Florida PCA presbytery suspends pastor

The Central Florida Presbytery of the Presbyterian Church in America, or PCA, on Thursday suspended Burk Parsons from ministry. He is the senior pastor of Saint Andrew’s Chapel in Sanford, Fla., where he served under Reformed theologian R.C. Sproul before Sproul’s death. Parsons is also a Ligonier Ministries teaching fellow and edits its Tabletalk magazine.

Why was Parsons suspended? The church court found that Parsons was “harsh, ungentle, and unkind” toward those under his care and ruled that his leadership style left some “intimidated, bullied, and/or afraid,” according to its written decision. The commission reached its unanimous verdict after 45 hours of trial proceedings and testimony from 55 witnesses. The report did not include specific examples of his actions. It also noted that one of the six original charges was dropped during proceedings. The commission found him not guilty of two of the five charges it considered.

What are the terms of Parsons’ suspension? The presbytery barred him from preaching, teaching, administering the sacraments, and participating in church courts until he shows evidence of repentance, it said. Ligonier Ministries noted in a statement that Parsons had pleaded not guilty to the charges and that he intends to appeal the verdict through the PCA’s judicial channels. He will continue his work with Ligonier during the appeal process. “These are not criminal matters nor severe moral failings, such as sexual or financial sins,” the ministry said in its statement. “Ligonier seeks to honor the church and its disciplinary authority at local, regional, and national levels, so our board will await the outcome of the appeal and the actions of the Session of Saint Andrew’s Chapel.”

What similar PCA actions occurred recently? The denomination’s administrators accepted the resignation of a top leader one week ago. Bryan Chapell, who served as the PCA’s stated clerk before resigning, started a controversy last month during an interview on The Gospel Coalition’s Gospelbound podcast. Chapell held up a Post-it note with a list of pastors written on it and said they had all left their families, or the faith, or taken their own lives. Chapell posted a public apology and resigned after calls for an investigation into his behavior.

Dig deeper: Read Zoe Miller’s report for more details on the Bryan Chapell controversy.

Editor’s note: WORLD has updated this report since its initial posting to include a statement from Ligonier Ministries.