St. Andrew’s Chapel in Sanford, Florida, Votes to Leave PCA

St. Andrew’s Chapel in Sanford, Florida, voted on Sunday, Dec. 14, to leave the Presbyterian Church in America (PCA). The vote was 669 to 108. The church was originally led by Dr. R.C. Sproul and joined the PCA in 2023. It first considered leaving over the summer but delayed the vote and referred the matter to its session, the board of elders, for study and a recommendation.

The church’s lead pastor, Burk Parsons, was suspended from his role as a teaching elder in the PCA in June. A church judicial commission found him guilty of three charges related to, among other things, a “domineering” and “intimidating” leadership style. The charges included accusations of bullying and slander. Parsons is appealing the decision to the denomination’s Standing Judicial Commission. He is also the chief editorial officer for Ligonier Ministries.

A letter to the congregation dated Dec. 5 said the elders had planned to wait until Parsons’ appeal was resolved, but that “recent developments” led them to act sooner. Those developments refer to the Central Florida Presbytery, the regional body of elders with authority over churches in its area, which issued the guilty verdict. In June, the presbytery also instructed St. Andrew’s to share its financial information with members who request it. The church had refused to do so before then.

The presbytery wrote that transparency is central to Presbyterian governance, which it described as a representative system of elders called and elected by congregations. It cited the PCA Book of Order, which requires that church proceedings be conducted openly, with minutes recorded and accessible to members.

St. Andrew’s leaders said the presbytery acted in ways that were more “disciplinary” than “pastoral.” They also objected to the release of a complaint to MinistryWatch, which they said “inflicted pastoral and reputational injury on our church and leadership.” The complaint was first released at the Aug. 19 presbytery meeting, when the body voted to make case documents available to members before its Oct. 14 meeting. The complaint, compiled by St. Andrew’s elder David Zima, was one of those documents and was sent to more than 200 elders. MinistryWatch later published the content of the report, which it had received from an anonymous source. The report included information about the reported compensation of the church’s pastors.

After the report became more widely known, a motion at the October presbytery meeting called on whoever shared the “confidential report” with MinistryWatch to “repent” for violating the peace and purity of the church. The motion failed, and St. Andrew’s elders said the outcome “deeply troubled” them. In their letter, the elders criticized Zima’s initial report and said it had been “withdrawn.” Zima told MinistryWatch that while the church said he had withdrawn it, the church did not tell the congregation that he had resubmitted an updated, revised version days later. Accounts of the report’s status differ, and the difference is part of the dispute.

After the vote, St. Andrew’s said it intends to “remain independent” for a season while studying possible future fraternal relationships with other churches. It said those relationships would be rooted in the Westminster Standards and open to cooperation with other confessional Reformed bodies. John Maynard, moderator of the Central Florida Presbytery, told MinistryWatch that the presbytery played no role in the congregation’s vote and that it immediately removed the church and its members from the PCA. He said he laments the departure but believes some in the presbytery may have wanted to “part ways” with the church and “move on.” Maynard, who attended the Sunday vote, said he did not detect any “hint of regret or sorrow” from the St. Andrew’s elders over Parsons’ guilty verdict. He also said he was saddened that the discipline had not “accomplished its purpose to produce fruits of righteousness,” a phrase he tied to Hebrews 12:11. Finally, he wondered whether the victims who testified at Parsons’ trial were disappointed by the result, since they had risked a great deal to come forward.

Source: Read the original report