Church officials will hold their own separate service in a bid to keep the peace at a local church.

The Synod of the Wesleyan Methodist Church of Bermuda yesterday announced that it was taking steps to avoid additional conflicts with the congregation of Grace Methodist Church on North Shore Road, Pembroke.

The statement came one day after a Bermudian minister with ties to the Methodist church accused church officials "draconian show of force'' in trying to take back the church.

In a letter to the Editor, the Rev. Charles Swan expressed deep concern about the events surrounding Grace Church, where he was a member of the congregation, and a claimed a small minority of the congregation was stirring up trouble by continually complaining to the Synod.

Yesterday, the Synod said it will hold its own separate early morning service at the church.

The service would be in addition to the usual 11.15 a.m. service at Grace Church.

For the past two Sundays, the congregation of the morning service has been caught in a religious tug-of-war as the rival factions staged separate services -- at the same time. Husband-and-wife lay ministers Willard and Gwyenneth Lightbourne and the Synod of the Methodist Church of Bermuda have competed for the congregation's attention by presenting rival srvices and music.

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

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

This latest move, according to the Synod, was made in an effort to promote reconciliation at the church.

The new service will commence tomorrow at 9.15 a.m. and will continue until further notice.

The Rev. Leicester Bigby from Montreal, Canada, who is trained in conflict management, will minister the early service until he returns home on August 21.

In his letter, Mr. Swan said: "I am very concerned as I spent the greater part of my early years in that congregation. That congregation recommended me to the ministry of the church, which in turn has allowed me to render 30 years of effective service.'' A minister in the United Church of Canada, Mr. Swan said the Synod's actions "demonstrated the dislike that Synod has for Mr. Willard and Gwynneth Lightbourne, whom I understand have rendered effective service to Grace Church free of service''.

"While in Bermuda this past January, I was impressed with the refurbished church buildings along with the emphasis on spirituality in the workshop service.'' Mr. Swan said that more than a year ago, 80 percent of the congregation, at a properly constituted meeting, voted to sever ties with the Synod and the UCC.

"A handful of people, about six of them, disagreed with that decision,'' he wrote. "This group has attempted to sabotage the fellowship at Grace with their constant complaining to Synod.'' Mr. Swan added that the three Bermudian Methodist churches were not the only "unhappy'' congregations with the United Churches policy of ordaining gays.

"Tens of thousands of members have left the UCC,'' he said. "The July-August issue of The United Church Observer indicates 16,258 lost members. That is very sad for a once powerful denomination.

"In 1984,'' he wrote, "over 80 percent of the membership indicated they did not wish self-declared practising homosexuals in their pulpits. The failure to heed the pleas of the majority has meant the UCC has been taken down the path of self destruction.'' Mr. Swan said a number of Canadian congregations had lay ministers because they brought stability to the churches with their community ties.

"Cobbs Hill, Somerset and Grace Churches are all served very well by Lay Ministers,'' he claimed. "It is good to know Bermudians are at last occupying some of the pulpits of the Methodist Church.'' The Rev. Charles Swan