Has anybody heard about a cult in Manchester UK called Audacious? They attract many young people with brainwashing and mind control tactics. I am a Christian and have never seen anything like this before

Remember what the previously unarmed military piper is now obligated to wear in his stocking, Anticult.

And that the pipers I love the best are the calvary, not just pipers now, they drive tanks and and fire the big guns.

They always were an audacious lot of hooligans, back in the day when they took on and routed Napolean at waterloo and so impressed Wellington.

He had a soft spot for beserkers, too.

I have heard that they control young people into doing whatever they want them to, such as giving money to the 'ministry' or even 'leaving home'. I have gathered various pieces of information from around the internet. They used to be called 'Audacious City Church' until recently and are know known as 'Audacious Church'. They teach prosperity and is more than likely driven by money. [en.wikipedia.org]

I know a couple of people that were involved in this false teaching and heretical movement and they all tell me the same things. This movement controls the congregation and only people affiliated with a leader will be accepted into the church. According to Wikipedia, the church is currently 4 years old and started out as a youth conference once a year before forming into a church.

If anyone has any information about this movement, or knows anyone that goes there or has left there, please say so.

These are bad! Thanks to whoever created this article. I am annoyed that these movements are somehow allowed. Audacious are a money cult that are teaching there own form of prosperity, brainwashing people and causing families to fight each other. Children are turned against parents. As a movement, they are very wealthy. However, there is no mention about where the church money is being spent. The pastors are unaccessable and act selfish towards people. There are many websites, blogs, videos and articles about this movement but the only chance we have of exposing them, or even stopping them, is to speak out. I would urge any ex-member that has been hurt or seen how this movement is a cult to speak out. Save a young person.

Audacious recruit mainly through schools, colleges and universities and because of their location, this is easy. Audacious is essentially a 2 minute walk from Manchester City Centre and is accessible to people from all over the city. Just to give everyone the background story before i explain what really happens inside this church, i attended Audacious for around 2 years. However, before i attended the church, i would attend the annual conference help in various locations throughout the UK. When i found out they had started a church, i tried my hardest to move nearer to Manchester. About 1 year after the church opened, i had moved to a nearer location and attended everything from Life Groups, Sunday and Midweek services and anything else they held. It didn't take me long to realise this church had problems with money. ATV, Resourse Rick, Offerings, Worship and the message was all about money and used so that people would give more to this movement.

It wasn't just money where this church had problems, it was with the hierarchy. From anything to who you spoke to, who you phoned, who you had on Facebook, who you had a relationship with and even which family members you contacted was only allowed through the permission of a leader. I hated every moment! What stopped me from leaving sooner? Well, that i don't know. All i was thinking is 'maybe it will change' as the church focused a lot on positive thinking and discouraged any negativness. They are recruiting a lot of young people currently, because a lot of the older people have come out of the movement. Leaving wasn't such a good idea for me because they have given me a bad name by telling members not to talk to me. I went for a meeting to tell them about me moving on and they got out oil, put it on my head and tried to 'cast out a demon'. I was not just shocked but confused because one of the main Sunday teachings was about Christians not being possessed and other churches teaching heracy for saying the unbeliever goes to hell. Audacious believe that everyone will go to heaven if they follow them.

They always were an audacious lot of hooligans, back in the day when they took on and routed Napolean at waterloo and so impressed Wellington.

