Bruderheim congregation prepares for court battle over contested property

Ownership challenged after Alberta group split from Moravian Church

An Alberta congregation will fight the Moravian Church in America for ownership of a rural church after an ideological split over allowing clergy of any sexual orientation to become ordained.

Late last month, Court of Queen’s Bench Justice Brian Burrows granted the newly incorporated Bruderheim Community Church a temporary injunction to maintain possession of the church and associated property where it has worshipped as a branch of the Northern Province of the Moravian Church in America for more than 120 years.

The question of ownership was spurred after the local congregation decided to separate from the Moravian Church after a 2014 synod — a meeting among the church’s clergy — during which it was decided that an individual could become a member of the Moravian clergy regardless of their sexual orientation.

After the synod decision, the Bruderheim congregation deliberated and decided it couldn’t accept the change.

It passed a resolution in May 2016 — voting 49 to 3 — to disassociate from the Moravian Church.

The congregation incorporated under the name Bruderheim Community Church in early April 2017.

“I think the people who left would say that they hold a different view of the Bible than we do. I’m not sure that that’s entirely true,” said Provincial Elders’ Conference of the Moravian Church Northern Province president Rev. Dr. Betsy Miller, speaking over the phone from her office in Pennsylvania earlier this month.

The northern province, encompassing the northern United States and Canada, is part of the larger Moravian Church in America.

“We were in dialogue with the folks from the Bruderheim church for over two years, trying to seek some reconciliation, and trying to find a way forward together,” Miller said. “They were unable or unwilling to see their way to do that.”

The new church’s pastor, Wayne Larson, declined an interview through email. Larson also declined an interview on behalf of Larry Bartz, a member of the congregation who filed an affidavit to support the Bruderheim group’s application with the court.

According to court documents, about 55 families attend the church in Bruderheim, a small town about 47 kilometres northeast of Edmonton.

In March 2017, the Moravian Church sent a letter to the Bruderheim congregation informing it that the Bruderheim Moravian Church had been officially dissolved and that all property of that church would revert to the Northern Province of the Moravian Church.

An ejection notice soon followed, warning the congregation that representatives would arrive in Bruderheim on May 31 to take possession of the property.

The congregation applied to the courts to put a stop to the ejection. Burrows heard the application on May 30, granting an interim injunction restraining the Moravian Church from forcing the Bruderheim congregation to vacate the land until the question of ownership is settled by the courts.

In documents filed with the courts, the local congregation argues it gained possession of the land in Bruderheim in 1896, when it was gifted to the congregation by the federal land commissioner.

But then in 1912, the land title was registered with the Board of Elders of the Canadian District in America, to be held in trust for the Moravian congregation.

In its application to the court, the Bruderheim congregation argues that the larger Moravian Church was only ever a trustee.

In response, the Moravian Church pointed to church policy to show that the property should rightfully revert to its possession.

But prior to officially deciding to leave, the church council had ceased making its monthly payments to the Moravian Church, according to documents filed by the Board of Elders of the Canadian District of the Moravian Church in America, which is opposing the Bruderheim congregation’s court application.

Burrows did order that the Bruderheim congregation must allow the Moravians weekly access to the property on Sunday afternoon, so that it can hold its own worship service.

Those services are being held, but only once a month during the summer, according to Rev. Matt Gillard, who is one of the clergy helping to offer services to Bruderheim parishioners who wish to keep attending Moravian services.

The injunction expires in eight months, and Burrows directed the parties to approach the court before the end of June to acquire a court date so that the matter can be argued.