What does it mean to be a "friend" to colleagues in ministry when harm has been done? How can reparations pave the way to a more just future?
A catchy thematic worship song starts out every Sunday at Third Presbyterian Church in St. Louis, Missouri. “Come on and get your praise on, you know we got it going on at Third Church, where the word is broken down for you; it's so easy it will make you wonder at Third Church.” brings anyone visiting into a worship experience like no other. Rev. Cedric Portis has served as pastor of Third Presbyterian since 2003. A man with great faith and a clear understanding of what it means to be called, Rev. Portis does not hold back with emotion as he carefully
lays out the story of Third as he and the church’s members see it: a repeated failure of an ordination vow that many in the PC(USA) tradition know well, “Will you be a friend among your colleagues in ministry, working with them, subject to the ordering of God's Word and Spirit?” Perhaps the question that remains is one’s definition of "friend.”
Previous reports of this story have referred to this as a three-way real estate deal with Third Presbyterian and two other churches no longer in existence today. Under Rev. Portis’ leadership, the ministry of Third was bursting and growing rapidly. The building that the church occupied from its beginning was no longer suitable for the growing ministry. When a predominately white congregation voted to close its doors, the Presbytery gave way for Third to move into the new space. Rev. Portis states that upon hearing of Third’s intent to take over the space, the church members changed course and decided to do a merger rather than a closure. With that came unexpected expenses such as replacing items taken from the church, getting their kitchen up to code and so much more.
Retelling the story, Rev. Portis shared with deep conviction the layered amount of harm caused that felt almost like a metaphorical repeated beating when a church is already operating in a deficit.
Portis said, “Part of the repair has to be continued to right some of the wrongs, because we talked about the loans being forgiven, and the principal and interest being returned. But there's another pot of money that we're not talking about: the fact that our building sold for $230,000. And the Presbytery required us to use that for repairs that should have been made by the previous church. Instead of the Presbytery giving us that money, they gave us a loan. We were a church that didn't have but $30,000-$40,000 in the bank to our name, and then you yolk us with all this debt. So there's at least $300,000 that's not even being talked about right now that we had to come up with. And that was our equity. That was our nest egg that could have helped us in ministry. So not only are you talking about $50,000 a year worth of loans, there's $300,000 that was right there and was taken from us.”
Answering the call to ministry is a sacred one. The journey is often filled with self-doubt, questioning, and constant second-guessing. Rev. Portis’ journey is no different than most. At the time when he heard the faint whisper of the Holy Spirit, he felt called to Third Presbyterian. As his childhood pastor’s health was failing, Portis took this congregation in his hands as its shepherd and walked them through losing a pastor to growing to over 300 members within five years.
There is life and ministry thriving at Third with a variety of programs that support members in all stages of their lives. Visit Third during the week and you can hear children laughing and learning. The Third Church Preschool services children as young as six weeks to five years old. Even as churches saw a decline especially due to Covid-19, Third continues to grow, in part because of the faithfulness of its leadership and teachings of Rev. Portis. Despite working with a deficit year after year, Rev. Portis preaches prophetically about the good news and the promise of hope despite how things may look.
Elder Wesley Gillespie has been a member of Third for over ten years. He came to Third on a second date and was married by Rev. Portis. Wesley says, “I feel that this church is so vibrant and alive. This church is here to be that resource to the community. I remember times when we go out and help clean up in the city of Moline. So these are things that excite me. It is definitely a purpose that God has laid out for me on my journey.”
On August 24, 2023 at a Presbytery meeting in Wood River, Illinois with over 180 people in person and on zoom, Presbytery leader Rev. Ryan Landino had to live into the tension of acknowledging a breach in trust and colleagueship. Landino, after months of reviewing records and data, shared a report of how 17 years prior their Presbytery orchestrated an arrangement that benefited two White churches and debilitated the Black church. In a previous interview on the topic, Landino said, “I am sure some people were defensive because they were not sure of my intentions,” said Landino. “They wondered if this was going to be a witch hunt.”
Ruling Elder and Judge Felica Ezell-Gillespie attended that meeting in person, but was not seated with other members of Third. She recalls, “The vote itself… was overwhelming. Because my prayer was that people would do the right thing. I was not fearful that they were not going to pass it. Because how do you not? When everything is laid out on the table like that, you have to do the right thing. So I didn't think that the vote was going to go any differently. But I was just hoping that there wouldn't be a lot of dialogue that would open up old wounds, or even maybe cause some new ones.”
What was further disheartening to Judge Ezell-Gillespie and others, including her spouse Wesley and the oldest member of Third, Elder Bernice Thompson, is that this hurt came even after a 2018 pilgrimage to Birmingham as a Presbytery. Both Black and white congregations gathered together, worshiped together, prayed together, and sat at table with one another sharing personal stories and intimate details of journeys and the effects of systemic racism and the sin of White Supremacy. This experience etched in their memories was at such odds with the truth that their friends in ministry could be complicit with how the situation with Third Church transpired.
The question remains: what do repair and reconciliation look like? For Third, the repayment of loan payments and relief of the future payments is the bare minimum. Within weeks after the vote the Presbytery received a payment owed to them from a prior real estate deal.
As Rev. Portis tells it, “What I really find interesting is the Presbytery got this debt that they paid that they voted for, for $718,000, then all of a sudden, a check shows up at the presbytery for $800,000, the next week... So not only were they able to pay off, you know, the $718,000, they put another $90,000 in a Certificate of Deposit. And here's the thing, whenever there's going to be systemic change, two things have to happen. [The party doing repair] needs to be impacted physically or financially, and the Presbytery would not be impacted either of those ways.”
When asked what repair would look like, Rev. Portis dreamed big and said, “an associate pastor for the 18 years we had a yoke around our neck.” Typically, churches with a membership of over 300 have a head of staff, and either one or two associate pastors. With a $50,000 a year loan payment there was no room in the budget to pay a salary and do ministry. Having an associate pastor and giving Rev. Portis a long overdue sabbatical is a dream that could very well be the start towards reconciliation.
Director for the Center for Repair and Historical Harms, Rev. Jermaine Ross-Allam said, "According to the Book of Order, ordained ministry requires taking a vow to ‘be a friend among your colleagues in ministry, working with them, subject to the ordering of God’s Word and Spirit.’ With this minimal standard in mind, Christians must make reparations when they impair the ability of other Christian individuals and communities to make their unique contribution to our shared world. Because we are called to be friends and colleagues, reparations among Christian colleagues requires more than returning ill-gotten gains and resolving the monetary debt the injured party incurred during the period of injury. Reparations among Christians also requires the sincere attempt to restore the injured party as nearly as possible to the condition they would have enjoyed but for the harm inflicted on their physical, spiritual, and mental health, future prospects, community impact, and personal fulfillment. Anything less seems mingy, at best."
In spite of all that Third has been through, their joy remains because it comes from the Lord. The Elders are not looking for revenge. They are just looking for people to do the right thing. Elder Bernice says, “David did a lot of sinning… But David kept coming back [to God], recognizing that that was the source of his strength and his power. And I think as long as we keep coming back, [God] says that we can.”
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