A Tulsa, Okla., megachurch lost a two-year property battle in court Tuesday when the county district judge ruled in favor of the Presbyterian Church (U.S.A.).
Judge Jefferson Sellers ruled that the the Kirk of the Hills church property belongs to the PC(USA) and the Eastern Oklahoma Presbytery, a regional body of the denomination, and not the local congregation.
The 2,400-member Kirk of the Hills congregation, which was the second largest church in the regional presbytery, has been in legal battle over the property since it split from the PC(USA) in August 2006. After an overwhelming vote to leave the denomination, citing concerns that the denomination is drifting from its biblical base, the local church sued both the PC(USA) and the regional presbytery to retain ownership of the more than 100,000-square-foot building....
