I think this needs little explanation. If a church being a welcoming place and a place of “Acceptance” (for the person, not sin) is seen as a bad thing, cultish, or suspicious then the church in America is in grave grave trouble!!! “anonfornow” described this trait of the church as “seductive.” This breaks my heart!!! Jesus was the example of welcoming and accepting that any church should work to emulate- as Newsong tries to do. To describe this as “seductive” is just sad. Newsong works to communicate the heart of Christ- Isaiah 61. To reach the lost, love and heal the hurt and broken and raise up men and women to serve the Lord (in ministry and their work places).
Alos, there is no formal membership for the church. A person is welcome to come or go as they wish. If they join a small group, the leaders are taught to care for the individual and if the individual is leaving the body then the leader will work to make sure its for the right reasons, but (as in the case of “anonfornow” after he did not return the phone calls the leader stepped back and let him leave- it was his choice and no one is going to force him to stay.
I’m grateful at “rrmoderator” posting the ten warning signs of a potentially unsafe/dangerous group/leader. This is an important resource and would help someone who wanted to investigate Newsong further see how far it is from a cult.

Emily never mentions Newsong specifically, so I’m not certain she is talking about the same church. This is certainly not the ministry I was a part of for so many years! It was a solid belief that “the joy of the Lord is our strength.” (Neh 8:10)
Emily, if you were talking about Newsong City Central in Tacoma then I would so encourage you to give a call to the church offices. If your daughter is in a small group they can talk to the leader. Newsong often works to restore broken families and I’m certain they could help resolve these concerns and figure out what is going on with your daughter. Again, please make sure it is Newsong in Tacoma that you’re daughter is attending!

To address Newsong leaders as being unapproachable… Newsong leaders (including the head pastor) are available after almost every church service at the front of the sanctuary to talk and pray for people. The church office is open throughout the week and the leadership are constantly meeting with church members to help them in struggles and needs. In any large church, the head pastor’s time will be limited, but this is why Newsong works to establish small group leaders who can spend more time with individuals- where the head pastor is often seeing to the more urgent issues and emergencies facing church members.

It was also said that members are made to “feel obligated to do choirs around the church”… again, this is false information. Newsong City Central shares a church building with another church and we needed to clean the church after each service and the task required many people- so those in charge of clean up are constantly asking for help to accomplish this task. I fail to see how requesting church members to help and serve in the church is a bad thing anyways???

“anonfornow” claimed that Newsong “even indirectly” encourages members “to abandon family and friends.” This is so ridiculous that I’m not even sure how to respond. So much energy and time is spent in reconciling and restoring broken families that this statement is blatantly against the truth of what the ministry says and does. Again, notice the wording of the statement “encourages- even if indirectly.” Such “abandoning” is not encouraged (except in cases of dangerous living situations, abuse, and clear negative influences such as drugs, etc) I have never worked with or seen a healthy church that does not take these steps when their church members are in danger. There are thousands of individuals from all around the world and in many different ministries and denominations who work with and serve with Newsong City Central who have found a ministry that loves the Lord and loves people—it is not perfect since humans are not perfect. But it has a passion to grow and improve as they follow the Lord.

I have NO desire to preach here!!!! And i do not want to post anything for the purpose of trying to persuade opinions here. I do however think this is a relevant point to be made regarding Newsong City Central. I STRONGLY recommend taking your questions or concerns directly to the leadership of the church you are concerned about. Anyone in ministry for any period of time will quickly understand that EVERY church deals with church jumpers and every ministry leader must be extra careful about forming opinions of a church based on what an individual who has left a church says. In Olympia, I work with ministry leaders from many churches who have had members of their church come to our church and often talk about the church they just left in a way that would cause anyone to cringe and develop a bad view of the church. This is why our church works very hard to meet with the head pastor of any church that has a member come to us and address the situation so as to meet the needs of the individual and close the door on disunity and rumors between the churches. There are a million reasons why someone would change churches. Sometimes these are legitimate leading of the Lord and for the correct reasons! Too often, however, we find that the individual has an personal issue with other church members, area of frustration with how well they perceive they’re needs being met or have an area of sin that was confronted and they left the church in anger and bitterness. Such a situation can quickly create rumors and destroy the unity or churches and reputations of ministers. Tragically, the individual often never actually seek to resolve the issue with their pastors or the church leadership, instead finding it easier to “move on” with a bitterness that poisons the way they talk about past churches. OF COURSE there are real reasons to leave a church (cases of abuse, manipulation and cultism)- but in six years of ministry I have only seen this rarely. Typically, individuals aren’t willing to do the hard work of unity and find church jumping the easier option. The church is made up of imperfect people and legitimate mistakes and hurts are present in every ministry. Yet, we mature and grow as we seek to forgive and help one another as we serve and follow the Lord. If I had left a ministry and past churches every time there was a misunderstanding, mistake made, an offense, or frustration I would probably be on my 900th church! My heart is for church unity and sometimes its hard work and it takes real forgiveness at times for real wrongs!

