AME Church Committee Rules Partly in Pastor John J. Hunter's Side
The
drama never ceases to end while the people of God want a place to
worship, there are still politics being played about who will pastor
what church, where and when.
Hunter was partly sided by a nine-member church judicial panel
when they found that his new church, Bethel San Francisco, was 'out of
line' when it physically blocked him from taking the pulpit.
Though
the committee has made some stride to side with Hunter on this one
issue, they have not yet issued a decision on the most contentious
charge made by Hunter that Bishop T. Larry Kirkland violated the
Minister's Bill of Rights by abruptly transferring him without the
proper 90-day notice, says the L.A. Times.
The report goes on to state:
A ruling in Hunter's favor could give the 55-year-old pastor the support he needs to get reinstated as the head of First AME, a position he has held for the last eight years.Hunter has maintained that his reassignment was improper and that church law requires him to be moved to a church of equal or greater status. Bethel San Francisco's congregation is 650 members, compared with the 19,000-member church in Los Angeles.
So, church law states a pastor of the A.M.E church should be reassigned to another of 'equal or greater status'?
What are we doing here? This seems more like trading goods and services
than leading God's people to the kingdom. But of course, the modern day
corporate church is run like a business and this is exactly that- a
corporation for business! May God help us all!
