During its April 4-5, 2025, stated meeting, the Presbytery of the Southeast (PSE) formed a
committee with the following mandate: “To investigate allegations against Mr. Belfield, Mr.
Bennett, Mr. Long, the PSE, and the OPC as a whole, and to report back to the PSE no later than the October 17-18, 2025, stated meeting of the Presbytery with recommendations about whether and how the Presbytery ought to respond.”
Having completed its work, the committee reported to the PSE during its October 17-18, 2025, stated meeting. That committee summarized its findings, writing, “Our conclusions, documented and then outlined below, are that the allegations against Mrs. Chernyavskiy’s birth mother and a former neighbor are credible and supported by the evidence. However, the most serious allegations against the people and entities named in our mandate are either unfounded or impossible to prove. Despite this, these allegations have been broadly circulated, aided by a willingness of some to receive a report and act on it before hearing the whole matter.”
With regard to the specific allegations Ms. Chernyavskiy has made against Rev. M. Jay Bennett, the committee concluded, “There is no evidence that [Rev. Bennett] referred to Mrs. Chernyavskiy as ‘an unreliable witness’ in the context of her allegedly seeking to report sexual abuse (see letter on page 11-12, footnote 16). We believe the allegations of heresy, sexual abuse, harassment, spiritual abuse, and cruelty not only to be unfounded, but slanderous.”
Note: Appendix 1 provides a detailed timeline of key events.
In the interest of full transparency a link to the full report is at the top of the page.