The Fellowship (Australia) - Actions By The Presbyterian Church

Actions By The Presbyterian Church

In February 2006, the Presbytery of Melbourne East excommunicated all 15 elders of Trinity Presbyterian Church, Camberwell because of their handling of a complaint of emotional abuse against an elder.

This decision was appealed to the State Assembly, which upheld the decision of the Presbytery at its meeting in October 2006. Some members of the Victorian Assembly then appealed the decision to the General Assembly of Australia on the grounds that the Victorian Church had set up its own processes for discipline rather than operating under the General Assembly's Code as required and that the decision of the Victorian Assembly was made based on information that was not available to the Presbytery of East Melbourne when making its the original decision, against its own process of discipline.

These appeals were upheld by the General Assembly of Australia at its Commission in August 2007. The clerk of the General Assembly, Dr Paul Logan, said that many felt that natural justice had been denied by the processes used. As a result of this decision the elders were reinstated, "ut members of the Victorian assembly, which excommunicated the 15 elders of Trinity Camberwell, were not too downhearted, saying the Fellowship had won the battle but lost the war."

The General Assembly of Australia established a committee to investigate material published about The Fellowship, including allegations of errors in doctrine and behaviour, promising to re-hear complaints.

The Victorian State Assembly was instructed by the General Assembly of Australia to take several actions including withdrawing from publication Fractured Fellowship: A Presbyterian Case Study and temporarily moving the parish of Camberwell from the Presbytery of Melbourne East to the Presbytery of Melbourne West until the matter could be settled. At its Commission in May 2008 the Victorian Assembly handled the private report of the committee of the General Assembly in public session, rejecting its instructions to retry the matter. Rev. Douglas Robertson from Scots' Church in Melbourne, who at the same meeting was elected the next Moderator of the Victorian Assembly, accused the General Assembly of Australia of censorship and unconstitutionally exceeding its authority.