Church Sued for Holding Church Services in Their Church 

Coastal Family Church of Flagler Beach, FL, sued for worship services

It’s not 2020 anymore. There are no bans preventing churches from holding services in their own buildings. But that doesn’t mean anti-God forces aren’t working to silence the gospel.

Coastal Family Church of Flagler Beach purchased a space in a strip mall to serve as their new church home. But now the church is being sued for holding church services in their new church!

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Flagler Square is a strip mall in Flagler Beach, FL. The corporate entity that oversees the mall is organized into a “condominium” association, which governs the allowable actions and uses of each of the units (storefronts) in the mall. 

There are four “units” in the strip center: a discount national brand retail store, a resale consignment store, and the Fraternal Order of Police. Coastal Family Church recently bought the fourth unit within Flagler Square to serve as home for their new worship center. 

Yet when Coastal Family Church finished their renovations, moved into the unit they purchased, and began holding Sunday services, the strip center’s condominium association ordered the church to stop holding “public assemblies.”

Flagler Square-JAX Inc. (one of the original organizers of the condominium), filed suit against Pastor Roderick James Palmer and the church for holding public assemblies in the Flagler Square unit the church owns. The plaintiff alleges that the church services violate the Condominium Declaration, which includes an attachment titled “Prohibited Uses,” which prohibits several things, including competing discount stores as well as “a banquet hall, auditorium, or other place of public assembly.” 

Yet one of the strip mall tenants is a discount consignment store, and the other is the Fraternal Order of Police, which regularly holds public speaking events, “banquets,” and other times of “public assembly.”

But ONLY Coastal Family Church is being prohibited from holding public assemblies. That’s clear-cut religious discrimination. 

The plaintiff in this case has filed a motion for injunctive relief to prevent the church from meeting. Liberty Counsel will quickly file a response to this egregious filing next week.

By the way, Florida law clearly states that deed restrictions that violate civil rights and religious free exercise are not enforceable.

We will not allow churches and places of worship to be evicted from their property. We will not only stop this eviction; we will demand that the offending party be held financially responsible for its unlawful actions.  

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