Nine former members of Vineyard USA have lodged a $62 million lawsuit against the Dwelling Place, formerly known as Vineyard Anaheim.

Led by Alan and Kathryn Scott, the church decided to split from the main denomination earlier this year claiming they felt an invitation to take a "step of faith into the unknown" and took the decision to leave "reverently in the fear of the Lord".

No other explanation was given besides this calling from God.

But now Carol Wimber-Wong, who founded the denomination in 1977 with her late husband John, and other eight former members of the denomination claim the Scotts' motives in being involved with the church were always about money.

"Defendant Scotts sought the position as Senior Pastors of Vineyard Anaheim with the deceitful motive of controlling tens of millions of dollars of assets and disassociating with Vineyard USA," the lawsuit, seen by US publication Christianity Today, reads.

The former members claim the Scotts wanted to get hold of the $55 million mortgage-free building and $7 million in the bank.

Alan and Kathryn Scott were both chosen to become senior pastors of Vineyard Anaheim in 2018.

In a statement reacting to the lawsuit, the couple said they never expected people to "assign some kind of evil or sinister malice" to their motives.

"It grieves us, it saddens us, this is not honouring to the Lord at all, but it is where we find ourselves in," the couple said in a video statement.

Vineyard USA has made clear it has no part in the lawsuit. In a statement, also reacting to the lawsuit said: "We are not part of that lawsuit and we are aware of it".

"Frankly, it seems pretty reasonable, given the circumstances that they detail in the lawsuit, it seems to make sense to us, given that all other forms seem to have been exhausted to where this was their last recourse."