Burk Parsons Suspended from Pastoral Duties at St. Andrew’s Chapel
A commission of the Central Florida Presbytery informed Parsons of the indictment and suspended him.
Dr. Burk Parsons, senior pastor at St. Andrew’s Chapel in Sanford, Florida, and a teaching fellow at Ligonier Ministries, has been indicted by a commission of the Central Florida Presbytery and is currently suspended from his duties at St. Andrew’s as he awaits the resolution of the case.
Burk Parsons / Video screenshot @Ligonier Ministries
In January, MinistryWatch reported that Parsons was under investigation by the Central Florida Presbytery for potential violations of two ordination vows.
According to the PCA Book of Church Order, those vows state the following:
No. 5: Have you been induced, as far as you know your own heart, to seek the office of the holy ministry from love to God and a sincere desire to promote His glory in the Gospel of His Son?
No. 7: Do you engage to be faithful and diligent in the exercise of all your duties as a Christian and a minister of the Gospel, whether personal or relational, private or public; and to endeavor by the grace of God to adorn the profession of the Gospel in your manner of life, and to walk with exemplary piety before the flock of which God shall make you overseer?
Now, the commission has informed Parsons that he was indicted in relation to the two vows. The presbytery commission also suspended Parsons from his duties of teaching, preaching, and administering the sacraments as a teaching elder at St. Andrew’s Chapel, a congregation of the Presbyterian Church in America (PCA).
In an email to the congregation, the board of elders, known as a session, of St. Andrew’s said it is supporting Parsons through the trial process.
“Please know the Session is united in supporting Dr. Parsons as he goes through this judicial process. He has demonstrated to us a willingness to cooperate with the commission and learn from this experience. He maintains a heart of gratitude to the Lord in the midst of this trial,” the email stated.
The email did not provide any details about what actions prompted the indictment or when the trial will take place.
According to the PCA’s Book of Church Order (BCO) chapter 15, the commission has the authority to try the case and render judgment, including any censure. “The judgment of the commission shall be the decision of the Presbytery, and the statement of the case and judgment printed in its minutes,” the BCO reads.
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Parsons was scheduled to participate as a speaker at the Gospel Reformation Network conference, “The Ruling Elder: Rediscovering the Basics of Biblical Leadership for Today’s Church,” on May 7 and 8 at St. Andrew’s Chapel.
The Gospel Reformation Network told MinistryWatch, “Due to Central Florida Presbytery’s action, Rev. Parsons has removed himself as a speaker.”
Parsons was also scheduled to speak at a March 14-15 conference in Barcelona hosted by the Seminario Reformado Latinoamericano (SRL).
However, after the announcement of Parsons’ suspension, the board of trustees of the seminary “rescinded the invitation to Dr. Parsons to participate at the SRL conference in Barcelona, where SRL Seminary intends to open a seminary in order to bring back the Reformation to the millions of Hispanics in Europe.”
MinistryWatch reached out to Ligonier Ministries about whether it intended to make any adjustment or suspension of Parsons’ duties in light of the indictment, but did not receive a reply before the time of publication. An archived version of Ligonier’s National Conference webpage showed Parsons was scheduled to be a speaker. The latest iteration does not feature Parsons as a speaker at the National Conference in April.
Both St. Andrew’s Chapel and Ligonier Ministries were founded by well-known Reformed theologian and teacher, Dr. R.C. Sproul. After Sproul died in 2017, Parsons became the senior pastor of St. Andrew’s. He also is the chief editorial officer for Ligonier.
In the MinistryWatch database, Ligonier Ministries has a transparency grade of D because it does not file a Form 990 with the IRS nor publicly post its audited financial statements. It has a donor confidence score of 35 out of 100, meaning donors should withhold giving.
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