By Ryan Velez
A church is one of the last places you expect to see police taking someone out of, but that was exactly the scene at the Detroit World Outreach Church, according to Fox 2 Detroit.
“They put me in handcuffs. They put me in the back of the car and processed me like a criminal for trespassing,” said Dr. Charisse Gibert, who was escorted out of the church. Gibert has been a fixture at the church for years, a member for 17 and pastoring with her husband, Ben Gibert, for 12 years. Ben passed away in February, and it is succession that appears to be the underlying issue.
“For whatever reason, there’s a small group of elders. We’re not in agreement that I would be Senior aPstor. Now there have been aggressive acts made towards us,” she said. In response, the church posted their side of the story via a statement on the church website:
“We write to the entire DWO congregation to provide an explanation for the confusion at our 11 am service on Sunday. We know that Bishop Wallace and Bishop Gibert would be disappointed at what transpired. Sunday’s occurrence was a response to the unanticipated breach of a verbal agreement that Dr. Charisse made with the Elder Board that morning. As many of you have likely observed, there has been a breakdown in the relationship between Dr. Charisse and the Elder Board that has led to disagreement and anger expressed toward us by Dr. Charisse.
We acknowledge her feelings. We hope that the relationship can be repaired one day. The barrage of personal attacks through social media posts are unfortunate and a poor witness for our members and non-believers. We are called to operate in a manner that is pleasing to God and with a character that is consistent with our Faith. That did not happen on Sunday and for that, we humbly apologize to you for the confusion.”
In their statement, they also explained the nature of the disagreement that led to this bad blood. After Bishop Ben’s passing, they said Charisse claimed she was now the church’s Vice President and Acting Senior Pastor. She added that per her attorney’s advice, she would create a new board, who would nominate her as formal Senior Pastor. The statement says that all of this was done without the board’s knowledge, who asked for a slowing of the process so they could properly grieve and plan their move. “We must reiterate that our bylaws were created and governed by Bishop Wallace and Bishop Gibert,” they add, closing by asking their congregation to “follow Christ, (rather than take sides), pray without ceasing, and meditate on I Corinthians 1:10- 17. Regardless of the outcome, Detroit World Outreach will be victorious.”
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