'Cult' orders faith before family

Sunshine Coast Daily - Australia February 28, 2009

By Anne-Louise Brown

Teenage members of a Sunshine Coast church have been ordered to put the church’s teachings before family or risk excommunication.
Young adults aged 17 to 25 have been warned if they do not sign a commitment form at tomorrow’s meeting of the Sunshine Coast Christian Fellowship, they could be cut off.
Helen Pomery of Maleny, a former member of the fellowship who was excommunicated in 2002, said contacts in the church had expressed their concerns to her. Many feared they would “lose their children”.
“There is so much pressure on these kids to sign the commitment form. If they don’t, they will be kicked out. People are very scared,” Ms Pomery said.
“This has put strain on a lot of parents too because if they express their concerns, they are labelled ‘evil’ and the elders will try to turn their children against them. The fellowship is not a church.
"It is a cult and it thrives on fear.”
The Daily obtained copies of the commitment forms and “doctrine” written by church elders, which outlines some of the fellowship’s extreme teachings.
Most controversial are documents placing the importance of the church above family, including statements like: “Come and commit to being the Lord’s disciple first, and that will provide the opportunity for Christ to come to your family”.
Last year the fellowship, which is based in Brisbane, made national headlines after the ABC’s Four Corners ran an expose of its teachings and doctrine. Ms Pomery told her story on the program and in a book by Morag Zwartz, Apostles of Fear: A Cult Church Exposed.
According to Ms Pomery, church elders believe they are “God personified”.
“Members are taught that God actually speaks through the elders. This creates an air of fear because members are told if they disobey the teachings of the elders, they will be damned for eternity.
“The fellowship isolates people. Members can’t socialise with people outside the church and young people can’t date people that aren’t in the church. Arranged marriages are common.
“Basically people become trapped in the fellowship because if they leave, they have nothing. I lost my family to the fellowship so speaking out against them isn’t hard because I have nothing left to lose.”
Dean of the Catholic church on the Sunshine Coast, Father John Dobson, said he did not know much about the fellowship but thought it displayed “cult-like traits”.
“The Catholic church has strong authority, some of the strongest of any church, but is never interferes with personal conscience.
“An individual’s conscience is not to be meddled with, even by those in authority, and if members of a congregation feel like this is happening, they should assess the situation.
“Scriptures teach God’s greatest gift to humans is the ability to love and this in turn leads people to be free. Love is certainly not domination and I’m concerned that elders in this church would present their word as the word of God. I would also be concerned about anyone who believes that.”
Ms Pomery has set up a support group for people affected by cults, and said people still in the fellowship were in regular contact with her.
“They want to know how they can get out without losing their families. All of then have seen how the fellowship works and have seen families torn apart. They are scared and are very careful about how they get in contact. If the church found out they would be immediately excommunicated.
“After being married for 30 years my husband, who was a doctor, left me a letter telling me to be out of the house in a week. I didn’t know what to do.
“I have three kids who are 35, 33 and 28. Two of them – the oldest and the youngest – are still heavily involved with the church and haven’t spoken to me since I left. My eldest child has three kids of her own. I’ve never met my grandchildren.”
Yesterday the Daily contacted Sunshine Coast Christian Fellowship elders David Black and Paul Fox.
Mr Black declined to comment and Mr Fox said the commitment form and associated doctrine spoke for itself.
“It speaks to our young people and it speaks for itself so I don’t need to comment,” he said.
This article was found at:
http://www.thedaily.com.au/news/2009/feb/28/faith-family-sunshine-coast-christian-fellowship/

RELATED ARTICLES ON THIS BLOG

Sunshine Coast woman calls for cult inquiry

Christian Fellowship Pastor charged with molesting 6 young girls

'CULT' RIPS FAMILY APART

'I CAN NO LONGER BE YOUR FATHER ... YOU'RE OF THE DEVIL'

Ex-cult members speak out over abuse

Sunshine Coast woman calls for cult inquiry

The Daily - Australia January 10, 2009


A Sunshine Coast woman who blames the Brisbane Christian Fellowship for breaking up her family has called for a Senate inquiry into “cult” churches.

Helen Pomery has been divorced by her husband of 30 years and cut off from two children and three grandchildren since she was ex-communicated from the BCF in 2001.

