Unholy row moves to an earthly court

By MATHEW DEARNALEY

A bitter theological dispute which caused ructions in the Seventh-Day Adventist Church has spilled into the more worldly realm of the Employment Tribunal.

The church is under legal attack over an unholy row with an Auckland pastor whose experimental and "charismatic" 50-member congregation proved too lively for conservatives in its hierarchy.

Pastor Ritchie Way was sacked in 1998 with four weeks pay after almost 33 years' service, and his off-shoot Cornerstone Church in Northcote had its assets seized - drum kit, amplified guitars and all.

Mr Way told the tribunal that he was left in dire financial straits, having to plead for money from the parent church.

When his call for help from the New Zealand church fell on deaf ears, he appealed to its South Pacific headquarters in Australia.

He wrote asking if the church would show him some Christian charity or leave him "to cry out to God for justice".

The church argued at an Employment Tribunal hearing that this did not constitute adequate notice of a personal grievance, required to be lodged within 90 days of a dismissal.

But adjudicator Rick Mirkin accepted that the letter spelt out the nature of his grievance, and gave Mr Way permission to pursue his claim of unjustifiable dismissal, as long as the pastor could prove that he was an employee of the church.

The church denies that his relationship with it was as an employee.

Mr Way's letter to Australia said that, although the parent church preached grace, its treatment of his congregation showed very little of this getting from the heads to the hearts of some people.

This was shown by the speed with which he was sacked, while he was on holiday, and the seizure of his congregation's savings of $90,000 and $20,000 of its assets.

He said neither he nor Cornerstone had violated any belief of the church.

"The only thing we violated was certain individuals' ill-founded prejudices."

Mr Way, who has resurrected his congregation as the Cornerstone Celebration Church but is away and could not be reached for comment yesterday, told the tribunal that he became "burned out and depressed" from 1996.

At one point he would sit in a chair all day, unable to face people, and would cry during sermons, believing the church was not being "fed" spiritually.

The parent church had previously become concerned at "charismatic" behaviour in his congregation.

It asked him to stop practices considered objectionable by the parent church, and when he refused, stripped him of his ministerial credentials.