The fight to control a small Pembroke church could be won by the side most closely embracing the Methodist tradition, a court heard yesterday.

The claim was made by Canadian theology expert Dr. Vincent Shepherd.

He said this issue could be at the heart of the week-long Supreme Court civil case between the congregation of Grace Methodist Church on North Shore Road and the Synod of the Wesleyan Methodist Church.

The split between the Synod and a faction of the Grace Methodist Church congregation evolved over a disagreement with the Methodist affiliation to the United Church of Canada.

Several church members oppose a number of the United Church's policies, including the ordaining of gays.

The battle between the dissident congregation and the Synod moved from the pulpit to the courts last July when lay minister Willard Lightbourne and the congregation filed a writ against the Synod in an bid to stop it from taking control of the church. The Synod counter-sued Mr. Lightbourne.

Wesleyan Methodist Church Synod lawyer Lawrence Scott has argued that the civil case was solely a property matter.

Mr. Scott said that the land and the buildings on the North Shore site was given to the Church trustees and congregation by the Synod.

He said that when the dissidents resigned from the Wesleyan Methodist Church they had no right to trespass onto the Church grounds or have access to the Church.

Yesterday, during his second day of testimony, Dr. Shepherd told the court that Methodist founder John Wesley would have never approved of the developments in the United Church of Canada since 1988.

Dr. Shepherd said recent documents outlining the current stance of the Canadian Church "failed to reflect the spirit of John Wesley''.

And the United Church's declaration that all persons, regardless of their sexual orientation, were welcome to apply to become a minister, would have been rejected by the founder of the Methodist Church.

Dr. Shepherd, a minister in the United Church for 28 years, was questioned by Puisne Judge Norma Wade-Miller as to which of the warring sides most embraced the teachings of John Wesley.

"The one that is closest to the true Wesleyan is the one which adheres closest to the 25 articles of John Wesley,'' he said.

Deeds to the North Shore property, filed in the late 1800s, state that the land was donated for the "doctrine, rules and usage'' of the Methodist Church.

Dr. Shepherd told Mrs. Justice Wade that she could find the "rule'' of the Methodist Church in a collection of works by John Wesley.

He said the two groups had irreconcilable differences in their views on faith, Jesus Christ and on proper lifestyles.

And he suggested that the question at hand may be who was the closest to the true Methodist tradition.

Secretary of the Grace Methodist Church congregation Yvonne James yesterday testified that during a September 1988 meeting a motion was carried to condemn the Canadian Church's stance on homosexuals.

And in a referendum on the issue, 82.2 percent of Grace Methodist Church voted to sever ties with the United Church.

But she insisted that the congregation never wanted to sever ties with Grace or stop being Methodists. The case continues today before Mrs. Justice Wade.

CHURCH CHU