Evansville congregation extends response time
EPC no longer
defendant in suit pitting
presbytery, synod against Indiana church
By Patrick Jean
Staff Writer
The Layman Online
Tuesday, August 21,
2007
The Evangelical
Presbyterian Church no longer is a defendant in a property ownership
lawsuit brought by the Presbytery of Ohio Valley and the Synod of
Lincoln Trails against an Indiana church that left the Presbyterian
Church (USA) for the EPC.
The EPC was one of two defendants in the
lawsuit,
which was filed
July 2 in Vanderburgh County Circuit Court in Evansville, Ind. The
remaining defendant is Olivet Evangelical Presbyterian Church in
Evansville.
On the Web
Ohio Valley Presbytery has a
page
on its Web site about the lawsuit. The page features links to a news
release; letters from the Rev. Lorna Kuyk, executive presbyter, and
the Rev. Rob Allen, president of the board of trustees; and the
court documents.
Olivet Church's extension filing and the court order dismissing the
EPC from the lawsuit have not yet been included on the page.
Olivet Church does not have a Web site. |
Meanwhile, Olivet Church filed an
extension to
respond to the presbytery and synod's complaint. That was done July 24
with the hope that presbytery commissioners will "self-correct"
the lawsuit filing before the church files its response, said Brian P.
Williams, an Evansville attorney who represents the defendant and also
represented the EPC in the case. The lawsuit was filed without
presbytery commissioners' approval, he said.
The presbytery's next stated meeting is Aug. 24-25 at First
Presbyterian Church in Jasper, Ind. No action regarding the lawsuit is
on the
docket,
but an information session about the lawsuit is scheduled Aug. 24 and
the Rev. Lorna Kuyk, executive presbyter, said she will mention the
litigation in her "State of the Presbytery" report Aug. 25.
The church has until Aug. 27 to file its response to the lawsuit,
Williams said. The original response deadline was July 25, said Judy L.
Woods, an Indianapolis attorney who is part of the legal team
representing the presbytery and synod.
Dismissal pact breached,
lawsuit contends
The presbytery and synod contend in the lawsuit that because Olivet
Church assumed sole control over its property and is not using it for
the purposes of the PCUSA, it has breached the December 2006 agreement
that led to its dismissal to the EPC.
The litigation seeks a declaratory judgment in favor of the plaintiffs
and either of two orders. The first order would:
- 1. Declare "that all matters set forth herein above should
be decided and resolved according to the Constitution of [the]
Presbyterian Church (USA), and that by reason of the defendants'
breach or failure to meet the conditions set forth in the
resolution, the Olivet defendants remain subject to the governance
of the Presbyterian Church (USA)."
- 2. Impose "a constructive trust on the interests in favor
of the presbytery, until such time as the matter can finally be
resolved in the ecclesiastical courts of the Presbyterian Church
(USA)."
The second order would:
- 1. Declare "that the defendants have no right, title or
interest in the interests, including the property, personalty and
accounts and any proceeds therefrom."
- 2. Impose "a constructive trust on the interests in favor of
the presbytery, determining that any interest held by any defendant
is one held in trust for the Presbyterian Church (USA), and holding
the defendants responsible for rent and any and all damages to and
diminution in value of the interests since the Olivet Church's
disassociation from the Presbyterian Church (USA)."
- 3. Grant "quieting title to the property in favor of the
presbytery and against the defendants."
- 4. Require the defendants "to convey unconditionally to the
presbytery as trustee for the Presbyterian Church (USA) all of
defendants' rights, titles and interests in the interests."
- 5. Grant "an order of replevin in favor of the presbytery
and against defendants for the personalty." (A replevin is a
legal form or action typically used to recover possession of
specific personal property unlawfully withheld from a plaintiff.)
- 6. Require "an accounting of the accounts for … funds
received by the defendants before and after Dec. 7, 2006, or
relating to, arising from, or which are proceeds of the interest,
and awarding all such amounts to the presbytery."
- 7. Award the plaintiffs "their attorneys' fees, costs and
expenses incurred in connection herewith."
- 8. Grant the plaintiffs "all other relief at law or in
equity to which they are entitled."
The case has been assigned to Judge Carl A. Heldt, Woods said, but
does not yet have a hearing date.
No EPC claim on property
Heldt dismissed
the EPC from the lawsuit July 30. His one-page order did not include an
explanation for his decision. The denomination had filed a disclaimer of
interest in the case.
"As a denomination, the EPC does not have a constitutional or
legal claim to local church property," the Rev. Dr. Jeffrey
Jeremiah, executive pastor and stated clerk of the EPC, said in an
e-mail to The Layman Online. "Our constitution declares that among
'the rights and privileges that are irrevocably reserved' to a viable
local church is 'ownership of its own property' (Book of Government,
chapter seven, sections 1 and 4)."
"On behalf of the Evangelical Presbyterian Church, I am
very grateful that we have been dismissed from the lawsuit filed by the
Presbytery of Ohio Valley (PCUSA) against Olivet Evangelical
Presbyterian Church," Jeremiah said. "We were surprised when
the EPC was named as a defendant in this lawsuit. Olivet was dismissed
by the Ohio Valley Presbytery to the EPC Midwest Presbytery in late
2006."
Pastor explains church's
stance
The Rev. David Mills, pastor of Olivet Church, has declined to comment
since the lawsuit was filed. But in an interview with The Layman Online
before the litigation began, he explained
why his church left the PCUSA and why his church would not take the
presbytery to court.
Mills cited a lack of commitment by the presbytery and the denomination
to the authority of Scripture that was cemented by the 217th General
Assembly's approval in June 2006 of the
report
by the Theological Task Force on Peace, Unity and Purity that keeps the
current ordination standards in the constitution, but allows those who
choose not to obey them to declare them to be non-essential. The
following month, 116 of the church's 185 members voted to request that
Ohio Valley Presbytery let Olivet Church go to the EPC with its property
and finances.
But a presbytery task force recommended that the church not be
dismissed with its property. Presbytery commissioners, acting on the
task force's suggestions, voted in December 2006 to dismiss Olivet
Church to the EPC, but placed three conditions on the dismissal:
- 1. "That the issue of the disposition of the church and its
real property be continued until the August 2007 assembly of POV
during which time, the trustees of the POV will lease the building
to Olivet for $1 and other considerations, subject to the church
maintaining all customary and required insurances and providing for
the proper maintenance of the building and property, and timely
payment of all debts and obligations."
- 2. "If a negotiated settlement is not agreed upon and
accepted by the above referenced POV assembly, the property may be
leased by the congregation at the current market value for such
space in Evansville, Ind., as determined by the average of two
independent assessments conducted by licensed leasing professionals,
for a period not to exceed one additional year.
- 3. "The congregation of Olivet will be responsible for all
costs incurred by POV for the process of negotiating and documenting
this transaction."
Mills disagreed with the presbytery over when the $1-lease plan was
supposed to go into effect. He said he felt the wording suggested
continuing disposition of the church and its property until August 2007,
but the presbytery wanted the church to sign the lease plan right away.
The Olivet Church session recommended that the church "respectfully
decline" to sign the lease plan, believing God has entrusted
stewardship of the property to the church rather than to the PCUSA,
Mills said.
He said his congregation would not file litigation for a declaratory
judgment because it would force the presbytery to make its case in the
civil-court system.
"We just feel that it would be ironic to leave the denomination
because we felt that they weren't following any sort of Scripture and
then disobey Scripture by taking our brothers to court," said
Mills, who has been pastor of Olivet Church for 14 years.
Patrick Jean is a staff writer for The Layman and The Layman Online.
He can be reached at pjean@layman.org.
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