Community Christian Fellowship moves out of Sun City

A final appeal by the Community Christian Fellowship, formerly the Community Christian Church, to continue meeting in Sun City’s Meadow View Lodge was turned down by the Sun City Association’s Board of Directors last week.

 The church held its last service in the Oak/Elm Room last Sunday, July 10. This coming Sunday, the congregation, now numbering about 35 members, will meet in PNC Bank on Route 47 near the Sun City entrance.

“Beyond that, we’re not sure yet,” said Al Roberts, spokesman for the fellowship. “We’re still working on a long-range plan regarding a place to hold our activities.”

The cause for the denial was the same as it was on June 22, when the board decided not to extend the Fellowship’s initial 90-day contract to rent space in Meadow View on Sunday mornings. In early June, prior to the board’s June 22 meeting, the religious group applied for and was granted resident special interest group status under the name Community Christian Fellowship. Early last week, Rev. Perry Martin, the group’s pastor, requested a new long-term reservation at MVL on Sunday mornings.

At a Committee-of-the-Whole meeting on July 6, the board unanimously agreed on a resolution to deny any existing or future room reservation requests by the resident (Rev. Martin) in question and the Community Christian Fellowship resident special interest group for the use of any SCCAH facility. They also decided to remove the Fellowship as a resident special interest group from publication in the Lifestyles Magazine, based upon the board’s authority in the guidelines published in Lifestyles. 

“It is clear to the board that the responsible parties for the Community Christian Church and the new special interest group are identical,” Board President Bill Ziletti said in a communication circulated in Sun City on July 8. “This organization violated the terms of their room reservation agreement by not ceasing the use of the Del Webb Sun City trademarks when repeatedly requested to do so by Association staff. The board specifically considered the fact that this individual and the organization he represented had violated the rules and guidelines established for room reservations in the past. The Association has a duty, under a trademark license agreement with Del Webb, to report any unauthorized use of the Del Webb Sun City trademarks, and there are serious repercussions to the Association of violations of the terms of the license agreement.”

“We are disappointed in, but respectful of, the board’s decision,” said Roberts. “We’ll now go to Plan B, which begins this week with a move to the PNC Bank. I speak for Rev. Perry Martin when I say how grieved we are for the abuse that the board has taken on this matter. We appreciate so much how they have stayed focused and done their job according to the rules and regulations under which they operate. It has been hard on them, and we thank them for their responses to our requests.”

While this action puts an end to the controversy regarding the fellowship’s presence in Meadow View Lodge, it probably won’t end the association’s efforts to clarify its room reservation guidelines. A recent recommendation from the Lifestyle and Covenants Compliance Committees that room rentals from outside business groups, including churches, be limited to once a month for groups over 30 and once a week for groups under 30 was returned by the board to the committees for further work.

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