A church minister has been reprimanded by the ruling body of a Presbyterian denomination.
Minister Kevin Bidwell, minister at Sheffield Presbyterian Church (SPC), has been “formally rebuked” by the Evangelical Presbyterian Church of England and Wales (EPCEW) Presbytery for threatening legal action against its members. However, a spokesman for Bidwell says that as he has renounced EPCEW’s jurisdiction, a judicial rebuke by its governing body is unlawful and ultra vires.
In June 2025, the EPCEW Presbytery, which functions as its collective leadership, set up a judicial commission to hear the charges against Bidwell. He subsequently sent several legal threats via email to the Presbytery, including requiring EPCEW to “cease and desist” an alleged copyright infringement relating to a video of a 2023 address at Grace Presbyterian Church, Douglasville. The video formed part of the evidence relating to an allegation of slander.
A Presbytery “trial in absentia” was due to take place in December 2025. This was set to hear several charges against Bidwell, including from individuals who had been “erased” (or excluded) from SPC. However, the Presbytery said in a December statement it had dissolved the commission and ended the trial as it was “pastorally unwise to appoint a representative” for Bidwell, who had twice failed to appear at hearings.
In its statement, the Presbytery rebuked Bidwell for “threatening civil litigation against Presbytery members and seeking to subvert the judicial procedure of the church; and for failing to submit to the courts of the church”. He was also formally removed from the roll of Presbytery.
Responding, Kevin McGrane, an elder at SPC, and Bidwell’s spokesman, called it a “show trial” and rejected Presbytery’s claim that Bidwell had been notified of its decisions. Under EPCEW’s book of church order, a rebuke is the highest form of censure the Presbytery can issue without a trial. However, McGrane said: “Rev Bidwell left EPCEW on 8 November 2023, with no charges against him whatsoever … But since he left, two persons decided to bring false charges against him. It is a matter of record that they did not expect that Rev Bidwell would defend himself (since he had left the denomination and had renounced its jurisdiction in perpetuity).”
It is the latest development in a long-running dispute between EPCEW, Bidwell and other individuals.
