Yes, there is a great deal of irony in so many of the behaviors in struthers. On of the ones I find most ironic is the whole coffee shop idea. There is all this stuff about not mixing with the unclean, and being soooo spiritual that you are some sort of Christian mystic. That might have been believable if they did "separate themselves" but they don't, they spend their time making c
Forum: Destructive Churches

I was reading over a few recent posts and was again reminded of the shares fiasco, for example: QuoteCliveQuoteRensil I presume in case new people found out and wanted to leave) as "perhaps the biggest test to come against the church and in that test, some people went down" i.e. they left the church, including someone she valued greatly who assisted her in leadership. So Mrs Bl
Forum: Destructive Churches

Quotesquareone For me we're on safer ground with the fruits of the spirit rather than the gifts.... ie love, joy ,peace, patience, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, gentleness and self control. You can't fake these, not over time anyway Amen to that!
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Wow, some amazing posts. Thanks for the additional info Treetop and others. A really relevant quote from scripture there as well squareone. It would be great if those in SMC take it to heart. I suspect the leaders will miss the point and think they are the ones unsoiled by evil (verse 4) but that is not how I would see it. I am sure that there are many who fit verse 4, but they won't b
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Quotesquareone ... I can't in my heart of hearts say I think that those who stayed and forgave Mr Black were wrong to do so when they presumably believe that forgiveness is at the heart of Christianity. squareone - I quite agree. I for one am perfectly happy to forgive Mr Black for these actions, or to forgive other leaders for any mistakes or indiscretions. What I am decidedly unhap
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Clive I have two thoughts on your comments about the financial scandal. First, you are of course right that it would be a bit unreasonable to expect God to be telling Mr Black which funds to invest in etc. But that is the point, isn’t it? I don’t believe that God is telling the leaders which fund to invest in, which house to buy, which job to take, how to prepare school lunches to get a goo
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cbarb - no problem, I guessed that was what had happened. I think the two posts fit quite well together actually - quite different, but complementary. squareone - I think that is a fair question. Others may have a different view, but I would have no great problem if someone from Struthers was teaching a child of mine or of someone I knew. I wouldn't really even have a problem with th
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It is interesting to see all the discussions about Cedars School of Excellence and its relationship with the branches of Struthers Memorial Church. To me, discussing this link is absolutely legitimate, as the two things we are talking about are actually both activities of the one organisation with one set of Directors, one constitution, one set of accounts and one AGM. (Yes squareone, they d
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How could that happen? God presumably told them exactly what food to order and how to prepare it. It looks like some people in the congregation have not been holy enough and that has got in the way of God speaking to his annointed. Naughty congregation.
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squareone - no need to apologise. I meant the question to draw attention to the suffering that has been caused, not as a dig at your generous and commendable concern for the welfare of others. Like cbarb, i see this as an exciting time. Honest people in Struthers have asked God to move and He is moving - just not the way the leaders expected!
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squareone, i am glad that you have sympathy with others employed in the bookshop and school. I only wish that the leaders in Struthers showed 1% of that level of sympathy dealing with the lives they have damaged. People have walked out of their jobs because they could not cope with the trauma they were going through because of Struthers. Are their lives and careers less valuable than those of
Forum: Destructive Churches

Wow, this forum really does “wake up, have a big stretch and spring into life again" (paraphrasing Rensil) doesn’t it! I have seen new comments being posted and thought I would reply, then, by the time I get round to it, someone else has made another interesting point. I can’t keep up! One of the things I really do love about the comments is how gracious they are. Sure there is hurt an
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Grace-girl What a beautiful and moving testimony. I am sure everyone who reads it will rejoice in the peace and freedom you have found. Like most people here, I have found that there are many churches that daily demonstrate that they are Christ’s disciples by loving one another. I am glad you have found one and have been willing to share this experience with others. I also love Clive’s ide
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Dear all, I wondered if there was any update on what was happening at The Refuge. Anyone being encourage to attend the Struthers Memorial Church summer camp for example? If you are a parent and your children are being encouraged to attend, you might want to read through the posts here and on the Struthers thread.
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I can see, Interesting that yo refer people to the Struthers forum, I have had a look at some of the stuff here and I agree, there seem to be a lot of similarities in the stories. I see there was also an earlier reference to a link between the churches at some point, with member of KCF attending a SMC camp. Does anyone know any more about this?
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mandrake, I think you are absolutely right that there is a bit of animal farm about this - "all animals are equal, it is just that some are more equal than others". It is very interesting that all the leaders are comfortably off, and many of the ordinary members are giving their money to pay for the salaries of the "two families who have all the jobs" as lintar123 says.
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I was reading an interesting verse this morning – Micah 6v8: He has shown you O man, what is good. And what does the Lord require of you? To act justly and to love mercy and to walk humbly with your God. Seems to me that ties in quite well with the question above. If the leadership of Struthers believed in this verse then they would HAVE to respond to some of the questions raised here and
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Rensil There is only one answer I can find to your questions and that is to use a word that one of the other posters here used quite a while ago - “unconscionable”. I honestly believe that no-one with a conscience could act as they do. The problem is they do not have a conscience – their view is that they hear God speaking to them because they have been specially chosen like Abraham or Mos
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Like others, I agree that we have a very good idea what the leaders are thinking, as their sole occupation is to inform others of their idiosyncratic view of life. If you actually sit under their control (I won't use the word ministry, as that means “servant” and I see no evidence that they are there to serve others) you discover that there is very little other than their continued and unfo
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lintar123 Welcome to the forum! Although it should not surprise me any more, I am still shocked to hear of the depth hurt caused by smc (and not just by the leadership, but by the ordinary members of the congregations who cross to the other side of the road and walk past instead of offering support). I too had flashbacks for years. While I never had formal counselling, I spoke to many,
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Readers of this forum might be interested to hear the recent McDuff ruling in a High Court Case involving the Catholic Church (see ) or related news articles such as the BBC report ( at ). As it says in the BBC article, Quote Jon Brown, from the children's charity, said: All organisations that work with children have a clear responsibility to ensure their safety. Religious organisations
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Readers of this thread might be interested in a recent post on the Struthers topic on this forum (Rick Ross - Struthers Memorial Church, page 35) where, on Oct 26, smcedars says, QuoteMy young teenage daughter is still a member of the church and after I left everything was all right for a while. My x-wife who is also a member of smc and I are no longer together and my daughter lives with her
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smcedars My heart goes out to you in these circumstances. It is unfortunately all too common an outcome where Struthers is concerned. Part of the problem is that it can be so insidious. Your daughter may indeed have been told directly not too speak to you - they certainly do that at times - but, as you say, there is no direct evidence of that. What may well have happened is that there has
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I have no great problem with being identified, but I do not see how it would make any difference. As I said in my previous post, 'M' has in fact written to two of the Directors of the company (who were Jennifer Jack and Chris Jewell by the way) but has received no reply. We can only speculate as to why, but I think it is because he had the courage to add his name. It is bizarre, b
Forum: Destructive Churches

First, welcome to all the new people who have posted on the Forum – Anthony, Free indeed, SMCedars and truthseeker9001. Four more people – I wonder how many others there are out there! I think it is great that people can post here in whatever form they want. Some provide a very full story, which could easily identify them, some confirm their hurt, but do not want to post regularly, some are
Forum: Destructive Churches

JohnMcK Welcome to the forum. I hope you will continue to post information about your experience in Struthers. I have no difficulty in relating to what you say but, as CovLass has so clearly pointed out, demonstrating some good does not provide evidence that every single thing that is done is good. If there are good things that need publicity, great, but if there are bad things, they need
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Clive apologies for the nitpicking, but I think it is important to get the facts right. I think there are still assumptions in this question that are not in the original article. For example, you say, “Mr M wants L…” That is not in the text. M may not want anything of the sort. It might be the last thing he wants. I once spoke to a concentration camp survivor who was approached by a Chr
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Clive, I see that ChesterK55 has already commented on some of the more speculative aspects of your recent posts. I don’t want to start analysing all that has been said, but I have to say I find the same issue, and am really getting quite baffled by the very strong conclusions you reach based on a whole range of assumptions and speculation; for example: “It is clear that Struthers influence
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Clive, You are of course entitled to your opinion even though it is, once again, critical of one of the contributors to the forum rather than making any direct comment on the theme here, which remains as Struthers Memorial Church. I for one am not sure how helpful that is. Your comments will not discourage me from continuing to contribute, but you must know that there will be others who a
Forum: Destructive Churches

QuoteArchbishop Laud I would suggest that Mr Black's background in the Exclusive Brethren explains much about what is wrong with Struthers... I think he imported most of their doctrines and forms of life straight into Struthers, which can, as a result, be classified as a a kind of Pentecostal Exclusive Brethren. Or rather Pentecostal Exclusive Sisterhood -- because brothers are very much i
Forum: Destructive Churches