Castlemaine Church of Christ to compensate fired Pastor Travis Barnes

When two holy men went to war over control of a youth group, a country Victorian church became a battle zone. So who was the winner?

Former Castlemaine Church of Christ Pastor Travis Barnes was awarded $4982.65 after the Fair Work Commission found he was unfairly dismissed from the Central Victorian church. Picture: YouTube

A two-year spat between two Central Victorian pastors over the fate of the congregation’s youth group has left a small church lost, divided and facing a $5000 fine.

The Fair Work Commission has ordered the Castlemaine Church of Christ compensate associate minister pastor Travis Barnes after it found the board unfairly dismissed him in September.

The commission said the troubles in the church, 35km south of Bendigo, started with a fight between Mr Barnes and senior minister Dave Tolputt over the youth group known as Youth Tribes.

According to documents, Mr Barnes had put up his hand to lead the Castlemaine church’s youth ministries, a move not supported by the youth ministry leaders or Mr Tolputt, causing an “ugly outburst” between the men in November 2018.

Documents reveal Mr Barnes accused his fellow man-of-the-cloth of ignoring him for months, not taking his role in the church seriously, making decisions without the board’s blessing and attacking whenever criticised.

Document reveal the relationship between the two became uglier when Mr Barnes went over Mr Tolputt’s head and brought up the Youth Tribes issue with the church’s board.

The board tried and failed to mediate between the pair.

Between June and August 2019, Mr Barnes had an workplace review, which raised concerns about him consistently fighting over issues in a divisive and unproductive way.

According to documents, Mr Tolputt attempted to repair their relationship in September, but Mr Barnes responded that “actions speak louder than words”.

In an email, Mr Barnes again complained that Mr Tolputt had been consistently disparaging of him, unwilling to listen to concerns, argumentative, made personal attacks and displayed unhealthy outbursts of anger toward him which made critiques of any kind “almost impossible”.

The commission documents reveal the email was used against Mr Barnes with the board accusing him of having a “divisive nature” in a formal warning in October.

Mr Barnes apologised, offered to again take part in mediation, but Mr Tolputt repeatedly refused to take part in any reconciliation.

In December 2019, nine days before Christmas, Mr Barnes made a formal bullying complaint against Mr Tolputt.

An independent investigation — at the cost of $9850 — did not find evidence of bullying, but criticised the church for allowing the issues between the two men to fester for six months.

According to documents, Mr Barnes told board members in February 2020 he would like to “peacefully depart” from the country church, just as Mr Tolputt was suggesting he could return to full time work.

Mr Barnes was offered a job at a Melbourne church in June, but he did not resign the Castlemaine Church of Christ job immediately because the pandemic and lockdowns had hit Victoria.

Commission documents reveal when the board again asked for his resignation Mr Barnes told friends and church members he was being “pushed out”, but he did not mention he had initially brought up leaving the church.

In August, Mr Barnes had a change of heart and declined the offer from the Melbourne church.

Members of the congregation started writing to Mr Tolputt in support of Mr Barnes saying there was a culture of being “picked on, bullied and ostracised”, and calling for the minister’s resignation.

Over a livestreamed YouTube church service in September it was announced Mr Barnes had been stood down on full pay for four weeks.

The board sent a show cause letter to Mr Barnes, saying he had lied and hurt the reputation of the church.

Four days later Mr Barnes was fired over Zoom.

And when the congregation was told, one third of church members signed a petition for his reinstatement.

The Fair Work Commission said division and bitterness caused by the pair’s fight had undermined the goodwill of the community, with donations dropping and straining the church’s finances.

“The church is a mess,” one church member said.

“People are very conflicted about what to believe and who to believe.

“(There’s) a lot of broken relationships.”

The Commission said Mr Barnes did not behave appropriately, calling for reconciliation while in private conversations sowing the seeds of division among the church.

However, the Commission found the church could not fire Mr Barnes for that, as the church’s constitution required three quarters of the congregation to vote to fire him in a special meeting.

The Castlemaine Church of Christ was ordered to pay $4982.65 plus superannuation to Mr Barnes.