Diane Pool, 58, is going to an employment tribunal next month claiming unfair dismissal, which the church denies. However, regardless of the outcome, it has told Mrs Pool she will have to leave the terraced cottage next door to Immanuel church in Southsea, Hampshire, where she has lived for 20 years.
She also claims that the local church, which is a member of the Baptist Union, failed to pay her national insurance contributions, and she is consequently not entitled to benefits or state pension.
Mrs Pool, who is on medication for depression, said yesterday: "This whole thing has left me feeling awful. I've given up many things for this church, and this happens. I never wanted it to go this far, but they wouldn't back down. I used to have a lot of friends in the church but not anymore. Some have said they're praying for me, but I doubt that's going to put a roof over my head.
Me and my husband have raised five children in this home; at our time of life we didn't expect to have to move."
She and her husband, Dominic, 51, moved in in 1979. A practising Catholic, she had been a volunteer at the church; her fulltime job included unlocking the church for services, weddings and funerals, setting out the hall for meetings, and dealing with volunteer groups and societies that used the church.
She started on £18 a week, subject to an annual increase of £2. In 1991 the church froze her pay at £40, saying the house had become too expensive; it pays the council tax, water rates and phone rental on the property, which an estate agent valued at £70,000.
Mrs Pool said she had occasionally mentioned her salary to the church, but the introduction of the minimum wage last year galvanised her resolve - it is £3.10 an hour where accommodation is provided.
"When I realised I was getting so much less I was shocked," she said, estimating she worked up to 40 hours a week. Portsmouth citizens advice bureau, which is handling her case, estimates she was paid an average £2 an hour.
Last April she approached the minister, the Rev Roger Grant, who came to the church in 1996; she was told he had no direct say, and was referred to the treasurer. "The treasurer said he'd look into it, but nothing happened," Mrs Pool said.
"My daughters told me to contact the citizens advice. They went to the church but it still disputed my claim. Then one Monday last October a letter dropped through my door. It said I was fired. They didn't even knock on the door first, or tell me to my face."
The Pools face an uncertain future. He brings home £600 a month as a warehouseman; renting a similar property locally would cost around £400 a month. The council has offered to rehouse them in a tower block, but Mrs Pool is reluctant: "I've got nine grandchildren, and I often have a few over to stay for the weekend. I shan't be able to do that in a small flat in a tower block. We've been told we'll just have to change our lifestyle."
A neighbour, Barbara Jones, said: "For church people to do this is awful. You wonder why. After all the work she has put in, I think it's a disgrace."
The church declined to comment until the case had been heard, but is expected to dispute Mrs Pool's hours, and to claim she was dismissed because it does not need a full-time caretaker and not because of her wage demand.
