21 April 2007

By Rodwell Gwinyai (Entertainment Reporter)

There was chaos in Belvedere when a pastor who was expelled by the United Apostolic Faith Church in the area allegedly mobilised his three son in laws to disrupt church services at the parish. Pastor Percy Baera had his ordination revoked by the church's national executive council after he was found guilty of converting donated church funds to his personal use. Nehanda Radio is reliably informed he has so far disrupted two services on Sunday.

A member of the church told us the disruptions showed clearly how reliant Pastor Baera was on misused church funds. Pastor Baera is denying the charges and insists his former parishioners are the ones who boycotted the services in protest at his dismissal.

The pastor however faced a string of charges that included mismanaging church funds, misallocation of donated funds, failing to run church committees and failing to follow biblical patterns of reconciliation. The national council of the church also says he failed to restore good management and pastoral care for the congregation and encouraged 'unbiblical and unconstitutional methods such as petitions and takeovers of the pulpit by non-officers.'

Peter Jenkins who is the overseer of the church filed a civil court application seeking to bar Pastor Baera from disrupting the church services. In his founding affidavit he said, 'I aver that we have not been able to hold an uninterrupted church service in the last two weeks. I personally witnessed on two occasions interruptions by the pastor’s children and son-in-law, one Robson Kanyemba.' 'I further wish to highlight the fact that he insists that he shall take service on Sundays and will disrupt any attempt to proceed without him," Jenkins said.

"There exists a real risk that parishioners shall abandon the church and souls will be lost. I wish to state that there exists no other remedy as the issue here is that parishioners cannot be paid by way of damages and these people are the very reasons for the Applicant’s existence," Pastor Baera is challenging the application and arguing the matter is purely a labour one

"I dispute that I have ever disrupted any service. Neither have I threatened to do so. I have not claimed any wish to take over the running of the church. In short, there is no threat at all," said Pastor Baera. "Whenever I have attended church, I have done so as an ordinary person wishing to pray and fellowship with others. Since these problems started, I have maintained my calm despite the extreme provocation I have suffered at the hands of the leadership. I need to highlight that I have been pastoring at this church for not less than 18 years. The church is my home. I have developed unbreakable bonds with most Christians, except a few. I am more than a pastor to them," he said.

He proceeded to say, 'In fact, if any disturbances have occurred, it was because the said parishioners demanded an explanation from the leadership as to why I was being subjected to such degrading and humiliating treatment. The leadership cannot stomach the fact that the bond between the church members and me is so great that it is difficult to break," the pastor added.

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