Scott Sauls, prominent area pastor at Christ Presbyterian, on leave over work culture

A prominent Nashville area pastor is on indefinite leave following outcry and an investigation into a toxic work culture at Christ Presbyterian Church.

The Rev. Scott Sauls, who has led the multi-campus Christ Presbyterian for 13 years, announced his leave and confessed the reasons for it in a video to his church members shared Sunday. The announcement precedes an upcoming meeting of the Nashville Presbytery to make a final determination of Sauls’ status with the church.

“Although I want to live by what I write and preach, my sin and my blind spots have created gaps between my message and how I show up and lead,” Sauls said in the video, according to an audio recording The Tennessean obtained.

First reported by Religion News Service, the news came as a shock to members of the public, but not to those familiar with what led to the leave of absence.

In August, former Christ Presbyterian staff wrote to leading elders in the church who comprise what is known as the church session about a prior request for a third-party assessment into staff turnover at Christ Presbyterian, according to a copy of the letter The Tennessean obtained.

The church session is a subset of elders at Christ Presbyterian who oversee high-level decisions, such as staffing.

With its flagship campus located just outside Belle Meade, Christ Presbyterian operates a K-12 school, Christ Presbyterian Academy, and two other satellite campuses.

Christ Presbyterian launched in the 1980s following a split with Nashville First Presbyterian Church over theological disagreements, and joined the more conservative Presbyterian Church in America, a newer denomination at the time. Since then, Christ Presbyterian has planted many of the other PCA churches in the region, including Covenant Presbyterian Church in Green Hills.

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Christ Presbyterian has also developed an influential reputation because of its connection to Gov. Bill Lee, whose wife Maria taught at Christ Presbyterian Academy, and to U.S. Sen. Marsha Blackburn, R-Tennessee, who is a member at the church with her husband.

Sauls, a well-known author of six books and a weekly blog, came to Christ Presbyterian in 2012 after serving as a pastor at Redeemer Presbyterian Church in New York City alongside the Rev. Tim Keller, a PCA preacher and one of the most the most influential evangelical pastors in the country.

Sauls said in his video Sunday he has treated other staff at Christ Presbyterian “transactionally.”

“I verbalized insensitive and hurtful criticism of others’ work. I’ve used social media and the pulpit to quiet dissenting viewpoints,” Sauls said. “I’ve manipulated facts to support paths that I desire.”

Investigation and potential discipline

An investigation into Sauls’ leadership followed the August 2022 letter from former Christ Presbyterian staff.

“It is the elders of this church and the pastors of this church who needs to lead the way in being the chief forgiver and the chief repenter,” said David Filson, a Christ Presbyterian pastor, at Sunday’s member meeting after the church played Sauls’ video, according to the audio recording.

The investigation into Sauls was a partnership between a subset of Christ Presbyterian elders, called the personnel committee, and the Nashville Presbytery’s shepherding committee.

The Nashville Presbytery is the regional authority for PCA churches in Middle Tennessee in which pastors, or teaching elders, and ruling elders have voting power. A small group of Nashville Presbytery leaders manage the administrative operations.

“Men acting on behalf of the Nashville Presbytery, not staff, have weighed into the situation,” R. Neil Spence, the Nashville Presbytery’s stated clerk, said in an interview with The Tennessean. “The shepherding committee, those men have really done Yeomans work to help Scott and the congregation in this.”

Voting members of the Nashville Presbytery have the final say over a pastors’ call, Spence said. That could include suspension, according to the PCA Book of Church Order.

Sauls’ current leave followed a church-level recommendation by Christ Presbyterian’s personnel committee. That leave will include “rest, reflection, repentance, intensive counselling and hopefully healing,” Sauls said in Sunday’s video message.

Next, the voting members of the Nashville Presbytery will convene for a special meeting to review the findings of the investigation into Sauls. That review can take a confession of guilt into consideration, or a written version of what Sauls articulated in his video Sunday.

Meanwhile, Christ Presbyterian leaders said they will take steps to reckon with past failures and make amends.

“We recognize the gravity of this moment and acknowledge that leadership in a church like ours does not happen in a vacuum,” Filson said at Sunday’s member meeting. “We are sorry for the ways we have failed to lead well.”

Christ Presbyterian declined to comment, citing church policy to not comment on personnel issues.

Previous Nashville Presbytery case: Why supporters of a Nashville pastor are speaking out about his departure from Covenant Presbyterian Church

The last time a similar process played out within local PCA congregations was 2016 when the Nashville Presbytery censured the Rev. Jim Bachmann, former pastor of Covenant Presbyterian, for “inflicting severe injury on the peace and purity” of the church.

Though the PCA’s national court would overrule the decision to censure Bachmann two years later, the Covenant pastor had already left the church. Bachmann currently pastors Stephens Valley Church in Nashville.

Liam Adams covers religion for The Tennessean. Reach him at ladams@tennessean.com or on Twitter @liamsadams.

This article originally appeared on Nashville Tennessean: Christ Presbyterian pastor Scott Sauls on leave over work culture