 Heartland Presbytery Presbytery defrocks suspended pastor of Kansas church that voted to leave PCUSA By Patrick Jean Staff Writer The Layman Online Wednesday, December 26, 2007 Heartland Presbytery has defrocked the suspended pastor of a Kansas congregation that sought to be dismissed from the Presbyterian Church (USA) to the Evangelical Presbyterian Church.
"I'm going to become the pastor of the Lighthouse Church, and just move on," Johnston said. That new church will officially affiliate with the EPC on Jan. 27, he said. Johnston's former congregation, First Presbyterian Church in Paola, Kan., struggles on without him. The church's Web site no longer has any references to Johnston and states that it is "currently being updated." The church's December newsletter lists the names and e-mail addresses of administrative commission members who are acting as the church's session. It also reports a dramatic drop in attendance since Johnston's removal: The church had more than 500 members under Johnston's leadership, but worship attendance was only 76 on Nov. 18 – the first Sunday without Johnston – before rising to 86 on Nov. 25 and 91 on Dec. 2, the most recent date for which attendance figures are available.
On Dec. 7, Johnston was informed of the Dec. 18 presbytery meeting in both an e-mail from the presbytery and a letter from Ellison. 'Cutting out' Johnston Audio recordings of the Dec. 18 presbytery meeting were obtained by The Layman Online. The two recordings total almost three hours. Part one covers the opening remarks; the committee on ministry's report by Ellison; Johnston's rebuttal; and debate on the first action item. Part two covers the vote on the first action item; debate and votes on the other two action items; and approval of Ellison's motion to change the effective date of the first two action items. The meeting opened with prayer and remarks by the Rev. Charles W. Spencer, executive presbyter. He said he wanted to speak from 1st Samuel 8:1 through 2nd Samuel 5:16, which deal with the rise and fall of King Saul. But because of time constraints, he read instead from 1st Chronicles 10:13-11:3, which he said summarizes the same story. He also read from Luke 13:6-9, which tells the parable of a fig tree that is not bearing fruit. "In my mind, we are today here to facilitate a transition in the ministry of one of our congregations and one of our pastors," Spencer said. "This is the type of work for which our presbytery exists, and with which we often have a role in guiding both congregations and pastors." The parable of the fig tree applies to congregations in pastoral transition, he said. "I think these pastoral transitions are an excellent time for our congregations to look at themselves, to dig around their lives and to dig around in their church, and to see what there is that may need pruning or fertilizing – or even cut out." In presenting the committee on ministry's report, Ellison pointed out that there are two ways a minister can renounce jurisdiction in the PCUSA:
Johnston makes his case Johnston then had 15 minutes to make his case. "I'm not here to ask you to keep me a member of Heartland Presbytery," he told commissioners. "I'm not here even to get in the way of lunch. I am here to ask you to hold your leadership accountable, to remove me rightly. Not by e-mails. Not with three days' notice, thinking that's enough. Not with no stated reasons in letters that don't give reasons for administrative leave. Not by threats to withhold benefits and pay retroactively. I ask that matters happen as they should – in the light of day, according to the Book of Order, according to Heartland personnel policies, as brothers and sisters in the Lord."
Johnston said he never became the pastor or even an employee of Lighthouse Church, and that he honored the terms of the administrative leave. "Why am I threatened retroactively?" he asked. "If you remove me today, as is your right, pay me till today. Allow my benefits to stand today. Why is no one from presbytery saying, 'Kirk, you get 30 days' benefits. Hey, I'm sure you're pretty concerned about your family at Christmas, and I'm sure you're pretty concerned about benefits. Here's what your rights are.' Never. Not once." "If I've earned severance, pay it. If you don't want to, don't. There are rights – we'll deal with them," he said. "But I've not renounced jurisdiction. I've not indicated that I'd like to leave. I've not taken myself out of your discipline and authority. I come before you today acknowledging your authority."
"We are here because the session of the Paola church and I have asked some hard questions – and these questions remain," Johnston said. "If I am to be strained from you today like a gnat, then so be it, but do it in the light. And I will not go without pointing out the camel that your local and national leadership have been asking you to swallow (Matthew 23:23)." Johnston argued that the PCUSA has "renounced the once-clear message that Jesus is Lord, head of the Church, sole means of salvation and only name under heaven by which a man may be saved. When the purity of Christ is questioned, I find, like the reformers, it's necessary to challenge the peace," he said. "In honor of Christ, I call the PCUSA back to her first love - a wholehearted obedience to Christ and dependence on God the Father, the Son and the Holy Spirit," Johnston told presbytery commissioners. "I call you up to complete and unashamed reverence to Jesus as the unique and reliable and authoritative witness of God for matters of faith and practice. I call you out to a whole-bodied reverence for God's Word so that, together, we pursue righteous and obedient living. I call you to unshackle the means of grace and let the full Word of Christ dwell in us richly. I call you to reject leadership that does not extend pastoral care." Debate, voting follows Debate for and against the first action item followed for about an hour, with several attempts to amend or substitute the motion failing because no one seconded them. After presbytery commissioners approved determining that Johnston "persisted in a work disapproved" by the presbytery and directing the stated clerk to remove his name from the roll and take "such other actions of an administrative character as may be required by the Constitution," they turned their attention to the second action item. Ellison made the argument that Johnston is functioning as pastor of Lighthouse Church outside the PCUSA, and the Rev. Leslie King, chair of the Paola administrative commission, made a seven-point argument for disagreeing with Johnston's contention that he is Lighthouse Church's "guest pastor:"
He urged presbytery commissioners to read all of the materials provided for the meeting and ask themselves, "Is this pastoral care? Is this how we want to do business?" Johnston also questioned why there should even be debate when he'd already been defrocked. "The question now becomes, 'Is this the way you're going to continue in my absence?'" he said. "I'm the gnat. I'm gone. Beware the camel." Debate for and against the second item continued for about 30 minutes. Proposed language that would have dismissed Johnston to the EPC "effective upon the reception of the call of that denomination or any affiliated body" was ruled out of order as both a substitute motion and an amendment, but a second amendment – which added the sentence, "The presbytery precedes in this action with a sad heart, and offers its prayers for God's grace and blessing in the future ministry of A. Kirk Johnston" – met with presbytery commissioners' approval. They then approved determining that Johnston "accepted membership of any character in another denomination" and directing the stated clerk to remove his name from the roll and take "such other actions of an administrative character as may be required by the Constitution." Commissioners then turned to the third action item. A question was raised from the floor about the legality of determining whether Johnston's activities with Lighthouse Church are disapproved, since Johnston had already been defrocked. The stated clerk and moderator ruled that it was legal, and the ruling withstood an appeal. Debate for and against the third action item lasted only a few minutes before the vote took place. Presbytery commissioners then approved determining that Johnson's activities with Lighthouse Church "or any other worshipping community within the geographic bounds of Heartland Presbytery – including, but not limited to, preaching, leading worship, or the administration of sacraments of baptism or the Lord's Supper – is disapproved." The presbytery's Web site reports that Johnston has been removed from the PCUSA ministerial roll and summarizes the Dec. 18 meeting. It states: "The presbytery did their work with faithfulness and diligence, listening to the committee on ministry and the administrative commission's report and Rev. Kirk Johnston's responses to those presentations." 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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