Saint Andrew’s Chapel, one of the largest congregations in the Presbyterian Church in America, held a congregational meeting yesterday to consider its affiliation with the PCA. Instead of voting to remain or withdraw, the congregation referred the matter to the session to evaluate the situation and return with a recommendation. 

Prior to the congregational meeting, the elders of Saint Andrew’s Chapel provided the following statement to byFaith:

During May of 2025, the Session of Saint Andrew’s Chapel received over 180 letters from communicant members requesting a congregational meeting to consider withdrawing from the Presbyterian Church in America (PCA). On May 13, 2025, per BCO 25-2, the Session decided to call for a congregational meeting on July 20, 2025. 

According to BCO 25-11, a church may “withdraw from any court of this body at any time for reasons which seem to it sufficient, provided, however, the congregation is given at least thirty-days’ notice of any meeting where the congregation is to vote on a proposed withdrawal from the PCA.” Leading up to this member-initiated congregational meeting, two Q&A sessions were scheduled for members to hear from the Session and for the Session to listen to the members of Saint Andrew’s Chapel. We are trusting that Jesus Christ, as King and Head of the church, will continue to guide, lead, and protect His flock as we live each day coram Deo.

The church was started in 1997 as an independent congregation with R.C. Sproul serving as its founding minister. The congregation was received into the PCA in 2023. Since its founding, many of the church’s pastors have been members of Central Florida Presbytery. Even if a congregation chooses to leave the denomination, the membership of its pastors remains with the presbytery. 

The PCA’s Book of Church Order states that the relationship between a local church and the PCA “is voluntary, based upon mutual love and confidence, and is in no sense to be maintained by the exercise of any force or coercion whatsoever” (25-11).  Moreover, when the church votes to withdraw from the denomination, the church shall continue to “own and enjoy their own local properties, without any right of reversion whatsoever to any Presbytery, General Assembly or any other courts hereafter created, trustees or other officers of such courts” (25-9).

The session is scheduled to report before the congregation’s annual meeting in January 2026. In June, a Central Florida Presbytery judicial commission found Burk Parsons, the current senior pastor at St. Andrew’s Chapel, guilty on three charges and indefinitely suspended from his role as a PCA teaching elder. He is currently appealing the judgment.