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From the February 21, 2007 Storm Lake Times © 2007 Storm Lake Times

Schism over gay ministers leads to lawsuit

Presbyterian church in Linn Grove broke off from parent

BY TINA DONATH

A lawsuit filed Friday in Buena Vista County District Court will ask a judge to decide who owns the Riverside Presbyterian church and parsonage in Linn Grove.

The 124-member Linn Grove congregation, with the approval of its pastor, Russell Westbrook, voted last July to secede from the 2.4 million-member Presbyterian Church (USA). Riverside Presbyterian Church, Westbrook says, is now affiliated with the more conservative, 350,000-member Presbyterian Church in America.

In the civil suit filed Feb. 16, the local unit of Presbyterian Church (USA), Prospect Hill Presbytery, claims the church assets and property.

At issue in the suit is ownership of the Linn Grove church building, built in 1917, its 19th-century parsonage, and church records, including membership records.

The deed to the land, Westbrook says, acknowledges that the church and parsonage – known to Presbyterians as “the manse” – belong to Riverside Presbyterian Church. So does the Presbyterian organization with which the local church is now affiliated.

In the lawsuit, the Presbyterian Church (USA) commission claims that under church law, when property ceases to be used by a particular church, it comes under the control of the presbytery. In this case, ownership would revert to the Storm Lake-based Prospect Hill Presbytery, which covers northwest Iowa.

Plaintiffs in the suit are Prospect Hill Presbytery of The Presbyterian Church (USA), and Rev. Duane Queen, as Chair of the Administrative Commission appointed by the Presbytery to deal with the Linn Grove situation. Representing the plaintiffs is Storm Lake attorney David Patton.
 
The suit notes that Riverside Presbyterian Church Pastor Russell Westbrook, the local church governing body known as the Session and Session clerk Dennis Sievers “failed to deliver possession of the Riverside Presbyterian Church building, manse, personal property, accounts and records. ”

The lawsuit asks the court for an injunction that would return any and all church property and records to the presbytery, along with damages. The injunction also calls for the court to give Presbyterian Church (USA) access to the Linn Grove pulpit.

The governing body of Linn Grove’s Riverside Church, known as the Session, voted last June to recommend succession from Presbyterian Church USA. In July, church members voted 74 to 0 to leave the larger organization with which it had been affiliated for more than 50 years to join the more conservative and much smaller Presbyterian Church of America.

“The tip of the iceberg,” Westbrook says, was the decision by the larger Presbyterian organization to ordain homosexuals into the ministry, provided that the local presbytery allows it.

More generally, Westbrook says, the issue was deviation from Presbyterian belief in the inerrancy of the Scriptures. For example, he says, the larger Presbyterian organization allows reference to the Trinity using the feminine imagery of “Mother, Child and Womb.” Contrary to Christian teaching, he says, position papers acknowledge that “while Jesus Christ is our Savior, God can be reached through other religions.”

The suit claims that under church law, a local church has no unilateral right to leave the 2.4 million-member, 11,000-congregation Presbyterian Church (USA) or its presbytery.

Only the presbytery can sever the relationship between the individual church and the national organization, the plaintiffs note. The presbytery is to appoint an Administrative Commission to settle any differences or schisms.
 
This was done. The Administrative Commission, with Rev. Duane Queen as chair, was empowered to fire Pastor Westbrook, to determine if there are any church members who wish to remain a member of the larger church organization and to make a recommendation concerning church property and assets.

The commission placed Pastor Russell Westbrook on “administrative leave” last August. Westbrook, in defiance of a commission directive, continued to act as pastor of the Linn Grove congregation, leading Sunday services and communicating with members.

The commission dismissed Westbrook on Sept. 8, giving him notice that he was either to vacate the parsonage or start paying rent. At the same time, the commission gave notice that the Session was to supply membership records.

Now a civil suit has been filed, petitioning the court to decide who owns the church property and records, Riverside Church or Prospect Hill Presbytery.

There’s one final turn of the screw.

The 1917 Linn Grove church building is not handicapped accessible. It would cost about $80,000 – more than the building is worth – to make it such, Westbrook says. Through a grandfather clause, Riverside Presbyterian is excluded from the accessibility requirement. With a change of ownership, he says, the exclusion would no longer apply.

Westbrook, in speaking of this eventuality, says it may come to represent “the blessings of God through persecution.”

© 2007 Storm Lake Times

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