Church clash Members walk out after pastor orders them to back bench
SOME members of an Apostolic Church in St Catherine are up in arms after they were ordered by their pastor to sit in the back benches of the church.
Why?
The church members had attended a nine-night recently, after the pastor had instructed them not to.
During the praise and worship session of the service on Sunday, apostle Joan Mattis, who is also an attorney-at-law, instructed some of the members, who were sitting in what appeared to be their usual seats, to relocate.
Adorned in white, apostle Mattis strolled down the aisle and between benches while instructing select members to move to the back benches.
Some of them complied, but one woman, who is Mattis’s niece, did not budge. Instead, she insisted she had done nothing wrong and remained where she was.
In an apparent move to support the pastor, other members joined her as she stood next to her niece.
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“Don’t touch me!” Mattis’s niece shouted as the women leading praise and worship continued to sing.
The other members who had complied with the pastor’s instructions complained throughout the service.
Apostle Mattis did not take kindly to their actions, complaining that the backbenchers were ridiculing her. She also instructed her niece to sit quietly during the service.
Shortly after, the pastor declared from the pulpit that her niece was no longer a member of the congregation.
Mattis, in delivering a sermon on coverage, then asked the congregation if they were comprehensively covered by God.
“Blessed are those whose sins are covered,” she preached.
Making reference to an insurance coverage, she explained to the congregation that they have to pay for their breaches.
“It is not the desire of God to destroy his people. Yuh cyaah hype up when you need to be offered forgiveness,” she continued.
“A mash yuh a mash up di church and a chat faat,” a man, clad in denim pants and a striped shirt, uttered from the back bench.
“There comes a time when God say, ‘Enough is enough’,” the pastor shouted.
“Honour those who are set over you. Do not grieve the woman who He has set to watch over you,” she added before handing over the reins to another member on the platform.
However, things got worse.
“The enemy has no secret for me,” the new speaker shouted.
Addressing the pastor’s niece, the woman said, “I love you”, as she explained to the congregation that she was only trying to make peace when she joined the pastor by her niece’s side earlier.
“Mi nuh love you!” the niece said before leaving the church.
Most of the backbenchers then followed behind her.
“Who cyaah stand the fire, go. Obey or leave,” the woman said to shouts of ‘Amen’.
Noting that the apostle’s role is to “set the church in order”, she said going to the back bench is a sign of humility.
“Unnuh cyaah send gunman fi mi. My God tell mi if you curse mi, I will curse you. Bless mi, I will bless you,” she said, admitting that she was seen recently in the company of a married man.
After Sunday’s service, apostle Mattis told the Jamaica Observer that she had informed the now backbenchers that they would have been punished for disobeying her instructions.
Admitting that she had not decided how long the members would remain on the back benches, apostle Mattis said, in recent weeks, God has been impressing upon her heart to look at the reason for nine-nights.
She explained that she made the decision not to attend the ritual celebrations that have become a tradition for many Jamaicans, after she attended a wake and observed the actions of the supporters.
The pastor said she was appalled.
Noting that things have changed, she explained that people at nine-nights would normally sing Christian songs, pray, eat, and then go home. Instead, she said people at nine-nights are now “whining up, skinning out and carrying on”, among other things.
The pastor said that was when she decided not to attend any more nine-nights. She said the manner in which some people behave at nine-nights is not in line with Christian teachings and that she was informed that the now backbenchers had conducted themselves in a manner that was not reflective of God.
Mattis, who is steadfast on her decision, said if only benches are in church on Sunday, she will continue to minister.
Going forward, the pastor said the backbenchers will have to apologise in church for being disobedient.
Pastor, what you are doing is dictatorship. In your position you have not , or should not have the authority to sanction any one for doing something that they want to do in their own personal time , worst outside of the church. You also do not have the right to tell members where to sit, muchless sending them to the Back of the church. You are totally misguided in your position.
Obviously you seems to have a colonalist mentality. How dare you!!! Your thinking of a church is way outdated and this is why a lot of people do not want to embrace the church anymore. How dare you to put your belief and views on your members for attending nine nite? You might be a solicitor, it is neither here nor there it’s irrelevant, what it shows is your head is up your ass and you have not a clue on what a pastor should be. How can you condemn these people ,are you God? Go and watch on the Internet how church services are conducted. You idiot. Is brain washed you want to brain washed the people them and then when you have them where you want them you start you scamming. Big up your neice at least she have sense to rebuke your dirty hyprocritical self ( married man)
Suh who tell har seh dem did a behave bad had permission to attend? as the church man already put it, “lady yuh talking faat and mashing up the church”, the people dem nuh bruk no bible rule or church rule just your rule, suh if yuh decide yuh don’t like marriage everybody in chu4ch must remain celibate? Weh dem get da dunce gal yah “put over” people? A people like this woman mek church seem more dangerous than road.
I disagree. I’m not a Christian but I respect their right to believe what they want. What the pastor is saying is true. Nine nights have become just another partying occassion. My mother is a Christian & if she dies before me her nine night will be what a nine night is suppose to be. Coffee, tea & juice, fish, chicken & bread (small servings, I am in mourning & funerals are expensive so I don’t see why I should be entertaining a bashment). Rum will be available only to criers( persons leading the singing of traditional nine night tunes). Who don’t like it don’t have to be there, less headache for me.
In that case Corey I hope you’ll die before your mother so your mother can get the proper send off she deserves..**
Corey b u sound like u dont love your mother u sound cheap bad like u is a mean man
🙂 my mother read this and laughed. She said to tell u that she doesn’t need a grand send-off to Heaven, she is more interested in a grand welcome. Everyone is entitled to their own opinions and I welcome all constructive criticism, thank u. Enjoy your life.