Fountain Hills Presbyterian Church will lose its associate pastor, Rev. Kenneth (Ken) Brown, effective April 30, because the position was eliminated.

Senior Pastor Bill Good wrote in the church’s February monthly newsletter that the congregation’s governing body, the Session, made the budget decision.

“This comes as trauma of the first order in our family and has been accompanied by the full gamut of emotional response,” wrote Good. “Many have agreed with the decision while, unsurprisingly, some have not and will not…ever. Truly, there’s not much I can say to those on either side of the discussion…”

Good said the Session came to the conclusion only after weeks of “creative, faithful, prayerful, and even tearful struggle.”

“I can attest that your leaders, working under pressure of the necessity to approve a budget for next year, strove to weave this strategy out of equal parts fiscal responsibility and Christian compassion,” wrote Good.

Brown declined to comment.

Through his role as Noon Kiwanis Club president, he was instrumental in raising funds for a children’s feeding program in Haiti after Hurricane Matthew’s devastation in October 2016.

He has been an active participant in services sponsored by the Fountain Hills Christian Ministerial Association.

He served as a senior pastor in several churches in Akron and Columbus, Ohio area.

Between 1994 and 1996, Brown was national coordinator of the Veritas Forum, a lecture and forum/debate ministry to major universities across the country.