Cedar Park Church: “Our relationship with the Conference is badly broken”

Earlier this year, Cedar Park Church produced a timeline of its experience with BCMB leading up to the resignations of its three pastors. This is a shortened version of that timeline. It is the first of a three-part series about how that church came apart this year. Part two is about the meeting with BCMB leadership that produced that result; Part three is responses of members to that meeting.   

In September 2020, Cedar Park Church (CPC) embarked on a process of discerning which values were important to embrace and live by. By the time the process was completed in early 2021, it had become very clear that many people wanted to do a study into LGBTQ+ inclusion and welcome. 

A year later, all three CPC pastors have resigned and the congregation has been torn apart, its members wounded and grieving. 

The story started in April 2021 when the congregation indicated it wanted to talk about the topic of LGBTQ+ welcome and inclusion. 

In preparation for the discussion, then-pastor Lee Kosa asked BCMB if it had “an inclusion ceiling that churches are required to adhere to”—if there were positions LGBTQ+ people couldn’t hold, like elder, worship leader or a musician in the band.   

In response, in May BCMB asked to meet with CPC leadership to talk about the subject. At the same time, Conference Minister Rob Thiessen started a covert investigation of Kosa’s preaching and theology—to see if he, and the church, were straying from the Confession of Faith. 

Also about that time, BCMB leaders began meeting secretly with members of the congregation who were concerned with the direction of the congregation. 

When Kosa learned about the secret review, he expressed his surprise and displeasure to BCMB; he wanted to know why it was happening without him or the church elders knowing about it. 

In response, BCMB sent a letter indicating it wanted to meet with Kosa about his understanding of the definition of biblical marriage. 

They also said they wanted to meet with the congregation to share the results of their meeting with Kosa, to talk about BCMB convictions related to sexuality, and to talk about how BCMB could support CPC in ways consistent with the Confession of Faith. 

In September, CPC’s Board of Elders responded to BCMB saying they would decline the invitation to meet until the Conference clarified why they had not disclosed the investigation of Kosa earlier. 

The Board also asked for about a promised Conference debrief about the departure of Artisan Church in April 2020—something BCMB had earlier said it would do. 

In October, Kosa himself sent a note to the CPC Board of Elders that said, in part: 

“I am not able to continue to pastor with the weight of the PMC’s unresolved investigation hanging over me. 

“As the credentialled pastor at CPC, this is a very important matter to me. 

“I had hoped that the Conference would have been willing to address some of their missteps in this process with us (and with Artisan) before heading into the face-to-face meeting, but I do not think that will happen. 

“I hope you can understand the burden this is for me and why I am unable to wait to address this.”  

In November, BCMB moderator Sharon Simpson and Ken Esau, the BCMB representative to the National Faith and Life Team of the Canadian Mennonite Brethren Conference, met with a few CPC elders to talk about how to rebuild trust between BCMB leadership and CPC. 

At that meeting, on November 4, Simpson and Esau said they were unaware of the review of Kosa’s ministry. 

Also that month, BCMB sent a letter to all BCMB churches asking pastors and church leaders reaffirm the Confession of Faith, with a special reference to the articles on sexuality and marriage. 

In a preamble, the letter mentioned the departure of Artisan Church, which had left the conference the previous April over its decision to be welcoming to LGBTQ+ people. 

BCMB said it was “deeply grieved to learn that one of our churches had adopted a position on marriage and sexuality in conflict with what we believe the Scriptures teach.” 

On November 7, 2021, CPC held a congregational meeting. At the meeting, Kosa told the congregation that, in response to concerns expressed by some members of the church, his work was under review by the Conference. 

Kosa also told them he was open to an interview so he could be examined for adequate affirmation of the Confession of Faith. 

According to those who were there, the emotional distress experienced by Kosa, due to the investigation and the secret meetings with disgruntled anonymous members, along with a badly fractured relationship with Conference Minister Rob Thiessen, was clear and evident. 

He told the congregation the level of scrutiny and suspicion, combined with knowing he had been accused of theological errancy and pastoral malpractice by some members, was taking a toll on his and the other staff members’ mental health. 

Following the congregational meeting, Kosa initiated a meeting with the BCMB Personnel Committee. A CPC member attended as a witness. At the meeting he said his experience with the Conference was unprofessional and damaging. 

He also shared his grievances with the review process and with the actions and communication with BCMB Conference Minister Rob Thiessen. Kosa said a response from the Committee was vital to him for deciding if the BCMB was a healthy enough organization for him to continue working in. 

On February 5, Kosa and a member of the Elder’s Board met Sharon Simpson and Eldon Fehr of the Pastoral Ministries Committee (PMC) via Zoom. Simpson and Fehr presented him with a report drafted by the PMC in conjunction with the BCMB Board. 

In their opinion, they said, BCMB felt Kosa had been “moving away from an unqualified affirmation” of the Confession of Faith. 

He was given until March 30 to prove his “unequivocal commitment to the Confession of Faith,” especially to articles 10 and 11 about sexuality and marriage, and to demonstrate his “unequivocal commitment to the Confession” in order to maintain his credentials with the BCMB. 

Failure to demonstrate “unequivocal commitment” will result in “the removal” of his credentials, he was told. 

