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An American court has awarded damages against breakaway pastors of the Bowie branch of Mountain of Fire and Miracles Ministries (MFM) in Maryland, USA, for holding onto the church branch and its assets in 2017.
The judgment followed an action filed in 2018 before the Circuit Court for Prince George’s County, Maryland, USA, with suit number CAL16-26532, by the MFM International seeking damages against former Pastor Adetunji and 11 other members for leaving the MFM and converting its property for use in a new church they founded.
The court, in its ruling, ordered Adetunji and his co-defendants to pay $146,916.54 to MFM Ministries as damages for their action.
This latest judgment is sequel to an earlier ruling in 2018 in which the court upheld the several claims of the plaintiff, dismissed the defendants’ counter-claims and ordered the pastors to promptly surrender to the MFM the church’s property in their possession.
Although the defendants had complied substantially with the earlier ruling, they nonetheless retained the funds generated during the period they broke away, which became the subject of the latest course of action instituted by the MFM.
In granting the full prayers of the MFM, the court asked the plaintiffs to file a motion for the reimbursement of all legal costs incurred by the MFM to be paid by the defendants.
In 2017, Adetunji, alongside 11 other members, renamed the MFM Bowie branch as Christ the Truth Ministries and proceeded to hold onto the church’s property and funds, which they used for the new ministry.
Counsel to MFM International said the ruling, guaranteed in every society where the rule of law and social justice prevail, would go a long way to deter pastors and ministers who behaved like the former MFM Bowie pastors.