She was given a week to leave home after refusing to “submit” to the orders of her husband and other BCF elders, who had banned her from contacting a daughter who had already been ex-communicated from the church.

Ms Pomery, who has relocated to Maleny, wants a once proposed Senate inquiry into the right wing religious sect, the Exclusive Brethren, to go ahead, and to include the BCF.

She said the BCF, which is a part of a network of 25 churches, including one at Forest Glen, used intimidatory and abusive tactics to maintain control over members, and was responsible for family break downs.

Senator Bob Brown has twice proposed an inquiry into the Exclusive Brethren to examine its role in family breakdown, the psychological and emotional effects related to its practices, and its exemptions from regulatory requirements.

However, his proposals have been defeated and the matter was instead referred to the Senate Standing Committee on Community Affairs late last year.

Ms Pomery said organisations such as the BCF were granted government concessions as churches but were not subject to regulation or answerable to any external authority.

The Daily contacted the BCF for comment but had not received a reply.

Mrs Pomery has written to all Federal and State politicians about the BCF but she said feedback indicated Labor politicians were reluctant to support an inquiry because they believed that religion and politics should remain separate.

She said France had already set a precedent by establishing a group to look at sectorial aberrations.

This article was found at:

http://www.thedaily.com.au/news/2009/jan/10/senate-inquiry-brisbane-christian-fellowship/

Christian Fellowship Pastor charged with molesting 6 young girls

My Central Jersey.com - October 20, 2008

Plainfield pastor accused of abuse getting 'lots of community support,' attorney says in court

by BRANDON LAUSCH | staff writer

ELIZABETH —A well-known figure in Plainfield's religious community who is accused of molesting six young girls is "getting a lot of support from his family, friends and community,'' the man's attorney said Monday morning.

George C. Benbow, 56, made his first appearance in state Superior Court to answer charges that he molested six girls during an eight-year span while serving as founding pastor of Christian Fellowship Gospel Church.

During a two-minute appearance before Judge Joan Robinson Gross, Benbow's defense attorney, Philip Nettl of New Brunswick, waived a reading of the four counts of second-degree sexual assault on a minor and two counts of third-degree endangering the welfare of a child that the pastor is facing.

Gross set a pre-disposition hearing for the morning of Dec. 17 before Judge John S. Triarsi. Benbow and his attorney at that point could avoid sending the case to a grand jury by entering into a plea agreement with prosecutors or potentially enrolling Benbow into a pretrial intervention program offered to first-time offenders, Gross said.

Immediately after the appearance, Nettl said Benbow is looking forward to having his case heard and to talking with prosecutors "to make sure justice is done.''

"Lots of people get accused of a lot of things, and that's why we rely on the justice system,'' Nettl said.

When asked if Benbow is preparing to fight the charges or enter a plea, Nettl said he hasn't "gotten to that stage of discussions yet.''

"We're going to let it all come out in the justice system,'' he said.

Benbow is free on bail after posting $150,000 bond shortly after his arrest in September. Nettl said Benbow was accompanied to court by one of his sons.

Prosecutors have said they launched an investigation of Benbow in July after several city residents contacted police with allegations of abuse by the pastor. The probe revealed that the alleged abuse took place from 2000 to 2008 at "multiple locations on the church grounds,'' according to authorities.

The incidents involved "inappropriate touching'' of the clothed girls, who were either 8 or 9 years old at the time of the alleged abuse, authorities have said.

Benbow, who founded Christian Fellowship Gospel Church in 1981, has also served as head of the Concerned Urban Clergy of Plainfield and Vicinity, a coalition of congregational leaders of multiple religions throughout the Plainfield area.

He married his wife, Anita, in December 1975, and the couple have two sons, according to the church's Web site, which describes one child as a member the Air Force and another as a musician at the Johnston Avenue church.

