Subscribe to RSS
"As for me and my house, we will serve the Lord." (Joshua 24:15)

Help This Ministry

Sign Up 

 For a free subscription to The Layman and/or our weekly e-mail news alerts, click here.

 

[Back to Listing]

Kirk-presbytery negotiations
at risk but still move forward

By John H. Adams, The Layman, Posted Tuesday, November 18, 2008

The negotiations between the Presbytery of Eastern Oklahoma and Kirk of the Hills Presbyterian Church for the Kirk’s purchase of its own property are stuck in a zone of bitterness.
 
The presbytery established a Nov. 15 deadline for the deal, in which the Kirk would pay the presbytery $1.75 million for a clear title to its property. But the negotiations are still proceeding – depending on the source.
 
The Rev. Tom Gray, co-pastor of the congregation that is now a member of the Evangelical Presbyterian Church, said in response to an email request, “We’re still in negotiations.” But Greg Coulter, the executive of the presbytery, announced in a news release that the “leadership of the Kirk of the Hills Corporation has declined to purchase the property.”
 
Coulter did not say the settlement had collapsed. But he blamed the Kirk’s leadership or its lawyers for jeopardizing the settlement. “It appears that the efforts of the Kirk congregation, PCUSA and Eastern Oklahoma Presbytery (EOP) to resolve the litigation and convey the property to the Kirk to continue its mission and worship have been thwarted by the Kirk leadership or its counsel despite the actions of the Kirk congregation.”
 
The congregation had voted to approve the settlement. The attorneys and Kirk leaders were committed to it. But a lawyer representing the Presbyterian Church (USA) in the two-year-old civil case announced that the PCUSA would not go along with the agreement unless the civil judge issued an order acceptable to the denomination.
 
Timothy Trump, one of the Kirk’s lawyers, said that demand “was never a part of the agreement between the Kirk, the EOP or the PCUSA. In fact, written and oral assurances were given to us by the EOP that the PCUSA had approved the settlement as voted on and agreed to by the EOP and the Kirk.  It is not advisable that we enter into a settlement only with the EOP since the PCUSA is a party to the lawsuit with claims against the Kirk.”
 
Tulsa District Judge Jefferson Sellers has written his final judgment that awarded the property to the presbytery. He affirmed the Oklahoma Supreme Court’s deference to hierarchical claims by church governing bodies that overrode congregational claims to their property. The Kirk’s claim was based on a more recent Supreme Court ruling that encouraged courts to use neutral principles of law to determine ownership in church property disputes.
 
One of the Kirk’s leaders told The Layman this week that the presbytery had failed to get assurance from the denomination and the synod not to press a claim against the property. He said lending institutions and insurers, having knowledge of the legal issues in this case, are reluctant to make commitments to the Kirk as long as the synod and PCUSA could be in a position to seize the property after a settlement.
 
“I deeply regret that we were misled about the PCUSA's approval of the settlement agreement. Please continue to be in prayer regarding the future of the Kirk. We will keep you informed of any changes or progress as it happens,” Trump said in a message to the Kirk’s congregation.
 
Sellers delayed the effect of his ruling until Dec. 1. That means that the congregation and staff will have to clear out of the building by 5 p.m. on Dec. 1 if the settlement collapses. .  

DISCLAIMER: The Layman Online is a news and information resource. We welcome letters and commentaries from readers. Letters and commentaries are selected for publication based on their clarity and brevity, subject to editing, and also are chosen to represent a diverse set of views on as many issues as possible. These letters and commentaries are provided as an informational service and do not necessarily indicate an endorsement by The Layman Online or the Presbyterian Lay Committee.