Ousted pastor of the Mount Zion AME church Reverend Christopher Haynes and his family are facing considerable hardship after the church instructed Belco to cut off the electricity supply to the parsonage.

According to Rev Haynes, his replacement Reverend Wilbur Lowe personally asked the electric utility to cut off the power supply.

"I don't understand how a man of God can behave that way," Rev Haynes said after his electricity was cut off on Monday afternoon and he was told by Belco that Rev Lowe had personally requested that the parsonage be cut off.

Some weeks ago, he continued, Rev Lowe had called him to say the telephone was going to be cut off and five minutes later he had no phone.

"I don't know what is motivating him to do the things he's doing... To be subjected to this kind of disgraceful treatment is an abomination. I really never thought Rev Lowe would do such a thing himself."

Belco spokesperson Linda Smith told The Royal Gazette: "The church requested that we turn off the electricity."

Rev Haynes said Belco technicians had originally showed up at the parsonage to cut off the electricity on Friday, but he asked them not to as they were still living there. "But Rev Lowe went there and asked them to turn it off now and not to put it back on until he tells them to."

Rev Lowe, a ruling party Member of Parliament, replaced Rev Haynes, a Jamaican national, as pastor of the church after Immigration turned down a work permit renewal application earlier this year.

Rev Haynes is still on the Island because he is pursuing a judicial review of the Immigration decision.

He has been on the Island with his wife and four children for 19 years, four of which were spent as pastor of Mount Zion, and was due to apply for long term residence status next year. The refusal to renew his work permit caused a row within the AME church, with some parishioners blaming the church for not submitting the application on time.

Rev Haynes said yesterday he was at a loss to explain why the church was taking such actions against him. He said two of the church's trustees had visited the parsonage last week while he was off the Island and told his children the electricity was going to be cut off and the locks changed.

He immediately contacted his lawyer who fired off a letter to the church.

"There was no communication regarding the actions they have taken, no outstanding bills that I know about," he said. "My being here is totally the responsibility of the Bishop and he gave the appointment to somebody else... He is still hoping to find someplace to put me. In the meantime I am his responsibility."

He said he had called the bishop and explained what was going on and that he had served the church for over 30 years and in some cases sacrificially.

Bishop Zekediah Grady, Rev Lowe and the presiding elder Malcolm Eve did not return our calls yesterday.

Rev Haynes said the Bishop explained "it's not the church that is doing this".

"It makes me wonder who Rev Lowe is taking his direction from. I know he is a Member of Parliament but who is he taking his direction from? As a church we try to help people who are in a bad situation. Now the church has put me in a bad situation and it's making a bad situation worse," he said.

"For the church to do something like this to me is really out of whack. It's not something I expected. It's an embarrassment. How can you treat someone who is a leader of the church like that? I've been a leading pastor in every conference in which I have been placed. From 1975 until the present time I have been pastoring. For this kind of thing to be directed at me is really disgraceful."

Rev Haynes has moved his family out of the parsonage into the Southampton Princess hotel and is still hoping that the electricity would be restored.

"I had to move the children away from the situation because it was too embarrassing. The kids could not handle it because they have never been exposed to this kind of thing in their lives," he continued.

"Some of the kids have not been able to go to school today because of the whole upheaval of yesterday evening. They had tests to do today and we had to make apologies for them."

While his judicial review was still in progress, "all parties should be patient in the situation", he said. "The only reason the Bishop appointed somebody to the church is because of the size of church - he needed to have a pastor there."

He added that a "small group of people" in the church did not want him to be the pastor. "That happens to any pastor. And that group has been very militant. I thought Rev Lowe would be able to bring some civility to the situation but he has joined them and he is leading the band."