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07145 March 13, 2007
Presbytery declares Tulsa church to be in schism
Reconciliation efforts fail with 2,600-member Kirk of the Hills
by Jerry Van Marter
LOUISVILLE - Conceding that efforts to reconcile with its second-largest congregation have failed, Eastern Oklahoma Presbytery on March 6 declared Kirk of the Hills Presbyterian Church to be in schism with the Presbyterian Church (U.S.A.).
"The presbytery today expressed a deep sadness over the loss of one of our congregations and the sense of division which plagues our denomination and so much of Christ's church," said Eastern Oklahoma Presbytery executive the Rev. Greg Coulter.
The schism declaration came in response to a report from an administrative commission that was appointed by the presbytery in September 2006, shortly after the congregation voted to follow the lead of its session and pastors and bolt the PC(USA) for the Evangelical Presbyterian Church (EPC).
Doug Dodd, moderator of the commission said that "over six months of efforts to achieve reconciliation and determine the nature of division" had failed.
In August, Kirk of the Hills pastor Thomas W. Gray explained on his blog why the congregation was leaving: "We at the Kirk are holding to what Scripture clearly teaches," he said. "The PCUSA has left this critical foundation. We, therefore, no longer recognize the authority of the PCUSA over any congregation that chooses to hold to the traditional authority of Scripture, as once held by the PC(USA)."
Two weeks before the congregation's Aug. 30 vote to "disaffiliate" from the PC(USA), Gray and the church's associate pastor, the Rev. Roger Wayne Hardy, renounced the jurisdiction of the PC(USA) and sought reception by the EPC.
At that time, the Kirk session also dissolved the congregation's existing corporation and reincorporated as an independent corporation. The session, acting as the corporation board, then hired Gray and Hardy as pastors and filed suit in civil court to gain ownership of the church's property.
The presbytery, again on the recommendation of its administrative commission, authorized its trustees to protect the presbytery's property rights over Kirk of the Hills. The PC(USA) Constitution states that church property is not owned by a particular congregation but is held in trust for the denomination.
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