 Presbytery of Western North Carolina Property ownership lawsuit authorized against Montreat EPC congregation By Patrick Jean Staff Writer The Layman Online Friday, November 2, 2007 LAKE JUNALUSKA, N.C. – With one of its officials saying he was "tired of banging my head against the wall" and that there was no hope for dialogue, the Presbytery of Western North Carolina has authorized filing a property ownership lawsuit against a congregation that it allowed to leave the Presbyterian Church (USA) for the Evangelical Presbyterian Church earlier this year. Presbytery commissioners, on a standing vote at their stated meeting Oct. 26 in Lake Junaluska, authorized taking legal action against Montreat Evangelical Presbyterian Church. They were acting on a recommendation from a task force that stated it "was unfortunately unable 'to work out a mutually acceptable settlement' concerning the church property in Montreat now currently 'held in trust' by presbytery 'for the use and benefit of the PCUSA.' " The Montreat EPC congregation, whose dismissal request from the PCUSA was granted at the presbytery's stated meeting April 24, has been sharing the church property with the "continuing" Montreat Presbyterian Church that was designated at the April 24 meeting as "the true church within the PCUSA." That meeting also saw presbytery commissioners voting to take possession of the church's property and create a task force to study the issue. Meanwhile, the Montreat EPC congregation insisted it owned the property outright under state law. North Carolina General Statute 61-2 covers church property. Titled "Trustees may hold property," it states: "The trustees and their successors have power to receive donations, and to purchase, take and hold property, real and personal, in trust for such church or denomination, religious society or congregation; and they may sue or be sued in all proper actions, for or on account of the donations and property so held or claimed by them, and for and on account of any matters relating thereto. They shall be accountable to the churches, denominations, societies and congregations for the use and management of such property, and shall surrender it to any person authorized to demand it.""Our intent is to try to be faithful," the Rev. Bobbi White, Western North Carolina's general presbyter, said in an interview Oct. 27 after the two-day stated meeting. "We were hoping not to go to court. That's why we set aside that six months to try to work together. It didn't happen. Our prayer is that the court of North Carolina expects us to go to mediation in the very beginning. We hope it will end there." AC chairman: PCUSA church needs space Before acting on the lawsuit recommendation, presbytery commissioners approved, by voice vote, receiving the report for the administrative commission for Montreat Presbyterian Church (PCUSA). The five-page report stated:
"We have many differences of opinion about theology, and there are also concerns … in regards to space," he said. "We as a commission have chosen not to deal with the issue of space because we think that is a presbytery issue. But we are strong PCUSA believers, and we have affirmed - and continue to, and have stated this to our friends in the EPC church – that we have felt that we should follow the Book of Order. "We need space," Rada said. "Our growth has been much more than we thought we would ever see this quickly, and so our need for the space is of concern to us." Discussions dismay COM chairman The Rev. Dr. Don G. Scofield Jr., chairman of the committee on ministry and pastor of First Presbyterian Church in Rutherfordton, addressed presbytery commissioners next. "The plan that we came up with for dismissal (at the April 24 stated meeting) was a two-part plan, and it was based on the pastor and session's promise from the Montreat Presbyterian Church to discuss the issue of property," he said. "Therefore, we encouraged people to vote for dismissal, and part of that dismissal decision was a six-month commitment to come up with recommendations regarding property." "We were a little dismayed, prior to that meeting, that we received a letter from the Montreat Presbyterian Church's attorneys," he said. "And we discovered that there was indeed a legal defense fund and that the Montreat church had entered into the legal process - not in terms of taking us to court, but in terms of hiring attorneys and moving in that way." Property meetings involved two representatives each from the Montreat EPC and PCUSA congregations; the Mountain Retreat Association, which runs the Montreat Conference Center; Montreat College; and the presbytery task force. Scofield said he hoped for an "open and honest" dialogue, but Montreat EPC representatives said property would not be discussed and their position never changed over a number of meetings. "At the end of those meetings, it was clear that there could be nothing brought forward to share with the special task force," he said. The Montreat PCUSA church's rights need to be protected, as does the denomination's mission in the Montreat community, Scofield said. He emphasized the part of the committee on ministry's recommendation that urged "all to pray that the mediation phase of the legal proceedings will lead to an agreement that is fair to all concerned and benefits Christ's Church." "Our desire is not to go to court," he said. "Our desire is to bring about some mediation, and we feel like we have exhausted