A site like this one can be a tremendous tool for steering people away from dangerous ministries and cults!!!! However, if we, as Christians, do not examine for ourselves the accusation, slander and rumors that are too often found in churches today and if we take for face value the second hand information of others as fact- if we are unwilling to ask hard questions and look into it for ourselves, then we too will become tools of division and disunity in the body of Christ.

Every denomination has a slightly different theology- if I were to label every denomination or ministry I work with, who has a slightly different look at theology, as a cult then I would quickly find myself condemning huge numbers of my brothers and sisters in Christ. Let this never be!
Admittedly, because of my years in the ministry and my heart for church unity, some may chose to disregard the information I am posting here. That is a right anyone has, however, I could not encourage someone more who has a concern to contact Newsong (or any church for that matter) and ask the hard questions.

The Bereans were “of more noble character” because they investigated all that Paul said- it falls on us to do the same regarding Newsong city Central or any other church we have a concern with!

Gabrielvw:

Does New Song have an independently audited financial report that it publishes, which provides detailed information of all salaries and expenses paid out from church funds?

Does New Song have a democratically elected church government, i.e. elected boards, that can discipline and if necessary terminate the employment of a pastor?

Are all pastors required to have a college degree and a seminary degree before being ordained from an accredited school such as a state university or college or a seminary such as Fuller or Moody?

Thank you for your questions!
There are three churches that fall under Revalesio Ministries (Newsong City Central, the Crossing Church, and Destiny City Church which used to be Clover Creek before the church moved from the Clover Creek area to downtown Tacoma).

There is a board of elders that meet and the Pastors of the churches fall under their authority. At the time I was attending, the pastor for Destiny City Church (then Clover) was a graduate from a solid seminary (I don’t remember which one but I might be able to find out… also, I am sure that if you call the church offices they can give you the name of the seminary) The pastor of Newsong has a degree from Faith Seminary and I’m not sure of his other schooling- if I remember correctly he also graduated from Pacific Lutheran University. I didn’t have much interaction with the Crossing Church but again, a phone call to the church offices would answer that. All the information and contact info for those on the Elder board and the Pastoral staff can be found in the directory link on the Destiny City Site.

As far as an “independently audited financial report.” Honestly, I’ve never asked for one so don’t know. I do know that at the end of each year we received a “giving statement” for tax purposes from the church. And I know that I had met an individual who did accounting for the ministry. Just knowing how open the ministry is with all its information and the work they do with the city, I assume there is such a report available upon request.

Also, I had forgotten to mention it before- but if anyone has a concern about how biblical the teachings of the churches are they can download the sermons for free each week off each church’s website in MP3 format.

There is also a list of ministries the churches are involved in (I’m sure doing better job of explaining them then I could), information on the classes offered, and much more for those who want to take the time to look into this a little more.

Finally, I want to say again- I no longer go to Newsong and do not speak for the church or its leadership. I am simply offering what I have seen and experienced in my time with the ministries there.

The primary site for information on all three ministries is the Destiny City Church site- here is the address:
destinycitychurch.org

Here is an email address for questions directed towards the church’s leadership and a phone number for contacting the churches with questions. (if you want the email for a specific leader, staff member, pastor or elder you can find those in the directory link on the web site.)
info@destinycitychurch.org or call 253-627-5503

Thanks for the opportunity to share about all this. It has been amazing to see how the Lord can use regular people who seek him with their whole hearts!

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pepperori
Has anyone heard anything (good or bad) about the New Song City Central church in Tacoma, WA? I was talking to a friend of mine who goes there, and the way she talks about it really bothers me. I heard a lot of mention of "authority" and "submit" and "laying it down" and "prophecy" and stuff that is usually good, but just the way she talked about it made me very nervous. It just reminded me of other churches that are abusive to its members. So I'm wondering if anyone knows anything about this church.

Those are all things the Apostles taught. They taught submission to the authorities, including leaders in the Church. That never meant blind obedience. I haven't seen or heard anything at New Song that struck me as unbiblical. Jesus taught that sometimes drastic action is needed to become spiritually free. I've been a member of New Song for almost 2 years. I've never been in another church that so closely fits what I read in the book of Acts, as far as the involvement of the people in each others' lives. That's not cultic, it's simply the way the 1st century Christians lived. We are supposed to submit our culture to scriptural truth, not the other way around. Americans love to insist on their 'space' but that's really not a concept the Apostles taught.

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rrmoderator
Gabrielvw:

Does New Song have an independently audited financial report that it publishes, which provides detailed information of all salaries and expenses paid out from church funds?

Does New Song have a democratically elected church government, i.e. elected boards, that can discipline and if necessary terminate the employment of a pastor?

Are all pastors required to have a college degree and a seminary degree before being ordained from an accredited school such as a state university or college or a seminary such as Fuller or Moody?

Accountability and preparation for leadership are vital, but those things sound more "American" than "biblical." A college degree doesn't confer wisdom or even protect against cultish teaching. The pastor of an authentic church is not above being accountable but the model of democratically electing our leaders is not quite the model we see in the scriptures. The danger is that people are put in those positions for the wrong reasons, if a vote of the membership is required. Of course, what I just wrote is very simplistic view of the subject, but basically that is what we're taught in the Word.