J.D. Greear’s Church Sues County Over Development Dispute, Cites ‘Discrimination’
The Summit Church, the North Carolina megachurch led by former SBC President J. D. Greear, has filed a lawsuit against a local County after they were denied the ability to rezone a property to build a new church for one of their 13 campuses, accusing the County of religious discrimination, according to Biz Journal.
The Summit Church, which touts more than 10,000 members, is suing Chatham County with claims that county commissioners broke federal law in rejecting rezoning requests that would’ve allowed the church to turn the site of a defunct mixed-use development into a massive campus.
The Summit Church had planned to transition part of a 100-acre site once tapped for the Herndon Farms development into its new regional campus with a 2-story 82,000-square-foot church. Site plans show the church would have 1,200 seats and more than 500 parking spaces plus a “sports court,” children’s play area and a 240-foot by 400-foot grass field.
But following pushback from the community and commissioners over whether the “megachurch” could fit into the rural vision they had for the area, the rezoning applications were denied.
During public hearings, residents expressed their concern and displeasure about the large church being in their community and its impact on traffic and the culture of the County, with officials calling Summit’s plans “antithetical to real rural character preservation.”
They also lamented that the property would limit taxes they could collect and the lack of high-paying jobs created by Summit that another organization using the space might otherwise provide.
As a result, The Summit Church has sued. According to The Baptist Press:
Attorneys for The Summit Church claim that the commissioners’ denial, along with the county’s land use regulations and policies, place a substantial burden on the church’s religious exercise, treat religious assemblies and institutions unequally, discriminate on the basis of religion, and place unreasonable limitations on religious assemblies, institutions and structures, which are all violations of RLUIPA.
In a statement made to the Biblical Recorder, Summit insists they are launching the lawsuit to protect the constitutional rights of their church and other churches in a similar predicament:
“The Board of Commissioners unanimously rejected our rezoning request, claiming that we were too big, after previously approving large commercial and retail developments within approximately three miles of our proposed location. Their statements also made it clear that our church is not welcome at all in the County. We view this to be unjust and in violation of federal law, specifically the Religious Land Use and Institutionalized Persons Act (RLUIPA), and are appealing to the courts because we believe we have a responsibility to defend our constitutional rights and the rights of all churches, regardless of beliefs, size, or methodology.”
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The church is right to sue and make consequences for what amounts to religious persecution, In general, however, the better churches with pastors who aren’t trying to build a monument to himself, DO NOT create mega churches. When they reach capacity, instead of mass expansion, they use their resources to buy property in another community and ask their congregation to prayerfully consider being part of a new church plant. The church I used to attend has a seating capacity of 1500. When they fill up, they plant. So far, they have established four churches who will following the same pattern of growth.
Reasonably sized churches do not create community issues and tend to be of more service to their communities. Moreover, Mega churches have spiritual issues that make them “not good.” They leave no direct connection between the shepherd and the sheep. The lead pastor is more like a speaker than a pastor whose JOB is not to “speecify” once a week or be the CEO, but to care for and tend the sheep. Mega church pastors don’t even know who their sheep are. And pastors who want to keep building OFTEN end up in disgrace, and the negative impact on the church is devastating. So Mega churches (a source of misplaced pride) are a big “NEGATIVE” spiritually. But that is not for commissioners to decide. If they would approve a factory with 2,000 workers on the same space (and they would), they must approve a church.