New York Supreme Court Judge James G. Clynes has dismissed a lawsuit mounted by four current and former members of the historic Abyssinian Baptist Church that sought to nullify the recent election of the Rev. Kevin R. Johnson as the new pastor of the 200-year-old congregation.
“On this motion to dismiss, respondents (Abyssinian Baptist Church) have sustained their prima facie burden of showing that no fraud or wrongdoing occurred during the June 21-23, 2024, election process and that the petition should be dismissed as a matter of law,” Clynes wrote in a decision and order on Dec. 22, 2025. “Petitioners fail to raise an issue of fact showing that the June 21-23, 2024, election process was so flawed as to require judicial intervention. ... Accordingly, the petition is dismissed.”
The four plaintiffs in the case against the church and Johnson — the Rev. C. Vernon Mason, Kevin McGruder, Jasmine McFarlane White and Clarence E. Ball III — sought to nullify the summer 2024 vote that led to Johnson’s installation on Sept. 29 that year. They claimed Johnson’s election wasn’t conducted in compliance with the church’s bylaws, and the process was corrupted with bias.
They also asked the court to order the formation of a new pastoral search committee and direct the church to present a different candidate to congregants. The church members further asked the court to void all salary, payments or compensation the church already made to Johnson, whom they claimed was illegitimate.
Reacting to the dismissal of the case, Abyssinian Baptist Church said the court “confirmed what we have known all along."
“This has been a long journey, and we want to express our profound gratitude to our congregation and supporters for your trust, patience, and prayers throughout this process,” the church said in a memo to the congregation shared with The Christian Post. “The court has now confirmed what we have known all along: the voice of the congregation was heard, and the will of the congregation was honored. We are ready to close this chapter and look forward with Rev. Dr. Kevin R. Johnson as the duly elected senior pastor.”
The disgruntled plaintiffs told CP in a separate statement that they were “disappointed” by the court's decision on their complaint.
“While we respect the authority of the Court, we do not agree with the outcome, nor do we believe it reflects the gravity of the concerns we brought forward in good faith and in great detail,” they said.
“Our lawsuit was never about undermining the church or its spiritual mission. It was about accountability, transparency, and the right of members to raise serious questions about governance, process, and spiritual harm without fear of retaliation or silence. We came to the Court because every opportunity for resolution within the church had been closed to us, as we outlined in our petition,” they added.
“The dismissal of this case does not resolve the underlying issues that compelled us to act. Those issues remain and because of this decision, The Abyssinian Baptist Church is a deeply vulnerable institution. And the cycle of marginalizing, intimidating, and pushing out the voices of those who speak out will not only continue, but it will become a permanent stain in the fabric of a church that once stood for justice.”
Johnson’s installation at Abyssinian Baptist Church came after a contentious dispute for the job left vacant by the death of the Rev. Calvin O. Butts III on Oct. 28, 2022, from pancreatic cancer. Butts led the church for three decades.
The Rev. Eboni Marshall Turman, a Yale Divinity School professor who made history when she became the youngest pastor ordained at Abyssinian in 2007, had hoped to make history again as the church's first female pastor after Butts' death.
When she wasn't named as a finalist for the position by the church's search committee, Turman filed a federal lawsuit accusing the church and its search committee of gender discrimination.
