of the settlement states. “We commit to caring for Mansfield First, respecting its rights of conscience and its endeavors to live out its corporate life as a church committed to the Gospel of Jesus Christ.”
The Mansfield congregation, in its statement, acknowledges that it did not receive the presbytery’s AC well, nor welcome its assistance.
“As a session, we have resisted what has been perceived as an attempted leadership coup by those members,” Mansfield’s statement said. “We recognize that our view of the AC’s work has not lined up with the intentions of the AC members in carrying out their duties, which at times may have been less than what the Biblical ideal calls us to do.”
The general presbyter (the Muskingum Valley lists Deborah Rundlett in that position, but the settlement does not mention a name) added a statement that offers high praise for the Mansfield pastor and leadership and promises that mistakes made in the process won’t happen again. The general presbyter also apologized for the places where the presbytery failed.
Final recommendations of the settlement include:
- Dismissal of the claims of error and irregularity pending in the Synod of the Covenant Permanent Judicial Commission, with the notation that the parties have settled and resolved the issues amicably.
- The AC’s work be concluded without further action, and that it be dismissed.
- The manual of operations be modified in a way to ensure that future ACs are fully and properly briefed as to the procedures to follow in the initiation and conduct of investigations, and that particular care be given to the procedures to follow in the event there is the possibility of the recommendation for the dissolution of a pastoral relationship.
- Modify the presbytery decision of Jan. 9, 2010 such that it is amended by and superseded by the settlement agreement.
- Allison will continue as pastor until the Mansfield First Pastor Nominating Committee (PNC) completes its work and a new pastor is identified and a transition period of no more than one month be afforded (or alternatively, if approved by session, the retention of an interim pastor). Additionally, it is strongly recommended that there shall be a suitable transitional package for a period of up to two years provided to Allison, or that Allison be permitted to retire honorably as a PCUSA pastor upon the dissolution of the pastoral relationship.