"A lack of clarity" in his beliefs and commitment to the COF would be understood by the PMC to mean that he does not support Articles 10 and 11 of the COF as the MB path of faithful discipleship." 

On February 11, the CPC board received a letter from Simpson requesting a meeting with the Elder Board to determine how “CPC leadership is aligned with the Mennonite Brethren Confession of Faith." 

In the letter, Simpson said BCMB had received verbal and written concerns from members of CPC concerned about movement away from the Confession. 

The Elder Board was surprised to hear the conference was still directly receiving and responding to individual congregant concerns, when it had repeatedly requested they direct congregants back to CPC leadership. 

The Elder Board indicated it wanted the Conference to acknowledge this misstep and cease meeting privately with some CPC members before meeting again—that would be the first step in rebuilding trust with the Conference. 

In their letter to Simpson, the Board made some observations about its relationship with BCMB over the previous year. 

“We have observed that the conference has never answered the question that we and many of our congregation have asked regarding why the CPC elder board was not informed,formally or otherwise, that a review of Pastor Lee’s work had been instigated. 

“We have observed that, despite the CPC moderator and an elder being told by the BCMB moderator that the conference does not respond to letters from individual congregants, theconference has in fact, responded to individual congregants from CPC. 

“We have observed that the BCMB conference has selectively listened and responded to certain voices from CPC, but has not responded to or acknowledged other voices who have questioned their process and/or the accountability of the conference minister. 

“We have observed a continuation of triangulated communication among the conference and some CPC congregants who express their concerns to BCMB. We have already expressed alarm over this type of communication, but our concerns have been disregarded, as evidenced by the BCMB continuing to let us know they are entertaining complaints from CPC congregants and not directing those complainants to speak to CPC leadership directly.

 “We have observed that the conference has ignored or minimized the continuously  emphasized strain on the mental well-being of our lead pastor and of many in our congregation. This has been seen in the length of time it took to complete the review, the refusal to provide a timeline for the review and the misleading description of a meeting with the PMC as a time to discern, when instead it was a time of interrogation. We believe it is unethical for the BCMB conference to not be more informed as to the consequences of ignoring mental health concerns.

"We have observed that CPC’s many written complaints regarding the behaviour of the conference minister have been disregarded. The complaints have not been taken seriously, as evidenced by the postponement of any discussion about these concerns being relegated to a vague time in the spring and by no immediate action being taken. The CPC moderator has noted that her own written concerns regarding the conference minister’s interference in peacemaking at CPC required two emails to obtain a response. The follow through she was promised in January has not occurred.

“We have observed that there has been no response to Pastor Lee’s request for a reconciliation process to take place in his relationship with the conference minister.  

“Our relationship with the conference is badly broken and we believe we cannot have respectful and helpful dialogue unless it is healed. The integrity of our Board and of our church does not allow us to be open to a power-abusing relationship and we believe that the boundaries that we set in our relationship with the conference are the closest we can get to loving both our own congregation and the conference at the same time.

 “There are some things the CPC elder board would need to see happen before we would consider our relationship with the conference restored:

“We would need to receive an explanation as to why our CPC elder board was not informed immediately that a review of Pastor Lee’s work was being undertaken.

“We would need to see action taken regarding the concerns our board and congregation have expressed regarding the role and behaviour of the conference minister.

“If our lead pastor is expected to continue to interact with the conference minister, we would like to see a third party, with experience in reconciliation process, mediate in the relationship between Pastor Lee and the conference minister.

“We would want to see some evidence that the conference board and minister are educating themselves regarding issues of mental health in the workplace.

“We would need to witness a cessation of the triangulated communication occurring between BCMB and some CPC congregants and have evidence that congregants are being directed back to our elder board to express their concerns. We would need to be given the names and complaints of those congregants so that their concerns could be addressed.

“We would need to see that the BCMB executive and conference minister are responding equally to all communications from CPC congregants, if their policy is now that they are responding to individual concerns. We would need to see that BCMB is not subject to confirmation bias in their processing of CPC congregant’s concerns.

"Our desire, as well as yours, is to bear witness to Christ in how we behave and in what we say. Our desire is to have restoration in our relationship with the conference. We believe that BCMB has relied heavily on power and authority, but has not managed to maintain a balance with loving relationship. Without a relationship of mutual love and accountability, there can be no connection. Without connection, there can be no dialogue.”

 On Feb. 27, Kosa and associate pastors Darren DeMelo and Megan Simpson submitted their resignations.

 The reasons “were manifold,” said Kosa, but included the challenging and broken relations with BCMB over the previous year, along with disagreement over the nature of the Confession, especially as it applied to sexuality and marriage.

Following the resignations, Sharon Simpson sent a letter to the church calling for a Special Meeting of the members on Sunday, March 6 at 7pm.

“Members of the BCMB Executive Board and Pastoral Ministries Committee members plan to attend to be at Cedar Park Church at 6:45 p.m.,” it said. “Please arrange to meet us there to provide access to the building in order to hold this meeting.”

In calling for the special meeting, Simpson referenced BCMB bylaws giving it permission to do so.

The Board of Elders declined to meet at such short notice. Another date was selected: April 3. Read about that meeting here. 

Read responses from CPC members to the special meeting. Read why these and other stories are being posted on this blog.