An impartial committee will attempt to bring a longstanding holy war between a local church and its governing synod to an end.

Puisne Justice Norma Wade has sent the two factions back to the bargaining table to hammer out a solution.

The decision, handed down this week in the Supreme Court chambers, was the latest development in the battle between the congregation of Grace Methodist Church on North Shore Road, Pembroke, and the Synod of the Wesleyan Methodist Church of Bermuda.

The friction is the result of a three-year split between the mainstream Methodist Church of Bermuda and Grace Church members over the Methodist affiliation with the United Church of Canada.

The congregation opposes the United Church's policy of ordaining gays.

And in July, led by lay minister Willard Lightbourne, the congregation announced that it planned to file a writ against the Synod in an attempt to prevent it from taking control of the church. The Synod counter-sued Mr.

Lightbourne.

But yesterday Mr. Lightbourne's lawyer Sonia Grant told The Royal Gazette that Mrs. Justice Wade had denied all injunctions for the time being.

She said the two sides agreed to try to hash things out outside of the court room.

"By consent it was agreed that a Pastoral Relations Committee would be established with a view to having the two parties arrive at a consensus,'' Ms Grant said. "Discussions are to take place over the next three months. Then they will go back to court.'' Mr. Lightbourne said he was pleased with the ruling.

"It has given us a chance to work this out,'' he told The Royal Gazette .

"I'm pleased with the ruling. The court is not the place to settle God's issues.'' And he added that he was optimistic that both sides could reach an agreement.

Earlier this summer, Sunday churchgoers at the morning services were caught in a religious tug-of-war as the rival factions staged separate services at the same time.

The synod flew in The Rev. Leicester Bigby from Montreal, Canada to perform pastoral duties at the church for the months of July and August.

Therefore, several of the church's 11.15 a.m. services saw two ministers, each armed with their own programmes and pianist, compete for the congregation's attention.

Since that point in time the church has held two Sunday morning services. One put on by Mr. and Mrs. Lightbourne at 11.15 a.m. and the other by the synod at 9 a.m.

CHURCH CHU