For 70 years, Anglican and Presbyterian Church leaders have been battling a "cult-like' church-within-a-church.
"In the end, I was told I had "a demonic spirit of manipulation and control' inherited from a great aunt who was the founder of a well-known Christian mission."
And so Philippa Thorn, a life-long church-goer and mother of four, was cast aside from the "Fellowship' group she had belonged to for 40 years.
“I went into a very black hole and when I came out I realised I was finished, and stopped going to meetings without saying anything,” she says.
“No one asked me why, no one appeared to notice, but at this point all sorts of associations my husband or I had were cut off, and many people I knew intimately then have not seen or spoken to me since. Fortunately my desire for God had been genuine and he picked me up and gave me the courage to go on without being dependent on any group of people, and I gradually learnt about myself and why I had been sucked in at the beginning.”
Philippa was first drawn in when she moved to Melbourne from the country. Lonely and socially dislocated, she befriended the only people she knew in the city through her distant relative, Ronald Grant, who founded the Fellowship group.
For over 50 years the Fellowship group co-existed alongside mainstream church life. Outsiders saw few signs of its existence. There was only the mass exit from members' Presbyterian and Anglican churches for a weekend away.
"It was very hard on [our fellow local church members], as they didn't like to be inquisitive or unpleasant about it, especially when the group members worked harder for the church than others."
Over the years Philippa developed a few friendships with others in the Fellowship who felt things were not as they should be.
"Everything possible was done to try to divide these bonds because they were out of the control of the leadership. With these particular friends we talked about how to avoid getting in trouble, and why we were unhappy with the way the group was going, and what was happening in the wider church that we were missing. If we went to hear visiting speakers or evangelists we had to answer a "please explain'."
For Philippa, her family connections and especially her knowledge about the tragic implosion of the sister "Tinker Tailor' group in Sydney which fell apart with suicides and adultery put her in the firing line.
"I was often accused of being a troublemaker. I think they were worried about what I might say to my relatives in Sydney, and my family were watching me to observe anything that would confirm their suspicions about spiritual deception in the Melbourne group. It was very hard for me to know who was telling the truth because the indoctrination was so full-on."
It appeared Ronald Grant was afraid of incurring the odium attracted by his brother's Tinker Tailor group and advised Fellowship members to commit to their local churches.
"The group in Melbourne went on going to their respective churches and served in youth groups, as elders, and as vestry members in order to preserve the reputation of the group, and serve the church better than anyone else, to avoid suspicion."
In 1996 when Ronald Grant died this pattern was discontinued. All Fellowship members moved from their home churches to three Presbyterian churches dominated by the Fellowship. "All group members left these churches in an identical manner, much to the dismay of the people left behind, as many were unaware of who was in the group, such was its secrecy," says Philippa.
It was out of the blue in October 1996, that the Rev Derek Jones of Holy Trinity Anglican Church, Surrey Hills, began receiving letters " about 30 in all " from church families saying God had directed them to leave.
"At this point I didn't really know what was going on " the letters never identified the Fellowship…I was in absolute despair. I went through a period of questioning and became very depressed. I was about to resign from the ministry."
But Derek wasn't alone. The Rev Peter Corney, vicar of the nearby St Hilary's Anglican Church, Kew, had a similar experience.
"It was Peter Corney who saved my life " almost literally," says Derek. "He rang one day and his first words were "mate this has nothing to do with you…it's bigger than you and it's bigger than me'. All of a sudden a huge cloud lifted."
Derek, Peter and seven other Anglican and Presbyterian Church ministers, whose ministries had been impacted by the Fellowship, got together.
For months afterwards Derek Jones made himself available to members of his parish to console those heartbroken by the church's dislocation. Many of the congregation were torn apart, telling Derek: "We looked up to these people…They were our friends!" The congregation first experienced disappointment, then anger " because they saw the Fellowship as using them as a cloak for what seemed perfectly legitimate Christian practice.
"I look on the Fellowship now with a kind of pity," says Derek. "I lost a lot of young people, and these young lives are going to be tainted forever."
"People say to me " and it's a legitimate question " how can highly intelligent people be sucked in by it? But then you have to understand cultism…the power, the subjugation of one mind to another, and absolute obedience.
"One of the sad things is that these young people saw the older people " and still do " as their spiritual mentors, and nothing the leaders can do or say is wrong."
Peter Corney looks back over 24 years of ministry at St Hilary's where he nurtured some of the most eminent Fellowship men " Bruce Teele, Neville Langford, John Neil. While the group's Melbourne founders were a moderating influence on the group and the excesses bubbled forth when they died, Peter believes the damaged theological DNA was there all along. "The theological DNA of the holiness, separatist movement and sinless perfection was always there."
"Earlier on they weren't so obsessive, but…they began to see demons under trees and in family history, and that cranked up the pressure even more. In their theology the way the blessing comes is when the entire special group " the ones God's hand is on " are all right with God, confessing their sin, and walking in the light…but the pressure is building for years and the blessing hasn't come! So the only way to go is to crank up the pressure."
As the outside church leadership increased scrutiny on the Fellowship, the noose tightened for Philippa. "Now I can see that I had become a threat. I knew too much!" she said.
When Philippa broke with the Fellowship, her daughters found a way out too. But sadly, her two sons came to believe they should not have anything to do with her, in case they too "came under the influence of an evil spirit'. "When I was last in Melbourne I went to the Grandparents Day at the primary school that six grandsons go to. My son asked me to leave, and I can't tell you how that felt! The headmaster insisted on conducting me to the classroom I hadn't been to, and on meeting me asked if my sons were members of that "weird Presbyterian group'."
Most tragically, Philippa's husband has a degenerative neurological condition and is very distressed about losing the boys.
"It is likely he will not be able to communicate at all before too long. But they don't believe me, and say it is further evidence of my manipulative habit and domineering spirit."
Yet, Philippa says, her husband and herself have come to know the love of God and can now live in the joy of their salvation.
"For the first time in my life, I really feel cherished by him and I know he loves me even though I don't deserve it."
Adapted by Jeremy Halcrow from Fractured Families: the Story of a Melbourne Church Cult by Morag Zwartz.
Surviving a cult-like church: our expert panel
Glenn Davies - Bishop of North Sydney
Morag Zwartz - Author, Fractured Families: the story of a Melbourne Church Cult
1. What are the key "abusive' group behaviours that really should start ringing alarm bells for us if we see them in a church-context?
Glenn: The formation of an "in-group'. This is akin to the gnostic heresies of the second century where a group claimed special knowledge, not available to the community at large. Secret meetings, exclusion from the inner circle and commitments of total loyalty to the leader are all signs of cults.
Morag: We should have alarm bells ringing when we start to notice conformity of thought and expression - cult leaders are threatened by independence of any sort, even thoughts. Also excessive accountability, which stifles the individual’s personal growth. Exclusivity is also a big concern, as are too rigid a hierarchy and authoritarianism.
2. What in essence leads a church group into abusive practices " bad theology, controlling leadership, or something else?
Glenn: The desire for power, control, kudos and controlling leadership springs out of a twisted theology and leads to abusive behaviour.
Morag: I have to say it [can] start with bad theology - perfectionism " such as is found in both Tinker Tailor and The Fellowship. Bad theology is of course inherently dangerous, but pride and autocratic leadership make it treacherous.
3. Morag, you make the comment in the book that what is currently happening in the Presbyterian Church, may well have easily happened in the Anglican Church. However the Anglican Church and Presbyterian churches do have different structures… