A Group of Seventh Day Adventist (SDA) church youths in Ndeke township in Kitwe demolished a newly built church building and accused the congregators of attempting to form as breakaway church.
The youths, believed to have been hired by one of the senior members of the church, razed down the structure which was made of wood in Ndeke west.
According to Justin Kanyembe, a deacon at Ndeke west congregation which was formed after a crusade , a senior church official hired more than 16 youths to demolish the Ndeke west congregation.
He said fellow church officials decided to demolish the new congregation because they allegedly felt it was a threat to the main congregation.
Mr Kanyembe said after a new congregation was formed everything was going on well but upon realising that the congregation had attracted new members and converts, one of the officials said that the new congregation should rejoin the main congregation.
" There is a lot of confusion in the church. Imagine a deacon mobilising youths to demolish the church. This issue needs to be handled well because violence may just erupt," he said.
Mr Kanyembe said people were unhappy at what the deacon was doing and feared that new members would be scared away.
He said the reason advanced by the deacon for dissolving of the new congregation was that an elder of the congregation had been disobedient and walked out of a meeting during elections.
The matter was reported to Kitwe South Mission district but they did not do anything to resolve the problem.
Mr Kanyembe said members would appeal to the Copperbelt field in Ndola to solve the wrangles in church.