Prominent PCA pastor Burk Parsons has left the denomination after the Standing Judicial Commission (SJC) of the Presbyterian Church in America upheld a verdict finding him guilty of a domineering and harsh leadership style.
Parsons is the senior pastor of Saint Andrew’s Chapel, a prominent PCA congregation in Sanford, Florida. He is also the chief publishing officer for Ligonier Ministries, editor of Tabletalk magazine, and a Ligonier Ministries teaching fellow.
Months ago, he faced charges related to his personal conduct and temperament. In June, the Judicial Commission of the Central Florida Presbytery announced that, after hearing testimony from nearly 60 witnesses and conducting more than 45 hours of trial proceedings, it unanimously found him guilty on three of five charges: (see endnote)
- 1. Being harsh, ungentle, and unkind to those under his care or with whom he interacts
- 2. Not being a humble servant leader but instead “lording it over others” (i.e, autocratic) and being domineering, contentious, and quarrelsome/pugnacious in his leadership so that those in his care and in his “leadership orbit” were intimidated, bullied, and/or afraid
- 5. Slandering and/or demeaning other servants and churches of our Lord
Parsons appealed, and the Standing Judicial Commission reviewed the case. They ultimately upheld the verdict on charges 1 and 2, but found that “the Record does not support a guilty verdict for charge 5, nor does it support the Censure of Indefinite Suspension.” Lifting his indefinite teaching suspension, they replaced it with an admonition.
During his appeal, Parsons did not dispute the accusations against him, but argued that significant procedural and technical errors occurred throughout the process. The court agreed, but determined they were not significant enough to overturn the verdict.
As a result, Parsons decided to bail.
In a letter sent on Sept. 14, Parsons noted that his church had already voted this past December 669–108 to leave the denomination, and that he was going with them, writing in part:
On December 1, 2025, Stated Clerk Don Mountan wrote to the Saint Andrew’s Chapel Session: “Presbytery will not approve a call for a PCA TE to serve at SAC as a non-PCA congregation.”
In light of that understanding of Article V of the Standing Rules of the Central Florida Presbytery, and in light of the vote of the Saint Andrew’s Chapel congregation on December 14, 2025, to withdraw from the PCA per BCO 25-11, I understand that I cannot remain both a member of Central Florida Presbytery and a pastor at Saint Andrew’s Chapel.
Therefore, I respectfully withdraw from the Central Florida Presbytery of the Presbyterian Church in America and request that my name be removed from the roll in accordance with BCO 38-3.a.
Fuller letter:
Some of the (more) specifics include actions towards Ruling Elders (RE’s) and congregants:
Notably, they also point out that this isn’t the first time Parsons has faced these type of allegations. Parsons “previously plead guilty to similar charges in 2019 and received admonition at that time.”
This, along with “subsequent reports of relational harm and unhealthy leadership environment, taking place both before and since the 2019 event” indicate an “unresolved pattern, and thus led the Commission to discern that indefinite suspension was the appropriate censure.”
7 responses to “Prominent PCA Pastor Burk Parsons Leaves Denomination After Being Found Guilty of Domineering Leadership”
It appears to me like the presbytery is taking some liberties with scripture that just aren’t there. “Lording it over” and harsh speech are not mutually exclusive opposites. That’s a false dilemma that betrays a wrong interpretation of scripture. Jesus and the Apostles said harsh and mean things, by our English meaning of the words and by worldly standards in this time. And I believe much of the wrong interpretation has to do with the modern meaning of English words. There’s a bit of “presentism” of language involved in the wrong interpretations. You’ve got to look at the original language in order to understand exactly what is meant by meekness, kindness, gentleness, humility, and so on. And that all has to be understood within the context of scripture. Ultimately the Lord defined those words and concepts for us. Right. One minute He rode in “meekly” on a donkey. The next minute He fashioned a whip and drove out the money changers. And we have to understand how and why those attributes do not conflict.
Some of the worst forms of “lording it over” are done with a smile. The one sinning could be just as nice as somebody could possibly be, speak with very gentle and loving tone, and so on. There’s more to it. And when Jesus said that, the context was jealousy, envy and competition for status and position. There’s much that could be said about it. When God defines those words and concepts that means we do not, and that includes any and all who might hear something that hurt their feelings or who may be offended by the harshness of the truth. But the point here is that scripture does not contain any false dilemmas or conflicts. It’s our bad interpretations that contain such conflicts.
Your estimation of Burk Parson’s is quite damaging. Some gentleness and meekness go a long way. Always remember when you point that finger three are coming back at you. It’s better to forgive and go on let God resolve the problem.
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I can be absolutly right about some thing while being absolutly wrong about it at the same . ive done it many times . Perhaps the pastor has fallen into some of my way of sinning .. . you have to be careful of being right or you can be so so very wrong .
1 Corinthians 8:1.
Knowedge can puff one up. Love builds up. does Jesus say they will know we are christians by our fantastic out standing knowledge i hope not or im in lots of trouble .. I think he said John 13:35 instead .
I was reading in christian post today a baptist type of news out let , that 3 baptist pastors were shot dead… below that article another baptist guy named Dale Moreau is setting up a straw man argument about the Lords supper trying to discredit what God does in it . The verses he uses are not the Bible verses that show the Lords supper is a means of Gods grace .(those verses he uses are the warning for guys like him who dont take serously what the lords supper is and does !.. Some people during the apostles day died because they didnt take Gods word about the Lords supper seriously.
We know that because the bible states it . Lutherans read luthers small cathecism it has all the correct bible verses on how we know its is Gods means of grace . lets all of us . start taking the bible more seriously warnings and all!
Well, who knows? I see where he was at the church R.C. Sproul founded. For us outsiders, whether he was abusive or the people there were simply stubborn is anyone’s guess. It’s gotta be tough keeping the faith and see to it that others do in a world as crazy as this one.