NORTHBROOK, Ill. -- Church officials plan to have services in their building May 18, defying an order forbidding the church to hold worship there, the Chicago Sun-Times reported.

Petra Presbyterian Church and the village are locked in a federal court battle over the warehouse property the church bought two years ago. The village banned the church from using the property because it is zoned industrial.

But an attorney for the mostly Korean church said a recent rule change in Northbrook's village code gives the church the right to use the building for worship.

According to the newspaper, the village agreed in late April that churches should be treated like non-religious groups, but restricts both groups from using industrial property for assembly purposes.

John Mauck, the attorney representing the church, said the church welcomes the acknowledgement that religious and non-religious groups share the same zoning treatment.

"While the church always had the constitutional right to use the property, we trust that this admission of past ordinance discrimination by the village means that they will not continue to force the church to litigate in federal court just to receive equal treatment under the law," Mauck said.

The village manager would not say whether the village would take action if the church used the building for services. He referred the matter to village attorney Steven Elrod, who could not be reached for comment, the newspaper reported.