Nashville PCA pastor deemed unfit for ministry over misconduct report, censure under appeal

Liam Adams, Nashville Tennessean
Updated ·5 min read
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The Nashville Presbytery deemed Nashville pastor Rev. Ian Sears unfit for ministry over allegations of sexual misconduct, though Sears has appealed a disciplinary censure before a higher denominational court.

A commission of the Nashville Presbytery — the regional authority for churches in Middle Tennessee affiliated with the Presbyterian Church in America (PCA) — deposed Sears, pastor at The Church of Grace Village, barring him from serving in ministry within the PCA. But the deposition, a form of discipline within the denomination, won’t take effect until the PCA’s highest court reviews an appeal Sears already filed.

An inquiry into Sears and the decision to depose him followed a misconduct report the Nashville Presbytery, according to a statement from abuse survivor advocate Ann Maree Goudzwaard on behalf of the woman. The Nashville Presbytery met for a special meeting on Tuesday to hear updates with Sears’ case.

The Church of Grace Village in Nashville , Tenn., where Rev. Ian Sears recently resigned as the pastor after the Nashville Presbytery — the regional authority for churches in Middle Tennessee affiliated with the Presbyterian Church in America (PCA) — deemed Sears unfit to serve in ministry. Sears has appealed a disciplinary censure with the denomination's highest court.

But the recent report about Sears’ alleged misconduct wasn’t the first. An initial report about Sears four years before raises larger questions about the Nashville Presbytery’s system of accountability.

“The HelpHer Ministry has been assisting an alleged victim who brought charges to the Nashville Presbytery regarding the allegation of sexual misconduct of her former pastor,” Goudzwaard said in a statement.

Goudzwaard, founder of HelpHer Ministry, a nonprofit advocating for abuse survivors primarily in the PCA, was an expert consultant for a PCA ad interim committee on domestic abuse and sexual assault.

Goudzwaard and the woman recently spoke with representatives of the Nashville Presbytery commission that conducted an inquiry into Sears and decided to depose him. That same commission presented similar information to Nashville Presbytery voting elders at a special meeting on Tuesday.

Most of the presbytery’s meeting on Tuesday occurred in executive session, meaning the discussion was not public. Nashville Presbytery stated clerk Rev. Neil Spence did not respond to a request for comment.

Presbytery voting elders are comprised of local pastors, called teaching elders, and ruling elders, who are lay leaders in local PCA churches.

The Rev. Dominic Aquila, a PCA pastor, is representing Sears as his counsel in the forthcoming case with the PCA Standing Judicial Commission, which is the denomination's highest court.

"He claims he is innocent of any allegations and we’re going to deal with that, as well as how the Nashville Presbytery went about handling it," Aquila said in an interview, commenting on Sears' behalf. "We have a every reason to believe we’re going to succeed.”

The Nashville Presbytery formed the special commission to investigate Sears after receiving a letter about Sears in February. The Tennessean obtained a copy of that letter.

That special commission “recently concluded that the allegations were credible and warranted a censure of deposition of the former pastor,” Goudzwaard said in the statement.

After the special commission rendered its judgment earlier this month, Sears resigned from The Church of Grace Village, Aquila said. Elders at The Church of Grace Village, which is located along Edmondson Pike in south Nashville, did not respond to a request for comment.

Prior report and questions about accountability

The February letter isn’t the first time the alleged victim reported Sears.

“This matter had been addressed unofficially in 2019 by the Nashville Presbytery Shepherding Committee but lacked formal resolution,” Goudzwaard said in a statement.

The Nashville Presbytery Shepherding Committee is a standing group comprised of presbytery voting elders that reviews complaints into pastors and recommends discipline. It’s different from the presbytery’s specially formed commission that recently investigated Sears and decided to depose him.

A committee can only review evidence and recommend discipline, whereas a commission can enact discipline outright.

When the presbytery’s shepherding committee received the 2019 report about Sears, Sears was serving on the shepherding committee, according to Aquila. But Aquila said Sears recused himself from the shepherding committee's review of the 2019 allegations.

Also, Aquila disputed Goudzwaard's description of how the presbytery's shepherding committee dealt with the 2019 report about Sears. "It was resolved," Aquila said. "It was said they didn’t find there was any legitimacy to the report that was given.”

Though Sears recused himself from the shepherding committee's specific review of that 2019 report about him, he continued serving on the shepherding committee. He eventually became the committee's chair up until early this year, when the Nashville Presbytery received the most recent report about Sears in February.

In other words, Sears led a committee to evaluate a minister’s misconduct despite the prior report about his own alleged misconduct. In fact, Sears was chair of the shepherding committee when it launched an inquiry into the Rev. Scott Sauls, senior pastor of Christ Presbyterian Church.

Sauls’ case is unrelated to Sears’ and revolves around different issues. Yet the two cases raises additional questions about the presbytery’s internal accountability mechanisms.

Rev. Scott Sauls, senior pastor of Christ Presbyterian Church in Nashville. The Nashville Presbytery's handling of an inquiry into Sauls for workplace issues at Christ Presbyterian has raised larger questions about the presbytery's system of accountability.
Rev. Scott Sauls, senior pastor of Christ Presbyterian Church in Nashville. The Nashville Presbytery's handling of an inquiry into Sauls for workplace issues at Christ Presbyterian has raised larger questions about the presbytery's system of accountability.

In Sauls’ case, neither the presbytery nor Christ Presbyterian has publicized official findings from the inquiry into Sauls, despite Sauls giving a public account. In both cases, the presbytery discussed most of the details in an executive session.

Sauls is currently on a disciplinary hiatus from Christ Presbyterian, a prominent, multi-campus congregation with its flagship campus at the Nashville/Brentwood line. The outcome of his case, specifically questions about transparency, hasn’t lived up to the hopes of former and current Christ Presbyterian staff who originally sought a true third-party evaluation.

With the outcome of Sears’ case, “the alleged victim appreciates the (Nashville Presbytery) commission’s efforts and looks forward to hearing how the Nashville Presbytery will further their investigation into the scope of the impact (per the recommendations of the DASA report) of the presumed misconduct of this pastor,” Goudzwaard said in the statement. The DASA report is a reference to the PCA ad interim committee on domestic abuse and sexual assault that Goudzwaard served on.

Goudzwaard added: “Her desire is the care for any other potential victims and those most closely affected by these circumstances.”

Related: Presbyterian Church in America rejects abuse response measures at Memphis annual assembly

Liam Adams covers religion for The Tennessean. Reach him at ladams@tennessean.com or on Twitter @liamsadams.

This article originally appeared on Nashville Tennessean: Nashville PCA pastor Ian Sears deemed unfit over misconduct report