PCA Denominational Body Speaks Out About Nichols’ Excommunication
Central Florida Presbytery defended Stephen Nichols and David Zima as members in good standing at PCA churches.
The Central Florida Presbytery, a regional denominational body of the Presbyterian Church in America (PCA), issued a statement calling the excommunication of Ligonier Teaching Fellow and Reformation Bible College President Stephen Nichols from St. Andrew’s Chapel “improper.”
Stephen Nichols
The presbytery held a meeting on March 31 to discuss “recent public actions and communications affecting members of churches within our bounds.”
St. Andrew’s Chapel left the PCA in December after its pastor and Ligonier Teaching Fellow Burk Parsons was suspended from office by the presbytery for charges of “being harsh” and “domineering.”
Nichols, his wife Heidi, and David Zima, a former ruling elder at St. Andrew’s, resigned their memberships from St. Andrew’s and became members in good standing of other area PCA churches—both of which are part of the Central Florida Presbytery.
The presbytery wrote that the Nichols and Zima “are members in good standing, admitted to the Lord’s Table, and welcomed into the fellowship of God’s people.”
“Central Florida Presbytery deems these excommunications [by St. Andrew’s Chapel] improper, disruptive to the peace of the Church, detrimental to those under our pastoral care, and without ecclesiastical effect within the Presbyterian Church in America.”
The statement also noted that when St. Andrew’s Chapel withdrew from the PCA, it no longer possessed the authority to adjudicate the cases against the Nichols and Zima.
St. Andrew’s leadership claimed it had jurisdiction to exercise discipline over the Nichols and Zima and issued letters to its congregants saying the Nichols and Zima had been excommunicated for contumacy — “willful and persistent refusal to submit to the lawful authority of the church.”
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A back and forth between Nichols and the church about the circumstances around the excommunication ensued, with Nichols claiming he had reported allegations of sexual abuse of his daughter by then-youth minister Stephen Adams. Adams denies the allegations.
Nichols said they reached an “impasse” with the church leadership over handling the investigation and began looking for another church to attend.
The church responded to Nichols’ comments, referring to them as “members of a former family,” by saying that church leadership was not initially told that the allegations involved sexual abuse, but that when they learned the nature of the allegations, they made a report to the Seminole County Sheriff’s Department.
But after suspending Adams for a period to allow for an investigation, the church asserted that the family—the Nichols—“ultimately refused to provide supporting evidence and law enforcement confirmed there were no grounds for investigation,” so Adams resumed his duties.
The church investigated the “former family” and began formal discipline because “their prolonged conduct…disturbed the peace, unity, and purity of the Church.”
John Maynard, an elder in the Central Florida Presbytery and its former moderator, told MinistryWatch that the presbytery members discussed whether or not to name the Nichols and Zima in its statement. They ultimately decided to identify them by name, saying it was important to publicly correct wrong impressions that had been made about them.
Additionally, the presbytery passed a motion encouraging its members to be cautious in commenting online about the situation and to be careful about giving the impression that they are speaking on behalf of the presbytery, Maynard said.
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