wfn.org | [PCUSANEWS] Pastor of Fifth Avenue PC is subject of investigation

[PCUSA NEWS <PCUSA.NEWS@ECUNET.ORG>]

Note #8876 from PCUSA NEWS to PRESBYNEWS:

05452
Sept. 1, 2005

Pastor of Fifth Avenue PC
is subject of investigation

NYC Presbytery looking into alleged relationship with church member

by Alexa Smith

LOUISVILLE - Fifth Avenue Presbyterian Church in New York City announced
Thursday that a presbytery committee is investigating its senior pastor's
alleged relationship with a married woman in the congregation.

	The Rev. Thomas Tewell was granted an administrative leave "effective
immediately," according to a two-page letter issued by the session and
addressed to members of the congregation. It also said that Fifth Avenue PC
is arranging pastoral care for its parishioners.

	The letter, dated Aug. 29, is signed by Dawson Horn III, clerk of
session.

	Tewell requested the leave after "serious allegations that were made
to him about the nature of his relationship with a married woman in our
congregation," the letter says.

	Tewell reported the allegations to Horn and to the church's personnel
committee.

	The Presbytery of New York City has appointed an investigating
committee to look into the allegations and decide whether any formal action
is warranted.

	Tewell, 56, and his wife, Suzanne, have been married for 35 years.
They have two grown sons. Tewell became senior pastor in 1994, after leaving
5,000-member Memorial Drive Presbyterian Church in Houston, TX.

	The session announced that:

	The Rev. Randy Weber is now acting head of staff;

	The church's four remaining pastors - Weber, Jan Ammon, Paul Rock and
Nora Tisdale - will share preaching responsibilities;

	Support and listening groups will be available to offer information
and pastoral care to congregants.

	The session's letter says it would be "ill-advised and inappropriate"
for parishioners to contact Tewell or his family directly. It urges
congregants to "pray that God's will be worked through this situation, and
that God's comfort and healing be felt by all of those affected."

	The Rev. Arabella Meadows-Rogers, the presbytery executive, said: "We
are proceeding with an investigation. I have trust in the presbytery's
processes that healing will emerge."

	Fifth Avenue Presbyterian Church is a landmark at Fifth Avenue and
55th Street. It has about 3,400 members and an annual budget of more than $6
million to support its programs of worship, cultural activities and
social-service programs. It is one of the biggest and most prosperous
churches in the Presbyterian Church (U.S.A.).

	Membership has doubled since Tewell's arrival 11 years ago.

	Tewell is a charismatic preacher who has said he spends about 20
hours a week working on his sermons, whose titles are often pithy and
provocative, such as "Sects in the City," a take on the hit TV series, Sex in
the City, and Extreme Makeover, a sermon about tithing.

	He is a graduate of Princeton Theological Seminary and has a doctor
of ministry degree from the Drew University theological school.

	In 2001, Tewell and the church were embroiled in a dispute with the
city that began when police began rousting homeless people from the steps of
the sanctuary. The church filed suit, and a federal judge ruled that homeless
people could sleep on the church steps at night. 

	The session said in its letter that its members and the staff of
Fifth Avenue Presbyterian Church have "deep faith that God's everlasting arms
are wrapped around us during this challenging time" and are "confident those
arms will never let us go."

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