Split congregation wants apology as Employment Court orders Bread of Life Church pastor Xi Chen be reinstated

Bread of Life Christian Church pastor Xi Chen has been reinstated as pastor. Photo / Supplied

Following an “acrimonious and tragic church split” and years of litigation, a pastor who was unjustifiably dismissed from the role has won reinstatement, but tensions remain within the congregation.

Xi Chen, pastor of the Bread of Life Christian Church in Auckland, said the ruling was a “new beginning” while those opposed to his reinstatement have accepted it, but have called for him to apologise.

“After three long years of litigation, our church, my family, and I have endured tremendous pressure, difficulties and harm,” Chen, father of former Labour MP Naisi Chen, told NZME.

“Now, with this favourable outcome, we also have a new beginning.”

Chen has been at the centre of an ongoing squabble within a Chinese church governed by a six-person board of trustees.

A rift formed within the board following a dispute over the use of millions of dollars in donations made by its congregation over a couple of decades.

The rift continues, with both sides still firing shots despite the recent Employment Court determination.

According to the ruling, around $2 million of the money was used to purchase a commercial building in Albany to convert it into a new church.

But in 2022, Chen announced he planned to sell the property intended for the new build and purchase a different one.

Former Labour Party MP Naisi Chen, whose father Xi Chen is pastor of the Bread of Life Christian Church in Auckland. Photo / Supplied

The decision did not go down well with three of the trustees, or half of the congregation, and then began years of legal battles, which have revealed a tangled web of infighting and claims of dysfunction.

The opposing trustees filed in the High Court to have Chen and the two trustees who sided with him removed from the trust, and Chen and the two trustees counterclaimed, seeking the other three to be removed.

Chen’s wages were then stopped, and he continued working without pay while turning to the Employment Relations Authority (ERA), where he alleged he had been unjustifiably dismissed.

The war then entered the Employment Court after the ERA ruled in favour of Chen, ordering he be reinstated to the role on an interim basis, and the trustees filed an appeal.

Days after that decision, they made Chen redundant, leading him to take further legal action with another claim for wrongful dismissal and reinstatement.

In the latest Employment Court determination, made just over a week ago, the ruling has again gone in Chen’s favour.

He is now to be reinstated to the role on a full basis, reinstated to the payroll, and the trust is to pay him lost remuneration from April 2022.

Chen told NZME he hoped the latest ruling would be effectively implemented, “and on this basis, broken relationships can be restored”.

“Throughout the past three years of litigation, the Holy Spirit has protected us, strengthened us, comforted us, and provided for us,” he said.

“By the power of the Holy Spirit, our church has not been crushed; instead, we have experienced great revival.”

Chen said his co-workers and congregation, “moved by the Holy Spirit in Christ”, had steadfastly supported him.

A building on Apollo Dr, Rosedale, purchased by the Bread of Life Christian Church with donations from the congregation. Photo / Supplied

“I have also received support from our mother church in Taipei, as well as from every upright Chinese pastor who truly knows the truth, along with Kiwi pastors.

“Their support has been the driving force that has kept me going.

“I pray that the Holy Spirit will continue to reign and lead this church according to God’s will in the process of implementing the Employment Court’s ruling so that we may become a beautiful testimony.”

The opposing trustees, Julia Buhagiar, Nancy Zhang and Connie Hunag, told NZME they were willing to comply with the determination.

The trio said they had sent an open letter to Chen and his congregation and invited them to meet with their congregation.

However, his response was to meet individually, they claimed.

“We preferred an open meeting with all members of both congregations; we think it is a necessary step to move forward.”

In correspondence shared with NZME, they had called on Chen to apologise.

“We believe that for any constructive path forward to be possible, a significant step must be taken by you,” a letter to him, dated April 7, said.

“In her decision, Judge Beck recorded your indication that you would have been willing to apologise for past mistakes.

“We would like to invite you to make good your desire to repair the wounds by acknowledging your part in the grieving [of] our church, as we will do too on our end.”

Chen has worked for the church since February 2015 and signed a fixed-term agreement in September 2019. His fixed term ended in March 2022.

However, despite Chen’s dismissal, church members who supported him continued to meet in the Sunnynook Community Hall, where the church met before the split, while those who do not support him meet at the Albany facility.

In the latest determination, Judge Kathryn Beck said both parties intended for the relationship to be both a legal relationship and an employment relationship, and the weight of evidence clearly indicated that Chen was an employee.

The judge agreed he was unjustifiably dismissed in 2022 and 2024.

She said he was entitled to lost remuneration from April 1, 2022, to the date of the judgment and that Chen ought to be reinstated on the same terms as previously, subject to the fact that the agreement was never lawfully a fixed-term agreement.

The parties were ordered to organise and attend a meeting with representatives from the “Mother Church”, based in Taipei, to identify and implement the necessary steps to ensure Chen’s full reinstatement.

It is understood the church hierarchy has tried to reunite the two factions, but to no avail.

The Bread of Life Church was founded in China last century and has churches across the world.

It was established in New Zealand in 1998 by the Bread of Life Church in Taipei.

Al Williams is an Open Justice reporter for the New Zealand Herald, based in Christchurch. He has worked in daily and community titles in New Zealand and overseas for the last 16 years. Most recently, he was editor of the HC Post, based in Whangamatā. He was previously deputy editor of the Cook Islands News.