Posted on 12/15/2025 3:36:19 PM PST by Morgana
Saint Andrew’s Chapel, a prominent Presbyterian Church in America (PCA) congregation in Sanford, Florida, overwhelmingly voted to leave the denomination just two years after joining it, with the final tally 669–108.
One of the largest PCA churches in the country, with more than 1,100 members, Saint Andrew’s was formerly led by the late R.C. Sproul.
The decision to disaffiliate comes months after senior pastor Burk Parsons was suspended indefinitely from the pulpit after being found ‘guilty ‘of unbecoming pastoral conduct by the PCA’s Central Florida Presbytery. Parsons previously plead guilty to similar charges in 2019 and received admonition at that time.
Many members have criticized the disciplinary actions against their pastor, however, describing the charges as spurious and unfounded.
It was originally thought the church would wait for Parsons’ appeal of his suspension before acting, but they ultimately proceeded with the vote this past Sunday, with 86% deciding to depart.
In addition to the charges against Parsons, the church faced criticism from the presbytery over a lack of financial transparency with members. The church reportedly refused multiple requests from members to provide them with financial statements detailing expenses and the salaries of the Teaching Elders and staff.
Getting nowhere with the church, member Doug Risavy filed a complaint with the Central Florida Presbytery. The presbytery formed a commission and, after investigating, agreed with the requesting members that Saint Andrew’s needed to provide the budget information requested. The commission pointed out that the church’s own bylaws pledged to provide this information to members when asked, and then proceeded to educate the newly inducted church that financial transparency was central to Presbyterian governance.
Despite the rebuke and instruction, Saint Andrew’s declined to comply or participate further.
Now independent of the PCA, the church has not yet finalized whether it will remain unaffiliated or join another conservative Presbyterian denomination. They’ve sent letters to members outlining possible next steps under consideration.
I hope I’m wrong, but it sounds like corruption.
Maybe they were predestined to leave the PCA.
found ‘guilty ‘of unbecoming pastoral conduct...
>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>.
Could any Freeper explain what constitutes “unbecoming pastoral conduct”?
Great obscure historical reference. Presbyterian here. And I appreciate the jab.
- Being harsh, ungentle, and unkind to those under his care or with whom he interacts
- Not being a humble servant leader but instead “lording it over others” (i.e, autocratic) and being domineering, contentious, and quarrelsome/pugnacious in his leadership so that those in his care and in his “leadership orbit” were intimidated, bullied, and/or afraid
- Slandering and/or demeaning other servants and churches of our Lord
I grew up in the Presbyterian Church and recall years ago hearing a comedian joking about predestination by saying "Presbyterians only have to to rotate their tires to get into Heaven."
Don't have a ready copy of the "Book of Church Order"
Pastor here had a long series on church governance in adult SS. He recommended just getting the BCO app in g00gle play store or apple store.
(For those not PCA, the Book of Church Order gets tweaked fairly frequently, from year to year, as things come up and get decided at General Assembly. The joke is it needs to be a loose leaf binder.)
but the specific accusations against the pastor are...
There's also St. Andrews not being up front with the members with the financials.
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