DUNAMIS Ministries Church Overseer Danny Pule has dragged a pastor and 18 ex-communicated members of his church to the Lusaka High Court seeking an order that their continued worshipping at his church is illegal.

Dr Pule, who is also Christian Democratic Party leader and founder of Dunamis Ministries Limited, is demanding damages from the 19 defendants for trespass and unlawful occupation of the Dunamis Ministries Church in Lusaka’s Avondale area.

In a statement of claim filed in court, Dr Pule, as Dunamis Ministries, says the construction of the Avondale Dunamis Centre Church building where the defendants are congregating, was through contributions by church members from Dunamis main centre, Avondale centre and other centres.

According to the statement, Dr Pule personally contributed 6, 000 six inch blocks towards the construction of the church building being occupied by the 19 defendants.

It says first defendant Pastor Peter Chalwe influenced members from the Avondale branch to demand from Dr Pule the title deed for the plot on which the church is built.

It states that when Dr Pule went to the church in Avondale to announce the transfer of pastor Chalwe to another church branch, it was discovered that pastor Chalwe had incited church members to rebel and refuse his transfer.

“Barely two months after his appointment to act as Pastor of Avondale Dunamis in 2017, pastor Chalwe told the overseer Apostle Dr Pule that the leaders at Avondale wanted to talk to him. When the overseer asked what the agenda was, he said he did not know the agenda and that he was not going to be there (at the meeting),

“The leaders at Avondale Dunamis wrote a letter demanding the title deed for the church building because they had decided to leave the church. It was discovered that Pastor Chalwe was the mastermind of the rebellion and that he was manipulating the members,” read the statement of claim in part.

It said that on October 31, 2018, church trustees and Apostle Pule wrote a letter of excommunication to the defendants for having rebelled against the church leadership but that they had continued with their rebellion, causing damage to the reputation of the church.