I am replying to comments about Audacious Church in Manchester. First of all I wish to applaude the idea of this site because there are some very strange sects out there which do hurt people and it is absolutely right that they are exposed. But my main objective is to reassure people about Audacious Church. I am a mature Christian approaching my 50s and have been in many churches over the years. I am also a Psycholgist (MA Counselling, Chartered Fellor CIPD, Certified Behavioural Analyst, Member British Psychological Society). I make my living out of guiding and advising people mainly in a business context as well as people in crisis. I have been atttending Audacious for over 2 years and attend a Life Group. I do not recognise any of the comments made in this blog. For sure Audacious Church is not for everyone, there is rock music, huge TV screens pastors in jeans etc. But I have found the leaders to be authentic and accessible and generally the teaching to be very biblicly sound. I am a bit of an unconventional Christian in many ways and have not always found it easy to 'fit in' churches but I have never ever found any sense of judgement or criticism and find permission 'to be me'. As for finances, yes there are requests for members to tithe as this is a good principle in general as you do 'reap what you sow' whether you are a Christian or not. However I have never felt any pressure to do so and in fact there is an instruction NOT to give out of what you don't have. I have had some money problems over the period I have been in the church therefore I have not given much and don't feel bad about this. The Senior pastor, Glyn Barrett has preached more than once on why he 'doesn't like religion' pointing out that people should only do what is in their heart. Without that kind of open faith it is impossible to please God. Furthermore the church is doing some really powerful work for good in the local community, with homeless, drug addicts, prostititues etc. A lot of this type of work is 'thankless' in material terms but is done out of pure love and Christian commitment. I could go on but I won't My advice to anyone if they are unsure about what they are doing in any group situation is only to follow what your own heart says and take advice from mentors you really trust. You can email me directly if you wish (I am not sure if my email is disclosed here) But don't condemn Audacious as a 'cult', this is not right.

GeorgiaN:

Does the church has a constitution and bylaws that provide for the regular election of board members to fixed terms by the general membership of the church?

If so, can the elected board fire and hire staff, including the Senior Pastor Glyn Barrett?

Is there an independently audited annual budget that discloses in detail all salaries, compensation and expenses paid out from church funds that is distributed to all contributors?

These are important issues concerning meaningful accountability and financial transparency.

Hi again, I am not sure about the constution and by-laws but will find out. I believe the church accounts and budget is available for anyone to see but again I will find out and post answers when I do.

GeorgiaN:

If you have contributed to the church you should have received an annual independently audited budget statement. The overwhelming majority of Protestant churches and ministries have this type of transparency. Since you have been attending the church for two years you should have such a statement that discloses in detail salaries, compensation and expenses.

Are you not aware of elections taking place regarding the board? After two years you should be aware of this too.

Seems strange.



Edited 2 time(s). Last edit at 10/07/2012 07:13AM by rrmoderator.

GeorgiaN:

Just because you say it's not a cult doesn't mean it's right. I happen to believe it is and have the freedom of speech in order to express that, as does anybody! I have spoken with people that have left that church and currently have some form of counselling after what they was taught. It's not doing christians any favours really, as everybody gets branded the same as these kind of people. Maybe look at how churches are run throughout the world, study cults and then tell me it's not a dangerous teaching. For the past 4 years i have been studying religious cults and know fully that audacious church has the making of something very dangerous and this is very uncommon in Manchester.

If you're happy there then great! But i will always be there for people that leave this church and need help from it as i know what it's like. Just remember, God doesn't want you to just be rich, He wants you to live for Him and that's most important. After listening to their teaching and stories from ex-members, i have realised that they teach on prosperity all the time. So yeah, they might help the homeless or what ever they do, but at what cost? To look good maybe? Everybody says that, so it's not really a secret thing it is? They just do things to 'look good'. After all, if they was teaching about money all the time and not doing those things and publicising it, people would become suspicious. In other words, it's their selling point. Millions of churches worldwide do 'good things' like that and don't always talk about how great they are. God is great, not audacious! Although Christians should really be the people that do those things, it's not enough. God wants us to obey Him first! Not our money, or what we believe is correct teaching because the pastor says so, He wants people! You said you're a mature Christian so i assume you already know this.

Put aside the money problems, the most dangerous cult characteristic audacious church displays is that nobody has the right to express their views. Also, leaders are controlling and all matters of life are permitted through them such as dating, where to live, which car to drive and which job to take. Maybe you're not fully involved in audacious so you wouldn't have seen this side yet. Just because you attend the church and a life group doesn't mean you're involved there, although they would have you think that. Join the academy and you might get to see just a fraction of how they control people.

I hope you never experience anything evil from audacious, all the best.