Pressure From Church Forces Skelton-Cline From Pulpit

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BVI Platinum News

(PLTM) - Pressure from the Board of Trustees of the New Life Baptist Church (NLBC) has resulted in Pastor Claude Skelton-Cline taking a break from preaching at the pulpit. This is following numerous complaints regarding his conduct during the current political campaign trail.

Skelton-Cline a former National Democratic Party (NDP) candidate, and now Virgin Islands Party (VIP) member, has been chairing all the VIP rallies, launching attacks on opponents.

Recently, NDP’s Ninth District candidate, Dr. Hubert O’Neal threatened to sue him over bribery allegations.

In a statement issued today, February 14, the church stated, “The Board seeks to assure the public that any views, expressions, opinions and reflections of Pastor Claude Skelton-Cline, an active assistant pastor at NLBC, whilst on the radio show “Honestly Speaking”, on any political rostrum or in any other public fora, whilst on the 2019 campaign trail, in no way reflect the views of the Board, members, management and staff at NLBC.”

Subsequently, Skelton-Cline issued a statement.

“It has come to my attention that the Board of Trustees at my church, New Life Baptist, where I serve as assistant to the Bishop, has determined that given my very active and public role in this political season, it is necessary for them to distance my position from that of the church.”

He went on to state, “I accept. Clearly, my positions are and always will be mine. Furthermore, for the sake of the kingdom and the local church, I will exercise the strength to be weak and take a sabbatical. However, I will be in worship as usual.”

BVI Platinum News sought to ascertain from the church if the board suspended Skelton-Cline from the pulpit, but those efforts were futile.

Meanwhile, according to the statement from the church, every four years, political parties become embattled in seeking political office in the Virgin Islands. The church stated that the process, residents of, and persons who are deemed to belong to these Virgin Islands, all have the democratic right to choose whom they support and these rights should never be infringed.

“As a church organisation, we also have to balance the expectations of our leaders, members and parishioners as we continuously seek to protect the spiritual fabric of the church during these challenging times.“

It continued, “Due to certain information reaching the board of trustees (the Board) of the New Life Baptist Church (NLBC) and the numerous complaints put forward by members of the church and persons in the general community, the Board has taken the decision to issue a public statement.”

The church further said that for avoidance of doubt, the Board further makes clear that in Pastor Skelton-Cline’s political capacity, he is in no way a representative of NLBC.

“NLBC distances itself entirely from any political behavior, whether by omission or commission, whether previous, present or future, which causes injury or can tend to cause injury to the life, limb or reputation of any person,” the statement emphasized.

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