all our attempts to achieve that mediation, and now we have to take another step. It's regrettable, but we feel that it is necessary at this time." Speakers for, against recommendations Discussion of the task force's recommendations began after Scofield's remarks. K.J. Foreman Jr., who said he is a member of the Montreat EPC church whose wife is a member of the Montreat PCUSA church, spoke against the recommendations. He emphasized that there was no animosity between the Montreat EPC and PCUSA members, and that both churches support the same missionary effort in places such as Japan, Mongolia and Africa. "If this motion is adopted to take legal action, the result will be different on a very wide scale: Lord, how these Presbyterians love (to get) each other in a legal fight over property," Foreman said. "The tapestry being woven between the EPC and the PCUSA locally" will be torn apart, he said. Tommy Burleson, of Fletcher Presbyterian Church in Newland, spoke for the recommendations. He likened it to planting a seed and waiting to watch it grow, and he told the story of a friend who wouldn't get the vaccinations and immunizations needed to be missionary in a Third World country. "He was excited at the beginning, but he wouldn't step out of his comfort zone," Burleson said. "I've been a sinner – I stepped out on God for three years – and it makes me realize that I have to step out of my comfort zone in order to be successful." The Rev. Bill Campbell, pastor of First Presbyterian Church in Hendersonville, spoke against the recommendations. "You know the old bracelets people used to wear: 'What Would Jesus Do?'" he said. I think Jesus would say, 'Bless them. Let 'em go with their property.' " Jim Henderson, an elder at the Montreat PCUSA church and a church representative on the presbytery task force, spoke for the motion. "In this case, we've been unable to reach middle ground and there's no way we'll even have an opportunity to discuss middle ground unless we get into the situation where the EPC church knows that the Presbyterians are serious about their property rights," he said. "Unfortunately, the only way we can prove that is to have an attorney and probably file an action in the courts of the state of North Carolina to bring about court-mandated mediation." Substitute motions fail After the discussion period ended, substitute motions were allowed. The Rev. Bill Serjak, pastor of First Presbyterian Church in Sylva and a member of the presbytery task force, proposed that the task force continue talks with Montreat EPC church representatives to work out a "mutually acceptable settlement" concerning church property, and that the task force report again at the presbytery's stated meeting in January 2008. Jerry Ragan, an elder at First Presbyterian Church in Belmont, spoke against Serjak's motion. He said the Montreat PCUSA congregation should not be penalized by gracing someone else with the church property without any dialogue simply because they say it belongs to them. "I think the committee has bent over backwards to try to stimulate dialogue, and that hasn't happened," he said. "And I don't understand what part of, 'Go jump in the lake' do we not understand?" Mimi Jamieson, an elder at First Presbyterian Church in Hendersonville, spoke for Serjak's motion. Any possibility that would keep the presbytery from going to court would be extremely helpful, she said. She also cited the historic Principles of Church Order from 1788, rather than Chapter 8 which covers property in the Book of Order. The 1788 principles state that private judgments which respect religion are universal and unalienable, and that no religious constitution should be aided by a civil power further than may be necessary for protection and security. Scofield responded to Jamieson's comments and expressed his frustration in an unusually frank tone. "I have worked on this for a year and a half now. I have met individually. I have met in small groups. And again and again and again, it's the same response," he said. "I'm tired of banging my head against the wall. I would love it if we could work something out, if I thought more time would do something. But I've sat with their session, I've sat with their pastor, and this is not an open discussion. It is not going to be an open discussion a week from now, a month from now, two months from now. They have made themselves very clear, abundantly clear, to me." A vote on Serjak's motion was called for after that. It failed on a standing vote. The Rev. Rob Hinman, pastor of First Presbyterian Church in Lenoir, then proposed a substitute motion that the presbytery "repent" of seeking to hold the presbytery and the PCUSA together through property ownership, and allow congregations to depart from the denomination "with the property and assets God has entrusted to that congregation." The Rev. Kevin Frederick, a member of the administrative commission from Black Mountain, spoke against Hinman's motion. "We have given every effort, every single effort. And as a member of the administrative commission, I know how much effort, and it has surprised me how far we've gone," he said. "But it has not produced the fruits that we were seeking, and I think we also need to remember that both the PCUS and the PCUSA have identified that the property is held in trust for the denomination. That's the issue here, much underneath everything else. This is Christ's Church, and we as Presbyterian Church (USA) members need to be supportive, as one said earlier, of our board and our polity. And this is an opportunity for us to do so." The Rev. Troy Braswell, pastor of Long Creek Presbyterian Church in Kings Mountain, opposed both Hinman's motion and what he called a "let go and let God" mind-set. "We're not seizing property," he said. "We're claiming it for the protection of the body that's worshipping there. This property does not belong to the EPC congregation; it belongs properly to this presbytery as expressed in the Montreat Presbyterian Church (USA) congregation. They are the legal successors to this property, if there is one besides us." "You want to let go and let God? Fine," Braswell said, his voice rising in anger. "Let go and let God have the property for the PCUSA congregation in Montreat, and let the EPC congregation come to them and talk. I'm tired of having this same debate every stinking time." A vote on Hinman's motion was called for after further discussion, but not before Hinman made a final plea. "We have an opportunity here to be bold and courageous to the full Church of Jesus Christ, and to keep this within the family of believers and not take it into the civil courts," he said. "That falls in our hands as the Presbytery of Western North Carolina. We have a path to avoid going to court." Hinman's motion was defeated on a standing vote. 'Forced to go into that situation' A vote on the task force's recommendations was called for immediately after Hinman's substitute motion failed. It passed on a standing vote. Here is the full text of the task force's report: A. "Reports that the Property Working Group authorized at presbytery's April 2007 meeting was unfortunately unable 'to work out a mutually acceptable settlement' concerning the church property in Montreat now currently 'held in trust' by presbytery 'for the use and benefit of the PCUSA."The presbytery has retained two attorneys – C. Frank Goldsmith Jr. of Marion and John W. Mason of Asheville – but has not yet gone to court, White said. Goldsmith also is handling the presbytery's defense against a property ownership lawsuit filed July 2 by First Presbyterian Church in Marion. "We don't feel that we're the only people using the court as a remedy," White said. "Montreat (EPC) had already hired attorneys; they've gone to court to register their name; they went to court to incorporate. Their claim is based on going to court and putting something in Buncombe County earlier. I feel kind of like we've been forced to go into that situation, and it's not where I want to go." EPC pastor: 'We own our building' On Oct. 26, The Layman Online posted an "open letter to the Presbytery of Western North Carolina" from the Rev. Richard White, pastor of the Montreat EPC congregation. In it, he addressed the property meetings and the possibility of legal action by the presbytery. The Montreat EPC session initially hesitated to commit to the property meetings "because they were framed by the presbytery's premise that the PWNC owned our building and we simply held it in trust for them," White said. "We stated at the first meeting that our presence did not admit agreement with their premise. We stated clearly to the group that we believed we owned our building, and in that light, we were very willing to discuss its use." The Montreat EPC session rejected two proposals concerning the property, White said: 1. The first, from PCUSA representatives, offered to sell the Henry Building within two years, divide the assets among Presbyterians in Montreat, and let the Montreat EPC congregation rent the building until it was sold."A more fundamental question was not being addressed – can there be two (Presbyterian) churches in Montreat?" White said. "There was never any consensus from the working group on this, and strong voices kept repeating that the only solution was that our church leave Montreat. Until the committee could agree as a whole that two churches had a place in Montreat, we felt we could not counter-propose anything." 2. The second, from the presbytery, requested 10 percent of the Henry Building for the needs of the Montreat PCUSA church."To do so would be to agree with their premise that they were the real owners of the Henry Building," White said. White disagreed with Scofield and other presbytery leaders who say the Montreat EPC church has been "uncooperative and even deceptive … regarding our property because we said we would talk about property, but we have not made a good-faith effort to do so. "That would be a true statement if we were in agreement with presbytery's premise that the property belonged to the denomination," White said. "But we have been very clear that we are operating out of a different premise – that we own our building, not the presbytery, and in that light we are willing to discuss others using it." White also disagreed with those who suggest giving the property to the presbytery and walking away. "The answer is that the session is seeking to be guided by vision and stewardship of resources," he said. "We are holding on to this building because we believe it is our duty before God to maintain it as a ministry tool to accomplish His work among our covenant children. To give this building away would be to forfeit our present ministry to children, youth and the unchurched that the Lord has given us in this place." 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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