A superior court judge has ordered the elected trustees of Bethany-Newton United Church in Surrey to hand over possession of the church property to the United Church of Canada after the latter took them to court.
"I have concluded that the concerns the respondents raise are matters of internal church governance in which the courts should not interfere, and that the respondents must give up possession of the lands based on the ownership rights of the United Church," Justice Bruce Elwood decided.
"The application by the United Church is based on its property rights," he pointed out. "The only objections raised by the respondents are based on internal church matters which I have found are outside the jurisdiction of the courts."
Elwood presided over The United Church of Canada v. Juanita Lowe, Don Lowe, Craig Samuel Lee Perry, Arthurbill Etienne, also known as Bill Etienne, Dev Prasad, and Bethany-Newton United Church, in B.C. Supreme Court in Vancouver. He delivered his reasons for judgment on June 20.
The church is located at 14853 60 Ave. Elwood noted in his judgment that a United Church review in August 2023 found Bethany-Newton to be in "dire financial straits, out of compliance with church bylaws and refusing to accept oversight."
Since the United Church's regional governing body passed resolutions in October 2023, which Bethany's trustees, assuming control of the church's governance, property and finances, the respondents have denied it and the new trustees access to the church property, resulting in the mother church applying under the Commercial Tenancy Act for relief "as a landlord against tenants who it says are wrongfully holding possession of the property."
Elwood noted that while the respondents acknowledge the United Church's legal authority they maintain they were denied their right to procedural fairness and unlawfully removed as the trustees of Bethany and its property.
"The respondents say they do not trust the regional governing body of the United Church to act in the best interests of their congregation," the judge noted. "They are concerned that the regional authority has an agenda and a commercial interest in the church property. They say they are willing to have the dispute mediated by a neutral third party."
In reply, the United Church argued that the resolutions which removed the respondents, appointed new trustees and assumed control of the Surrey church aren't subject to judicial review and even if the respondents still were the lawfully the elected trustees they're nevertheless still bound by the terms of the trust "under which they hold title to the church property to deliver up possession to the United Church."
Bethany-Newton United Church has deep roots in Surrey, dating back to 1927 when a Methodist church in Sullivan Heights joined the United Church of Canada. Bethany's congregation in 1959 acquired a property and in 1989 amalgamated with Newton United Church to create its namesake today.
Elwood noted trustees are volunteers, not employees, and that there's "no legal right to be a trustee of a congregation."
