Judge lays down commandments for warring churchgoers

A judge has told two warring church groups to love thy neighbour, stepping in to stop a bitter dispute that has threatened to come to blows.

The two groups – each one with allegiance to a different national church body – both lay claim to the Green Valley Church in Wainiuomata, and have been at loggerheads for six years.

The battle has seen one group locked out of their place of worship, forced to rent another building for their weekly services.

The other group, led by the current pastor, has taken over the church's board of trustees and has aligned it with a rival Samoan Assembly of God organisation.

Police have been called at least once when a confrontation on church grounds became heated. The battle has now gone all the way to the High Court.

Justice Ronald Young has ordered the two groups to work together under a court appointed public trustee, and elect a new board. "There has been a complete breakdown in the structure and organisation of this Church and trust," he wrote in a judgment released this week. "There is now an intractable standoff between the two groups."

The dispute is the culmination of a falling out between two of the church's founders. Seneti Time and Luaiva Fagalilo were initial trustees when a group of Samoan families began the church in 1984. However, in 2005, two groups within the church disagreed about which national body the church should be affiliated with.

One faction, led by Mr Fagalilo, wanted it to be affiliated to the Samoan Assembly of God New Zealand, while the other, led by Mr Time, wished to align with the Assembly of God Incorporated New Zealand.

The conflict led Mr Time's group to stop worshiping at the church. They claimed they were "unlawfully prevented" from using it, however Mr Fagalilo's group said they left of their own free will.

Mr Time's group called for a vote on which body the church should align itself with, but Mr Fagalilo decided it would be affiliated with the Samoan Assembly of God.

He served trespass notices on Mr Time, his wife and other parishioners. The church's locks were changed. Justice Young found that the trespass notices were unlawful and that Mr Fagalilo could not stop church members attending.

But Mr Time decided to pull his group away from the church. "He recognised to continue to insist on their right to worship there might lead to physical violence and was certainly leading to angry discord."

Justice Young found that trustee members had been "wrongfully removed" and that current trustees were not properly elected.

He ruled that the public trustee be appointed and new elections held.

- © Fairfax NZ News