Nashville Presbyterian churches navigate upheaval after discipline, resignation of pastors

The discipline and resignations of two Nashville-area Presbyterian pastors following controversy and scandal last year has left their former congregations in a state of upheaval, with one closing and the other restructuring amid turnover in key staff.

At the same time, one of those former senior pastors, the Rev. Scott Sauls, just left the Presbyterian Church in America (PCA), while the other senior pastor, the Rev. Ian Sears, is still fighting to reverse a judgment barring him from ministry in the same denomination.

Sears resigned from The Church of Grace Village in Nashville in September following a disciplinary review into allegations of sexual misconduct. Sauls resigned from the Christ Presbyterian Church, a prominent multi-site megachurch, in November after months of disciplinary leave over workplace conflict.

Their cases, though different, both exposed larger issues with clergy oversight and accountability in the PCA, especially at the congregation level and in the Nashville Presbytery — the regional authority for churches in Middle Tennessee affiliated with the PCA.

In the latest developments, the Nashville Presbytery met April 30 and decided to close The Church of Grace Village and it also canceled Sauls’ ordination credentials in the PCA, effectively allowing him to leave the denomination.

Sauls and the Nashville Presbytery did not respond to requests for comment. Christ Presbyterian declined to comment.

“With mixed emotions and too many meaningful memories to count, I request release from my ministerial call,” Sauls said in a March letter to the presbytery, according to a copy The Tennessean obtained. “I have begun exploring ordained membership in other biblically orthodox denominations whose polity makes provisions for these new realities.”

Sauls cited both a new professional trajectory and his views on women in ministry as reasons for leaving the PCA, a denomination through which Sauls gained national prominence partly due to his association with the late Rev. Tim Keller.

Sauls sought to embody many of the ideas associated with Keller, who was among the most influential figures in contemporary evangelical Christianity, at Christ Presbyterian through ministry initiatives such as the Nashville Institute for Faith and Work and Koinonia, a satellite campus that sought to engage a more diverse population of churchgoers.

But some of those plans deviated from Sauls’ original vision, either during Sauls’ tenure at Christ Presbyterian or afterward.

Koinonia became independent in 2022 and, more recently, left the PCA. In a similar fashion, the Nashville Institute for Faith and Work — a cohort-based fellowship program for Christ Presbyterian congregants and other community members alike — is spinning off as its own 501(c)3 nonprofit, an eleventh-hour solution to earlier news of the ministry’s shuttering. Christ Presbyterian announced the news of the institute becoming a nonprofit on April 29 after it said in February it was planning to suspend the ministry.

“The timing of this allows the church to focus resources and staff on other areas of ministry during this season,” the church said in a Feb. 15 bulletin. “Our church is experiencing a season of transition, through prayer and discernment over ministry priorities and our budget.”

The bigger picture: How cases of pastors Scott Sauls, Ian Sears highlight accountability issues within the PCA

Financial woes and turnover, restructuring and third-party review

Christ Presbyterian’s decision to offload the Nashville Institute for Faith and Work is one in a series of structural changes in response to financial woes and turnover in key staff positions.

According to community bulletins and emails, monthly giving has struggled to keep up with the budget and the church announced in March and April the departures of four high-ranking employees. Among those departures is executive director Doug Korn, who due to his role as second-in-command to the senior pastor was often involved in and the source of conflict with rank-and-file staff over Sauls’ leadership.

Former Christ Presbyterian staff shared with The Tennessean in a November report they experienced a hostile work environment that arose from Sauls’ personal actions but that intensified with other leaders’ inaction when those employees elevated their concerns. The church recently announced it was elevating other pastoral roles to the same level of authority as the executive director.

“This model demands trust, honesty, and humility,” said Christ Presbyterian leadership in an April 15 update. “We believe this refreshed model will enhance collaboration, strengthen our ministry, and ensure the growth of our church community.”

Christ Presbyterian is currently recruiting a new senior pastor and it hired a third-party firm to conduct an organizational assessment. The third-party firm, Align, has sent out two surveys and plans to interview dozens of current and former employees.

“I imagine for some of you there were reasons that you chose to leave,” Align principal consultant Will Gray said in a video to former Christ Presbyterian staff about the assessment. “I just want to say how sorry I am for whatever pain or suffering you may have experienced.”

Originally proposed by staff more than three years ago, the third-party review arose from dissatisfaction with an inquiry led by the Nashville Presbytery over questions of transparency and propriety. Adding to those concerns was the revelation that Sears, who chaired the presbytery subcommittee that led the inquiry into Christ Presbyterian, was facing his own discipline for allegations of misconduct.

A group of Christ Presbyterian deaconesses led a renewed push for a third-party review late last year, leading to Align’s recent hiring.

Christ Presbyterian deep dive: Scott Sauls envisioned Christ Presbyterian as a city on a hill. Why it didn't last

A new path for Sauls, more waiting for Sears

The controversial and high-profile nature of Sauls’ departure from Christ Presbyterian left him with limited prospects for future ministry in the PCA locally, though that’s not his stated reason for leaving the denomination.

Rather, Sauls said in his recent letter to the Nashville Presbytery that he now holds to an egalitarian view, referring to a belief that men and women are equally capable of serving in church leadership. As a conservative evangelical denomination, the PCA holds to the more traditional complementarian view, referring to a belief that men and women have certain assigned roles.

Sauls previously came under fire for his views on women in church leadership during his tenure at Christ Presbyterian when the church began appointing deaconesses, an attempt by some PCA churches to elevate women to leadership roles without violating PCA ordination standards.

Also, Sauls recently launched a new enterprise to coach leaders and pastors.

As for Sears, the former pastor of The Church of Grace Village is awaiting a hearing before the PCA’s highest court, called the PCA Standing Judicial Commission, in an attempt at overturning disciplinary action by the Nashville Presbytery. The Nashville Presbytery censured Sears with deposition, a form of discipline in the PCA barring a pastor from serving in ministry, following a report to the presbytery alleging Sears of sexual misconduct. Sears is appealing that judgment on procedural grounds.

A second woman, Tracy Wells, later came forward in The Tennessean alleging Sears of similar behavior in a 2004 case that resulted in the presbytery suspending Sears for six months. Sears has previously denied the allegations or allegations that his behavior was inappropriate.

The Rev. Dominic Aquila, a PCA minister representing Sears in the pending case before the PCA Standing Judicial Commission, said in an email Thursday he expects the court to take up Sears’ case by late summer.

A Nashville Presbytery committee stepped in to help lead The Church of Grace Village in the wake of Sears’ resignation, which ultimately led to the presbytery’s recent decision to close the church.

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

This article originally appeared on Nashville Tennessean: Nashville PCA churches face upheaval after Scott Sauls, Ian Sears left