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[42]Church [43]Colleges & Universities

St. Andrew’s Fires Back After Nichols’ Statement on Excommunication

Church closely associated with Ligonier Ministries and Reformation
Bible College explains its rationale.
[44]Avatar photo
[45]Kim Roberts March 24, 2026
[46][St-Andrews-Parsons-Nichols-820x394.png]

St. Andrew’s Chapel, the church started by Dr. R.C. Sproul in Sanford,
Florida, has fired back in response to statements made by Dr. Stephen
Nichols about his “excommunication” from the church.

Background, St. Andrews Chapel / Left insert: Burk Parsons / Right
insert: Stephen Nichols

Nichols was publicly booted from St. Andrew’s earlier this month, and
the church informed its members in a congregation-wide letter —despite
the fact that Nichols is no longer a member of St. Andrew’s. Nichols
will also conclude his leadership at Ligonier Ministries and
Reformation Bible College, both of which are closely associated with
St. Andrew’s.

Nichols [47]took to social media on March 19 to share his side of the
story.

He [48]said that he and his wife learned in January 2024 that his
daughter Grace’s counselor had reported suspected sexual abuse of Grace
by then-associate pastor of youth and family ministry at St. Andrews,
Stephen Adams.

Nichols said he reported this to the church on January 10, 2025.

Adams [49]denies the allegations.

When Nichols realized that his family and the leadership of St.
Andrew’s were “at an impasse with [the] church and that [they] had
different perspectives on how to handle this situation,” he sought to
leave and find another church. When he informed church leadership of
his family’s plans in July 2025, the church responded by indicting
them, accusing them of “slander, unresolved anger, collusion to
deceive, failure to follow session directives, and breach of membership
vows.”

Nichols and his wife resigned their membership at St. Andrew’s when it
[50]voted to leave the PCA in December 2025 and are currently members
of New Hope PCA in Eustis, Florida.

Nichols wrote, “We reported suspicion of sexual abuse of our daughter,
we ended up indicted, and we ended up excommunicated. We are deeply
saddened by all that has taken place and grieved for everyone involved.
Our prayer and hope is that the central issue will not be lost. At the
heart of this issue is the suspected sexual abuse of our daughter.”

The day after Nichols posted on social media, St. Andrew’s responded
with a statement of their own. In a letter to congregants, it said
“statements published on social media” deserved a response, and the
letter was intended to supply it.

The St. Andrew’s letter states that “members of a former family of the
church” — it does not name the Nichols family — began to show hostility
toward Adams in 2024 and that Adams reported the matter to church
leadership. The church said they worked to resolve the matter, but the
family did not explain that the concerns involved sexual allegations.

It was not until a meeting in early 2025 that the church claims it
learned of “an unspecified sexual allegation” against Adams. They then
reported the matter to the Seminole County Sheriff’s Department and
urged the family to do the same.

The church also put Adams on six weeks of leave while it sought counsel
from outside experts. As they saw it, the family “ultimately refused to
provide supporting evidence and law enforcement confirmed there were no
grounds for investigation,” so Adams resumed his duties.

“In this case, the Session has no credible charges before it and no
grounds for further action against Pastor Adams. We do not take this
conclusion lightly, and we grieve the pain this situation has caused,”
the church wrote.

St. Andrew’s also confirmed that Adams was not “dismissed nor asked to
leave” the church. “He voluntarily resigned, despite the expressed
wishes of his fellow elders, following what he described as two years
of significant personal and spiritual hardship for himself and his
family. We are sincerely grateful for his years of dedicated service
among us. We invite you to continue praying for him and his family.”

This coincides with the [51]statement posted on social media by Adams.

A body camera recording obtained by MinistryWatch shows Nichols and his
wife going to the sheriff’s department on March 11, 2025. They said
their daughter had exhibited self-harm behaviors but was not prepared
to publicly accuse the person she claimed had sexually abused her.

The law enforcement officer explained that without an “admission” by
the victim, the investigation would not proceed forward.

Also in March 2025, the elders of St. Andrew’s Chapel initiated an
investigation against the former members and began formal discipline in
the summer of 2025 because “their prolonged conduct…disturbed the
peace, unity, and purity of the Church.”

The church reiterated that they excommunicated the “former members” for
contumacy, or an unwillingness to engage with the disciplinary
proceedings, not for raising concerns about Adams.

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The Central Florida Presbytery, the regional body of the PCA of which
St. Andrew’s was formerly a member, has scheduled a meeting for March
31. Its agenda says it will consider “recent public actions and
communications affecting members of churches within our bounds.”

St. Andrew’s Chapel left the PCA after its lead pastor, Burk Parsons,
was [53]suspended from office by the Central Florida Presbytery. A
church judicial committee had found him guilty of three charges that
included accusations of bullying, slander, and “lording [his
leadership] over others.”

David Zima, a former ruling elder and member of St. Andrew’s who
resigned his membership from the church after it voted to leave the
PCA, was also publicly “excommunicated” by the church for contumacy
this month. Similar to the Nichols, he was already a member at another
PCA church.

He told MinistryWatch that St. Andrew’s decision to leave the PCA
“materially changed their theology as a church, which was a breach of
our membership covenant.”

“They have no right to change their theology and force people to change
with them. Religious belief and association is a voluntary act. Calvin
said that members have to approve the men that oversee them. In our
case, we neither held to the same theology nor did we approve of the
elders. We joined other PCA churches, and we are members in good
standing at both. The PCA and its leadership has acknowledged this,” he
wrote.

Zima is also considering his next legal steps against St. Andrew’s for
publishing a letter about his “excommunication” to the entire church
congregation.

“This was unprecedented as for 25 years it has been the church custom
to only make mention of such church discipline in the back of the
bulletin,” Zima said in an email to MinistryWatch. “[St. Andrew’s
Chapel] has never mailed letters to all members of the church. This is
another reason I believe that this is retributive. Neither the Nichols
nor I have been members of [St. Andrew’s] for over [three] months. They
must really hate us to want to excommunicate people who are not even
members of their church.”

TO OUR READERS: The mission of MinistryWatch is to help Christian
donors become more faithful stewards of the resources God has entrusted
to them. Do you know of a story that will help us fulfill our mission,
or do you want to give us feedback about this or any other story? If
so, please email us at [54][email protected].

Related posts:

* [55]St. Andrew’s Chapel Salaries Well Above Median Salary in the
Region [56]

St. Andrew’s Chapel Salaries Well Above Median Salary in the Region
* [57]St. Andrew’s Chapel Faces Questions Over Financial Transparency
[58]

St. Andrew’s Chapel Faces Questions Over Financial Transparency
* [59]St. Andrew’s Chapel Votes to Leave PCA [60]

St. Andrew’s Chapel Votes to Leave PCA
* [61]50 Largest Media Ministries In The Country [62]

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* [63]Charlie Dates Counters John MacArthur’s Declaration That MLK
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Tags:
* [65]Dr. Stephen Nichols
* [66]Ligonier Ministries
* [67]R.C. Sproul
* [68]Reformation Bible College
* [69]St. Andrew’s Chapel

[70]Avatar photo
[71]Kim Roberts

Kim Roberts is a freelance writer who holds a Juris Doctorate with
honors from Baylor University and an undergraduate degree in government
from Angelo State University. She has three young adult children who
were home schooled and is happily married to her husband of 28 years.
1

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