This article was found at:

http://www.mycentraljersey.com/
article/20081020/NEWS/
81020010

'CULT' RIPS FAMILY APART

Fraser Coast Chronicle - Australia
July 4, 2008

By Jessica Grewal
Haunted by the memory of the day her grandchildren shunned her, a Hervey Bay woman has made a plea to the elders at the Brisbane Christian Fellowship to allow her to see her great-grandchildren before she dies.
The woman, whose name has been withheld, attended the Maryborough Christian Fellowship, a sub-church of the Brisbane Christian Fellowship, for many years with her husband before being shunned.
She insists she never speaks so publicly about private issues but feels she "is getting on in years" and can't understand why her grandchildren, who attend the Brisbane Christian Fellowship, won't let her see her three great-grandchildren.
"I wanted them to know that they have a great-grandma who loves them dearly before I die," she said.
The woman's problems with the Brisbane Christian Fellowship started seven years ago when her daughter was ex-communicated from the church to which she refers as a "cult" for refusing to cut contact with her shunned daughter, the woman's grand-daughter.
When the woman's daughter left the church, her husband and two other children stayed behind.
"I have a grand-daughter and a grandson in the Brisbane Christian Fellowship," the woman said.
"They rang me separately, word perfect, obviously under instruction, to tell me they can never have contact with me again."
Apart from the situation with her daughter, the woman believes part of the reason she was shunned was because she and her husband left the MCF when they moved to Hervey Bay to retire.
The woman's grand-daughter has since had three children but refuses to let her contact them.
"I rang (my grand-daughter) to find out if and when I could see them only to be told by her husband that I have not got any great-grandchildren," she said.
The woman says that on Mother's Day 2006 she went to her grand-daughter's house and asked to see her great-grandchildren but was told the only way they could unite was "through submission to the headship".
"There is so much talk these days about broken families," she told the Chronicle.
"I never thought my much loved, respected and cherished family would be on the list.
"Is it fair that my three great-grandchildren are innocently growing up, never to know of my desperate love for them?"
This article was found at:
http://www.frasercoastchronicle.com.au/storydisplay.cfm?storyid=3777564

'I CAN NO LONGER BE YOUR FATHER ... YOU'RE OF THE DEVIL'

Fraser Coast Chronicle - Australia
June 28, 2008

by Jessica Grewal
A Maryborough teacher has recalled the devastating day that her husband, an elder at the Maryborough Christian Fellowship, told their children he was leaving them because they were "of the devil".
The woman, whose name has been withheld, is the fourth Fraser Coast resident to come forward and blame the church they refer to as a "cult" for the destruction of their family.
She says she loved her husband but never knew when he would wake up as "nice daddy" or "cult daddy".
Her family's involvement with the "cult" began when her husband started work for a couple who were members.
This article was found at:
http://www.frasercoastchronicle.com.au/storydisplay.cfm?storyid=3777028

Ex-cult members speak out over abuse

NEWS.com.au - June 23, 2008

FORMER cult members have spoken out to warn others of a Brisbane church they say is emotionally abusing its followers.

Former followers have told ABC's Four Corners program, to air tonight, the Brisbane Christian Fellowship, in the north Brisbane suburb of Stafford, was ripping apart families under a veil of secrecy.
They said elders, including leader Victor Hall, made all members' decisions and drove wedges between couples, siblings and parents and children to create fear and control followers.
Followers are banished if they disobey directions.
The church is linked to others worldwide, including the Melbourne Christian Fellowship, and has been operating under different names in Australian since the 1950s.
Former member Helen Pomery, who was expelled for refusing to shun her excommunicated daughter, said she had considered suicide during her time with the group and had to travel to a deprogramming centre in the USA after she left.
"I was very sick emotionally, mentally, and I was at the point of suicide and I knew if I didn't get help then I would probably suicide... but if anything that infuriated my husband and the elders even more that I should go outside of the home for help,'' she told Four Corners.
Ms Pomery said the emotional abuse was dished out as a way to control people.
While she was disciplined for things such as cooking too much food or making the bed the wrong way, her husband had obeyed orders so that he was not responsible for his family's damnation, she said.
Former BCF group leader and electrician David Lowe, whose job was to provide counselling to members, said the congregation's secrets were immediately conveyed to elders.
He said he had spoken out as a way to reach his wife and three children who remain church members.
"They need to know from me as a husband and a father that I believe they're in a bad place,'' Mr Lowe said.
Ms Pomery said she and a handful of others had spoken to the program.
This article was found at:
http://www.news.com.au/story/0,23599,23906324-29277,00.html