Maryland and Virginia Eldership of Churches of God v. Church of God at Sharpsburg, Inc.

• Decision Date: 09 May 1968
• Docket Number: No. 87,87
• Citation: 249 Md. 650,241 A.2d 691
• Parties: The MARYLAND AND VIRGINIA ELDERSHIP OF the CHURCHES OF GOD et al. v. The CHURCH OF GOD AT SHARPSBURG, INC., et al.
• Court: Maryland Court of Appeals

Page 650

249 Md. 650

241 A.2d 691

The MARYLAND AND VIRGINIA ELDERSHIP OF the CHURCHES OF GOD et al. v. The CHURCH OF GOD AT SHARPSBURG, INC., et al.

No. 87.

Court of Appeals of Maryland.

May 9, 1968.

Robert J. Martineau, Westminster (Walsh, Fisher & Martineau, Westminster, Lynn F. Meyers, Hagerstown, and James H. Booser, Harrisburg, on the brief), for appellants.

Omer T. Kaylor, Jr., Hagerstown (Kaylor, Spence & Hovermale, Hagerstown, on the brief), for appellees.

Before HAMMOND, C. J., and MARBURY, BARNES, FINAN and SINGLEY, JJ.

BARNES, Judge.

The appeal in this interesting case was taken from an April 4, 1967, decree of the Circuit Court for Washington County (McLaughlin, C. J.) in two companion cases dismissing the bills of complaint filed by the appellant, The Maryland and Virginia Eldership of the Churches of God (Md. & Va. Eldership), a Maryland corporation and others against the appellees, The Church of God at Sharpsburg, Inc. (Sharpsburg), a Maryland corporation and its called Pastor, and against the Indian Springs Church of God (Indian Springs), also a Maryland corporation and its acting Pastor, seeking to prevent Sharpsburg and Indian Springs from withdrawing from the Md. & Va. Eldership and to determine which of two factions involved in each suit should control the respective churches, their property and corporations. The other appellants in the Sharpsburg suit are several members of the Sharpsburg congregation and its appointed Pastor; in the Indian Springs suit the other appellants are two members of the congregation of that church. In addition to dismissing the bill of complaint, the Chancellor dissolved the temporary injunctions previously issued in the respective cases.

The facts, with certain reservations as to relevancy, are not disputed and are incorporated in an agreed stipulation filed in the suit.

The General Eldership of the Churches of God in North America (General Eldership) is a religious denomination organized in 1845 by John Winebrenner. It was incorporated on April 18, 1867, by an Act of the General Assembly of Pennsylvania. The Md. & Va. Eldership is one of the Elderships which make up the General Eldership, and was formed in 1872. It was originally incorporated in 1878 in Carroll County, Maryland and is presently incorporated by Articles of Incorporation recorded in Washington County on September 4, 1928.

Sharpsburg was organized sometime prior to 1872 and was one of the original members of the Md & Va. Eldership. It continued as such a member until it withdrew in 1966. It was incorporated on May 20, 1881, and again on December 2, 1939. Harry S. Churchey, one of the appellees, was issued a Christian Worker's Certificate on October 13, 1922, an annual license on October 17, 1957, an annual Ordination Certificate on October 17, 1959, and on October 13, 1960, he was issued a Life Ordination Certificate authorizing him to serve as a Minister of God. He was never appointed by the Md. & Va. Eldership to be the pastor at Sharpsburg, his last appointment being as pastor at Chestnut Grove and Knoxville on October 4, 1965. He was, however, 'called' by Sharpsburg in June, 1966, and began his ministry there on July 17, 1966. Bennett G. Murray, one of the appellants and a plaintiff below, was appointed by the Md. & Va. Eldership to serve as pastor at Sharpsburg, but that church refuses to let him occupy the pulpit. Sharpsburg was conveyed land on September 29, 1938 by a deed to the Trustees of the church for use of the congregation. A clause in this deed provides 'in the event the congregation of the Church of God at Sharpsburg ceases as a church organization, then all right, title and interest in the hereinabove described property shall immediately vest * * *' in the Md. & Va. Eldership, 'a body corporate, its successors or assigns.' The Sharpsburg church property is valued at $20,000 and was subject to a mortgage dated November 13, 1956, from the Trustees and the Md. & Va. Eldership. Neither the General Eldership nor the Md. & Va. Eldership contributed any funds for the purchase of this property which has not been repaid to them. At a duly called meeting of the congregation of Sharpsburg on June 26, 1966, a majority of those present voted to withdraw from the Md. & Va. Eldership. The vote was properly recorded. The appellants deny the effectiveness or propriety of this action.

