Christ Church
photo gallery.gif (2987 bytes)


.

WHERE WE STAND

Christ Church, Savannah, Georgia                 Updated July 30, 2010

We stand exactly where we have always stood, believing that Jesus Christ is the Way, the Truth and the Life and that the Bible is the inspired and authoritative Word of God.

WHAT HAS HAPPENED?

  • We disaffiliated from The Episcopal Church on September 30, 2007.
  • We temporarily realigned with The Province of Uganda so that we might remain within The Anglican Communion until the new, orthodox expression of Anglicanism, The Anglican Church in North America (ACNA) was formed. This province now has over 800 churches.
  • The Episcopal Church (TEC), The Diocese of Georgia, and ultimately, persons who call themselves Christ Church Episcopal are suing Christ Church, its Rector, Wardens and individual members of the 2007 vestry. 
  • On June 23, 2009, Christ Church aligned with the Gulf Atlantic Diocese of the Anglican Church in North America (www.anglicanchurch.net).
  • On October 27, 2009, following motions for summary judgment filed in the Chatham County Superior Court, Judge Michael Karpf ruled in favor of the plaintiffs and against us.
  • We filed an appeal with the Georgia Supreme Court in November 2009.
  • Subsequently, the plaintiffs tried unsuccessfully to force Christ Church to post a bond for our assets pending the appeal to prevent our misusing, squandering, or improperly disposing of the property. Such a bond could have been very costly, and the motion was made in the transparent hope this additional expense would impede our going forward with the appeal.
  • The Georgia Supreme Court transferred the case to the Court of Appeals, despite the agreement of all parties that the Supreme Court has direct appellate jurisdiction of the case. Recently the Court of Appeals upheld Judge Karpf’s decision, ruling against us.  This week we filed an appeal with the Supreme Court of Georgia.  Read our Writ of Certiorari here:

WHY ARE WE APPEALING?

  • The vestry has discerned that we have not been released from our call to stand firm for the Gospel against the heresy of The Episcopal Church.
  • We are not willing to relinquish the pulpit of John Wesley and George Whitefield to those who preach a false gospel.
  • We believe the higher court will give fuller consideration to our legal position.
  • We were also encouraged to appeal because the South Carolina Supreme Court recently ruled in favor of the local church in a case involving facts, law and issues very similar to ours.  
  • The major portion of our legal preparation and research has already been accomplished, and most of our legal expenses have already been incurred; however, we expect additional major legal expenses.

 

WHAT HAPPENS NEXT?

  • We will continue to “contend for the faith that was once for all entrusted to the saints” (Jude 3), within the context of our Anglican heritage.
  • We await the Georgia Supreme Court's of decision to hear our case.
  • Our appeal stays any attempt by the plaintiffs to seize our property.
  • We have a unique opportunity in this struggle to proclaim the Gospel. The conflict is not about Christ Church, but about the historic Christian Faith, and we rejoice to have this chance to speak clearly and compassionately about the truth of God’s saving grace in Christ offered to all.

WHAT ARE THE ISSUES?

  • The leadership of The Episcopal Church (TEC) openly denies the fundamentals of our faith. One example: “The bodily resurrection of Jesus is, at best, conjectural…” [Bishop John Chane, The Episcopal Diocese of Washington, DC, Easter sermon, 2002.] In less politically correct times, such an outrageous statement would be widely denounced and labeled for what it is: heresy.   
  • Episcopal leaders unhesitatingly deny that Holy Scripture is authoritative and manifests a single morality which claims the allegiance of every believing Christian. One example: “We wrote the Bible, we can rewrite it.” [Former Episcopal Bishop of Pennsylvania, Charles Bennison, sermon at The Church of the Good Samaritan in Paoli, reported in: www.virtueonline.org\, November 29, 2005].
  • In response to a question about earning salvation,  TEC Presiding Bishop Katharine Jefferts Schori responded, “The question is always how can we get beyond our own narrow self-interest and see that our salvation lies in attending to the needs of other people”, Parabola, Spring 2007.
  • See “A Conflict of Beliefs” document for additional citations.

DID YOU KNOW?

  • In 1758 an act of the Royal Council granted Christ Church ownership of its church building and cemetery. After the Revolution the Georgia legislature granted a charter of incorporation to Christ Church. Thus, since 1789 Christ Church has been a legal entity, a corporation defined, bound and protected by Georgia corporation law. The Act of 1789 also confirmed by legislative grant the corporation’s legal title to all property then held by it or afterwards coming into its possession. Christ Church has never conveyed title to its property to any other party, nor has it ever agreed to hold its property in trust for any other party.
  • 87% of members in good standing voted on October 14, 2007, to uphold the vestry decision to disaffiliate from The Episcopal Church and realign within the Anglican Communion. We recently counted the 26 provisional ballots distributed to those who did not qualify to vote, tallying an additional 19 in favor, 7 opposed.
  • Fewer than 10% of our members in good standing left Christ Church and began meeting with another group at St. Michael’s Episcopal Church.
  • We made an effort at the outset of the litigation to settle with the plaintiffs, but they refused to negotiate in good faith.
  • We continue to welcome many new members: former Episcopalians, some from no church background and several from other denominations.