Meeting in Canton, Ohio on Saturday, January 9, the Muskingum Valley Presbytery of the PCUSA voted by a 2-1 margin to dissolve the relationship of the Rev. Dennis Allison and First Presbyterian Church in Mansfield, Ohio, despite objections from the congregation and its leadership.

An Administrative Commission had been appointed by the Presbytery in December of 2008 based on a list of accusations against the pastor and Session and gave their final report on Saturday. Complaints dealt with by the Commission included conflict within the congregation, declining membership and financial support, as well as concerns over the churches handling of financial matters.

However, the Commission’s full report, which was also approved Saturday by a voice vote on Saturday, found ‘no evidence of malpractice, corruption or wrongly intentioned ministry’. Rather they based their recommendation upon ‘evidence that the church is in a conflict which is not resolving itself and needs a change in its pastoral leadership.’

In written submissions to the churches of the Presbytery, the Session of the church stated their ‘fear that the course of action followed by the AC was based upon erroneous information, manipulated by a few dissatisfied persons, and may have been undertaken with a predetermeind outcome in mind, thus tainting the process.’

First Mansfield’s congregation survived and recovered from widely publicizsed sexual abuse allegations and convictions nearly 20 years ago involving members of the church. Though none of the staff at that time were involved, the entire ministerial team resigned and the church lost half of its attendees. Lawsuits also haunted the church in the years that followed.

Pastor Allison arrived in 1994 and has been dealing the remaining grief and lack of trust since then. However, according to Allison and the Session, the church ‘continues to recover from the tragic events and is gaining ground.’ “Our membership is holding and we’re strong financially,” Allison said. “We were doing fine until the meddling came up.”

In a recent sermon preached to the congregation dealing with the Presbytery issues, Pastor Allison speculated that the fact that First Mansfield is a conservative congregation in a denomination that’s growing more liberal’ may have had some influence in the Presbytery’s decisions. The church is a member of the Confessing Church Movement within the PCUSA.

After the vote to dissolve the pastoral relationship was passed, the Presbytery voted to not move forward with the formal action until time has been allowed for an appeal process.