Indian Springs was originally incorporated on March 30, 1929, under the name 'The Indian Springs Union Church and Sunday School Association of Washington County.' The Articles of Incorporation were recorded in Washington County and were amended on March 1, 1962, to change the name of the corporation to its present name 'Indian Springs Church of God.' Indian Springs was either a member of or was affiliated with the Md. & Va. Eldership from 1943 to 1966, having been formally admitted to membership in 1946. Mervil Stambaugh, one of the appellees and a defendant below, received his Christian Worker Certificate from the Md. & Va. Eldership in 1963, his annual license in 1964, and his annual certificate in 1965. He was appointed pastor at Indian Springs by the Md. & Va. Eldership in 1964 and was reappointed, at the request of that church, in 1965. Indian Springs owns two parcels of land: (1) the church building conveyed to the Trustees of the church on April 8, 1953, by a deed which provides in part that if the church should become extinct or cease to be the property should be the property of the Md. & Va. Eldership; this property is valued at $30,000 and is subject to a mortgage of approximately $4,000, and (2) the parsonage property conveyed to the Trustees on April 14, 1962, by a deed containing no reversion clause whatever; the parsonage property is valued at $14,000. Neither the General Eldership nor the Md. & Va. Eldership contributed any funds for the purchase of these properties. A majority of the congregation at Indian Springs and its pastor Stambaugh on July 10, 1965, voted to withdraw from the Md. & Va. Eldership. The meeting was properly called and the vote was properly recorded. The appellants deny the effectiveness or propriety of this action.

On July 29, 1966, the executive committee of the Administrative Council of the General Eldership gave a 'judgment' that all persons who voted to withdraw from the Md. & Va. Eldership have:

'* * * abandoned and forfeited all rights, privileges, properties and offices in the local church and in the Churches of God * * *. In each local church the members who continue to adhere and submit to the doctrines and the policy of the denomination constitute the true congregation. The Executive Committee, as the duly constituted supreme court of the Churches of God, so determine, reaffirming that the presbyterial polity of the Churches of God recognizes no right of secession on the part of congregations affiliated with the denomination * * *.'

The appellees deny the effectiveness of this action.

On July 30, 1966, the Md. & Va. Eldership revoked the annual ordination certificate issued to Harry S. Churchey, expelled him from the Md. & Va. Eldership, and denied him the right and privilege of preaching in and administering any of the churches and property of the Eldership. The Eldership also expelled from it all persons who participated in the withdrawal of a congregation from the Eldership. On the same day it took the same action against Mervil Stambaugh. Since that date the church councils of Sharpsburg and of Indian Springs have refused to recognize any authority of the Md. & Va. Eldership over the respective churches. Sharpsburg has continued to employ Harry S. Churchey as pastor and has refused to accept Bennett Murray as pastor; Indian Springs has continued to employ Mervil Stambaugh as pastor and has refused to accept Bennett Murray as pastor.

After their admission and until 1965, both Sharpsburg and Indian Springs accepted appointments as pastors of persons appointed by the appropriate committee of the Md. & Va. Eldership, sent delegates to the annual sessions of the Md. & Va. Eldership and paid assessments made against the local churches for the General Eldership and the Md. & Va. Eldership. The appellees deny the relevancy of these facts.

Copies of the Articles of Incorporation of the General Eldership, the Md. & Va. Eldership, Sharpsburg and Indian Springs are part of the stipulation of facts and specific references to these documents will be made later in this opinion. There are also copies of other documents, books and other data to which reference will be later made.

Two questions are presented to us for decision:

1. Under the applicable statutes of the State of Maryland, the provisions of the Constitutions of the Md. & Va. Eldership and the General Eldership, the corporate charters of Sharpsburg and Indian Springs and the deeds of property to the trustees of the local corporations, may be majority of the congregation withdraw from the denomination and retain control of the property of the local church and the church corporation?

2. Did the decision of the Chancellor violate the First and Fourteenth Amendments to the Constitution of the United States?

We are of the opinion that the first question must be answered in the affirmative, the second in the negative and that the decrees of the Chancellor should be affirmed.

1.

The principal issue in the present case involves the question of whether the property of the two local churches is controlled by trustees of the local churches representing the majority of the congregation of those local churches. The two local churches were incorporated under the General Religious Corporation Law of this State, now Code (1957), Article 23, Sections 256 to 270. The present General Religious Corporation Law is based upon and largely follows the original legislation on this subject, i. e., the Act of 1802, chapter 111. The present law provides in effect that in every church, religious society or corporation...