Even by the admissions of The Baptist Church of New Zealand, Pastor Michael Wise, has a tendency to polarise people.
His ‘love him or hate him’ style lead to a recent split in his Greymouth congregation.
That congregation held a vote as to whether Pastor Wise was ‘a keeper’ or whether he should return across the main divide from whence he came, after a short six month stay.
The majority of the eligible voters within the Greymouth Baptist Church voted for him to pack his bags & the miffed minority went off to the new rival church he’s stated around the corner.
So what bought about this schism, in this small West Coast church?
A bit of a giveaway was when the official line from Baptist H.Q which said (in short) - this has nothing to do with Michaels stand on homosexuality.
The gossip on the West Coast though, is to the contrary.
The word is Pastor Wise was fervently anti-homosexual and his Sunday soliloquies attempted to ‘rally the troops’ to join his evangelical inspired obsession.
The fair-minded ‘coasters’ occupying his church’s pews rejected his preoccupation with persecuting homosexuals, and decided to get rid of him.
Expect more to come out on this story over the next few weeks as parishioners, from both sides of the divide come forward and ‘spill their guts’.
Ahh yes, Christian Soap Opera – beats Coronation Street, every time!
His ‘love him or hate him’ style lead to a recent split in his Greymouth congregation.
That congregation held a vote as to whether Pastor Wise was ‘a keeper’ or whether he should return across the main divide from whence he came, after a short six month stay.
The majority of the eligible voters within the Greymouth Baptist Church voted for him to pack his bags & the miffed minority went off to the new rival church he’s stated around the corner.
So what bought about this schism, in this small West Coast church?
A bit of a giveaway was when the official line from Baptist H.Q which said (in short) - this has nothing to do with Michaels stand on homosexuality.
The gossip on the West Coast though, is to the contrary.
The word is Pastor Wise was fervently anti-homosexual and his Sunday soliloquies attempted to ‘rally the troops’ to join his evangelical inspired obsession.
The fair-minded ‘coasters’ occupying his church’s pews rejected his preoccupation with persecuting homosexuals, and decided to get rid of him.
Expect more to come out on this story over the next few weeks as parishioners, from both sides of the divide come forward and ‘spill their guts’.
Ahh yes, Christian Soap Opera – beats Coronation Street, every time!
1 comments:
Looks a beautiful spot and with a majority of christian residents who can pick a loon at 1,000 yards and nail him. Good shot!
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