Church members say a violent attack at a Mt Roskill church in Auckland by an armed mob yesterday followed a dispute over speaking rights.

Two men, aged 54 and 29, were arrested after a machete was used to attack a room at the church where an alleged assault victim was cowering.

The attack followed a 10-minute beating in which a woman dived on top of her husband's body to stop blows from a plank of wood.

The two men who allegedly carried out the beating left the church and later returned with a five-strong mob.

They allegedly smashed a window in a frenzied attack while police and ambulance officers barricaded a door.

Police reinforcements arrived within minutes and arrested two men.

Two elders of the former St Enoch's Presbyterian Church, now known as the Pacific Island Presbyterian Church, said the 54-year-old man was an elder whose sister had held speaking rights at the church.

The elders, who asked not to be named, said a dispute over the man's speaking rights began brewing when his sister moved to Australia.

A 54-year-old man was charged with serious assault in relation to the initial disorder, and a 29-year-old man was charged with threatening to kill, possession of an offensive weapon and intentional damage in relation to the second attack.