LONDONDERRY -- A group of Presbyterians congregants may never worship inside the white church on Pillsbury Road again.
Just a few days before Christmas, Rockingham County Court Judge Tina Nadeau denied the worshippers' request to have access to the building for their own worship service. The worshippers, a minority group in an emotional church split, had asked if they could share the building with the majority group who currently use the building.
In September, more than 200 members of the Londonderry Presbyterian Church voted to split from the national Presbyterian Church, known as the PCUSA. The 86 members who decided to remain with the PCUSA had hoped they could hold their own services at the church but were locked out in October and have been holding services at the Tupelo Music Hall.
John Mokkosian, pastor of the PCUSA, said last week that his group will continue to worship at the music hall as long as they need to but are desperately seeking a resolution to the schism.
"We want the courts to protect our right to practice our faith and to do so without court involvement," said Mokkosian, who says the Presbyterian Church has its own policy to resolve schism without involving the courts.
At the same time it voted to leave PCUSA, Londonderry Presbyterian decided to become involved with a conservative national church, the New Wineskins Non-Geographic Presbytery of the Evangelical Presbyterian Church. To many, the evangelical church is seen as conservative with the mainstream group a more liberal body, especially when it comes to key issues such as abortion and the ordination of pastors.
Nadeau determined that the PCUSA's request to use the building for worship too closely resembled a similar lawsuit filed by the group's board of directors and recommended consolidating the two suits, to be decided at a trial.
The board of director's lawsuit, according to Mokkosian, would determine who owns the building and would pay retribution to families who have been turned away from their church.
"We need to protect our denomination's existence," said Mokkosian, who said Presbyterian churches are owned by the denomination and not the evangelical group's board of directors.
But the evangelical church's attorney, Ralph Holmes, argued there is no way the two groups could share the building, which is the oldest Presbyterian church in New England.
According to Holmes, the Book of Order, which governs the Presbyterian religion, is irrelevant to the case and the evangelical-affiliated group owns the title to the building.
A structuring conference is scheduled for Jan. 17 where attorneys and Nadeau will determine a trial date.
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