Gove ? A dispute over doctrine that led to a church split and a legal battle over use of the name “Methodist” has been settled.

The Kansas West Annual Conference of the United Methodist Church filed a lawsuit in June 2003 after more than 70 members decided to split from Gove United Methodist Church.

The members said they split from the conference because they believed the national church had turned away from its central traditions and embraced non-Christian elements in some worship services.

Under the settlement, a restraining order hanging on the front door of Gove United Methodist Church has been taken down and the splinter group it barred has renamed itself Gove Community Bible Church.

The lawsuit sought to enforce a trust clause that states all property of a local church is held in trust for the benefit of the denomination and its church members.

The splinter church had sought to keep the church property, citing local ownership that preceded a later merger that produced the United Methodist denomination.

The settlement also requires that more than $50,000 in cash and certificates of deposit in local banks be paid to Lakeside United Methodist Center near Scott City.

Gove Community Bible Church also must turn over certificates of deposit and architectural drawings stored in a safety deposit box at Citizens State Bank, Grainfield. Gove Community Bible Church retains ownership of the other contents.

Gove Methodist Church was founded in 1939. Gove United Methodist Church was formed in 1968 as a result of the merger of the Methodist Church and Evangelical United Brethren Church.

However, the Methodist conference sought a restraining order to keep the splinter group from meeting there. The conference also fired the former Methodist minister who joined the group.

After he was fired, the Rev. Paul A. Woodall III sued the Rev. Pat Ault-Duell, the Hays district superintendent, and the Methodist conference. He claimed his firing as pastor in the Gove and Grainfield churches denied him his right to due process and that he was irreparably damaged.

In December, District Judge Thomas L. Toepfer dismissed Woodall’s case, saying the pastor had failed to prove his claim.

Ault-Duell served as the interim minister until Pastor Sandra Jellison-Knock was appointed.