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TurningPointReject
The following questions come from the book: Recovering from Churches That Abuse, by Ronald Enroth, Grand Rapids, Michigan, Zondervon, 1994. They are helpful when discussing your own experience and evaluating the comments of others as they post here.

1. Does a member’s personality generally become stronger, happier, more confident as a result of contact with the group?

In an abusive church, the use of guilt, fear, and intimidation to control members is likely to produce members who have a low self-image, who feel beaten down by legalism, who have been taught that asserting oneself is not spiritual.

One of the first disturbing characteristics to be reported by relatives and friends of members of these churches is a noticeable change in personality, usually in a negative direction.


2. Do members of the group seek to strengthen their family commitments?
Nearly all unhealthy churches attempt to minimize the commitments of their members to their family, especially parents.

Young people may be told that they now have a new “spiritual” family, complete with leaders who will “re-parent” them.

Church loyalty is seen as paramount, and family commitments are discouraged or viewed as impediments to spiritual advancement.


3. Does the group encourage independent thinking and the development of discernment skills?

Control-oriented leaders attempt to dictate what members think, although the process is so spiritualized that members usually do not realize what is going on.

A pastor or leader is viewed as God’s mouth piece, and in varying degrees a member’s decision making and ability to think for oneself are swallowed up by the group.

Pressure to conform and low tolerence for questioning make it difficult to be truly discerning.


4. Does the group allow for individual differences of belief and behaviour, particularly on issues of secondary importance?

A legalistic emphasis on keeping rules and a focus on the need to stay within prescribed boundaries is always present in unhealthy spiritual envionments.

Lifestyle rigidity in such groups increase a member’s guilt feelings and contributes to spiritual bondage. This rigidity is often coupled with an emphasis on beliefs that would not receive great attention in mainstream evangelicalism.


5. Does the group encourage high moral standards both among members and between members and non members?

In intense, legalistic churches and religious organizations, the official, public proclamations usually place special value on high moral standards.

In some instances, there is a double standard between those in leadershp and those in the rank and file membership.

Abusive churches tend to have incidents of sexual misconduct more often than most conventonal churches; leaders sometimes exhibit an obsessive interest in matters relating to sex.


6. Does the group’s leadership invite dialogue, advice and evaluation from outside its immediate circle?

Authoritarian pastors are usually threatened by any outside expression of diverse opinions, whether from inside or outside the group. When outside speakers are given access to the pulpit, they are carefully selected to minimize any threat to the leadership’s agenda.

Coercive pastors are fiercely independent and do not function well in a structure of accountability.

For the sake of public relations, they may boast that they are accountable to a board of some sort, when in actuality the board is composed of “yes-men” who do not question the leader’s authority.


7. Does the group allow for development in theological beliefs?

Another hallmark of an authoritarian church is its intolerance of any belief system different from its own.

They tend to measure and evaluate all forms of Christian spirituality according to their own carefully prescribed system, adopting an “us-versus-them” mentality.


8. Are group members encouraged to ask hard questions of any kind?

A cardinal rule of abusive systems is “Don’t ask questions, don’t make waves.”

A healthy pastor welcomes even tough questions. In an unhealthy church disagreement with the pastor is considered to be disloyalty and is tantamount to disobeying God.

People who repeatedly question the system are labelled “rebellious”, “unteachable”, or “disharmonious to the body of Christ”.

Persistent questioners may face sanctions of some kind such as being publicly ridiculed, shunned, shamed, humiliated, or disfellowshiped.


9. Do members appreciate truth wherever it is found even if it is outside their group?

Whether they admit it or not, abusive churches tend to view themselves as spiritually superior to other Christian groups.

This religious elitism allows little room for outside influences. There can be no compromise with external sources, who, the leadership will say, really don’t understand what is going on in the ministry anyway.


10. Is the group honest in dealing with nonmembers, especially as it tries to win them to the group?

Sometimes abusive groups illustrate a “split-level religion”. There is one level for public presentation and another for the inner circle of membership.

The former is a carefully crafted public relations effort, the latter a reality level experienced only by the “true believers”.

Recruitment tactics are usually intense, even if they are not actually deceptive or fraudulent, they can be manipulative or exploitive.

Sometimes high pressure religious groups are evasive about there ture identity: “We really don’t have a name, we’re just Christians.”

A healthy Christian group should have no qualms about revealing who it is and what its intentions are.


11. Does the group foster relationships and connections with the larger society that are more than self-serving?

First impressions are not always correct. Sustained contact with an First impressions are not always correct. Sustained contact with an unhealthy church, however, will usually reveal a pattern that is consistent with the characteristics we have identified.

Members will be requested to serve, to become involved, to sign up for a variety of activities that, upon closer inspection, appear to maintain the system and serve the needs of the leadership.

Abusive churches thrive on tactics that promote dependency.

Emphasizing obedience and submission to leaders, these churches often require a level of service that is

overwhelming to members, resulting in emotional turmoil and spiritual breakdowns.

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rrmoderator
Calvin Bontrager:

It is against the rules of this message board, which you agreed to before posting here, to post contact information on the board.

If you sincerely want to address concerns and questions about TPC you can do so here on the board openly.

Please don't post your personal email information again.

Perhaps some very basic questions regarding the objective facts about TPC should be addressed. And since you are teaching a leadership you should know the answers.

1. Is there a board at TPC, which is elected by ballot as mandated by bylaws by the general church membership. If so, do board officers serve fixed terms, stand for regular re-election and have the power to fire staff (e.g. pastors)?

2. Is there an independently audited financial report published annually and distributed to all TPC contributors, which discloses in detail all salaries, compensation and expenses paid out from church funds?

These are simple questions and they afford the means for anyone to readily recognize if there is real and meaningful accountability and/or financial transparency regarding TPC and its leaders.

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buddy
Dear Calvin, I was told by Deacon Orval Bontrager the time you made your first trip up to TPCWOC with your church people that you had a church split or some kind of problem for people to leave. Could you please explain what happened, and Orval I believe said something about knowing false Apostle Mike when he worked in Edmonds. Could you explain how you fell into the deception of the false Apostle Mike and decided to be one of Mikes plant churches? At the time that you decided to be one with TPCWOC they where teaching and promoting false doctrine. Did you confront Mike about the teaching on one of his many visits to your church? Why would you model your church after TPCWOC when they practiced cultic behavior and have caused many to suffer spiritual abuse? How come three of your Elders have the same last name? How come two of your deacons have the same last name? How did you meet false Apostle Mike? Do you believe your mental state is in tact after following and naming your church after false Apostle Mikes church? Could you release all of the sermons false Apostle Mike Preached at your church. How many times did Mike visit your Church and did you ever give him double honor or treat him like King Tut? Did you ever give Mike money or gifts of any sort? Do you think TPCWOC should give the money back that they conned from everybody for the buiding fund? Do you Calvin want to be the new leader of TPCWOC? If what Orval told me is true, was that the reason you joined up with Mike because of knowing him from the past and that your church problem put you in a weak state of mind? You then fell for his delusional mind of being some kind of great Apostle who was going to lead you into the promised land? Thanks for your time, look forward to your response.