Two More Congregations Leave Sovereign Grace Ministries, One of Them a Defendant in Lawsuit

By Peter Smith
The Courier-Journal
January 15, 2013

http://blogs.courier-journal.com/faith/2013/01/15/two-more-congregations-leave-sovereign-grace-ministries-one-of-them-a-defendant-in-lawsuit/

Two more congregations, including one named as a defendant in an expanding sexual-abuse lawsuit, have voted to leave the Louisville-based Sovereign Grace Ministries.

The congregations, both named Sovereign Grace Church, are in Fairfax and Chesapeake, Va.

The Fairfax church’s members voted by a 98-2 percent margin to accept its leaders’ recommendation to leave on Sunday, according to Executive Pastor Vince Hinders. He declined to go into details about the reasons but cited concerns about the denomination’s leadership and polity, which have been widely aired in controversies since 2011.

The Chesapeake church’s leaders also announced the congregation’s departure on Sunday. Both churches claim about 500 members.

The Fairfax church, along with Covenant Life Church, the denomination’s former flagship church in Gaithersburg, Md., were both named as defendants in an amended lawsuit filed on Friday in Montgomery County, Md. The lawsuit accuses denominational and congregational leaders of covering up sexual abuse by members and staff, with several alleged incidents involving the Gaithersburg and Fairfax congregations. Hinders and the Fairfax congregation’s senior pastor, Mark Mullery, are among the defendants.

Hinders said he couldn’t comment on the expanded lawsuit: “It’s new to us. We literally are just finding out. We will be investigating.”

Covenant Life also pulled out of Sovereign Grace Ministries. The denomination moved its headquarters to Louisville after growing estrangement with the Gaithersburg congregation, where it had been based.