St. Andrew’s Chapel in Sanford, Florida, was scheduled to vote on leaving the Presbyterian Church in America (PCA) on Sunday, July 20.
St. Andrews Chapel (Photo via Facebook) / Insert of Suspended Senior Pastor Burk Parsons
Instead, the congregation referred the matter to the church’s board of elders, also known as its session, to study the situation and return with a recommendation, according to ByFaith Online, the publication of the PCA.
According to a statement from St. Andrew’s, during May 2025, the Session received over 180 letters from communicant members requesting a congregational meeting to consider withdrawing from the PCA. In response, the Session called for a congregational meeting on July 20, 2025, to vote on withdrawing.
St. Andrew’s was originally formed as an independent congregation in 1997 with Dr. R.C. Sproul as its founding pastor. It then joined the PCA in 2023.
Its pastors are ordained by and members of the Central Florida Presbytery.
According to the PCA Book of Church Order, if St. Andrew’s votes to leave the PCA, the church will “own and enjoy [its] 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.”
In June, a judicial commission of the Central Florida Presbytery found St. Andrew’s Senior Pastor Burk Parsons guilty of three charges and indefinitely suspended him from the duties of teaching elder in the PCA. He has appealed the judgment. Parsons is also a teaching fellow with Ligonier Ministries.
Church Prosecutor Jerry Klemm spoke to MinistryWatch about the trial and the church’s vote to possibly leave the PCA.
He said one of the reasons St. Andrew’s Chapel joined the PCA was because they understood that accountability and the protection of the presbytery and General Assembly were a good thing.
The Central Florida Presbytery also recently ruled that St. Andrew’s should release requested financial and budget information to members in good standing.
“Providing detailed budget information to the congregation upon request assures them that the Session is using their tithes wisely and potentially solicits the congregation’s suggestions for future budgets. It encourages the requestor and others to continue supporting the church,” the commission wrote in their decision.
The St. Andrew’s session is expected to report back about the decision to leave the PCA in January 2026.
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