The complainant sought a stay of enforcement to suspend the Sept. 24, 2013, decision of the AC to assume original jurisdiction, citing a concern about the future of the church and consequences if the commission took control. The complaint alleged that serious irreparable and financial harm would result if FPC-Miami was under an AC’s direction.

A remedial complaint against the Presbytery of Tropical Florida (PTF) by five members of the former session of First Presbyterian Church of Miami dismissed by the Permanent Judicial Commission of the Synod of South Atlantic (SAPJC).

The complaint revolved around the assumption of original jurisdiction by an Administrative Commission  (AC) appointed by the presbytery to look into issues at the Brickell Avenue church that sought to enter the gracious separation process in 2012 to join ECO: A Covenant Order of Evangelical Presbyterians. The assumption of original jurisdiction, as outlined in G-3.0303 of the Book of Order, gives an AC full power and responsibility when it determines that a session cannot exercise its authority.

The Rev. Dr. Heahwan Rim, Synod of South Atlantic Transitional synod executive/stated clerk, confirmed that the Dec. 3, 2013, ruling in the case of The Session of First Presbyterian Church of Miami vs. The Presbytery of Tropical Florida reached by the SAPJC indicated that the session did not have standing to bring the complaint.

A matter of retaliation?

Jeffrey Hooper, who was relieved of his duties as clerk of session for FPC-Miami, said there was a belief that the presbytery granted original jurisdiction to the Administrative Commission as a form of retaliation for seeking dismissal from the Presbyterian Church (USA). The congregation voted in May 2012 to leave the denomination, but the process was halted in September 2012 when the presbytery revised its gracious separation agreement. FPC-Miami ultimately withdrew from the dismissal process.

PTF Administrator Amalie Ash said “punitive” retiribution had nothing to do with the decision of the AC to assume original jurisdiction. A belief that the session had not been keeping minutes and financial accountability in a proper way and had not adequately provided information that had been asked for by the AC was the basis for the action taken. Documents providing membership records, session minutes and fully audited financial information were not provided as requested, she said.

“The church had lost its way,” Ash said. “We have a polity with expectations of the way a church should be managed. There may be a belief that this action was taken because the church wanted to leave the denomination, but that’s not it at all. It was not punitive. We’re trying to get the church better managed. We’re not trying to take the church property or sell the property. We’re not the kind of presbytery that is heavy-handed. We’re just trying to do a good job and help our churches through some difficult times.”

Hooper maintained that the session was told on at least two occasions that the AC would not take jurisdiction only to see that very act take place.

“It revealed the bad faith behavior of the presbytery toward the FPC-Miami session,” he said. “My gripe is that they routinely do not follow their own procedures or the Book of Order.  We can’t have a meeting to oppose original jurisdiction because we cannot act as a session. They have made a mountain out of a mole hill and can’t show or prove the session is not capable of handling the affairs of the church.”

The first report from the AC to the presbytery in September showed investigation into receiving new members into the church, the specifications of a rental agreement with another congregation, movement of church funds to different financial institutions and concerns of too much authority vested in too few people.

Filing the complaint

Five members acting on behalf of the session of FPC-Miami filed the complaint with the Permanent Judicial Commission of the Synod of South Atlantic on Oct. 17, 2013, alleging that the Presbytery of Tropical Florida improperly granted original jurisdiction of the church to an Administrative Commission at the Sept. 24, 2013, presbytery meeting.

Allegations in the complaint charge that the action was taken in violation of the Book of Order and that action exceeded the authority of the AC as given in its original charge.

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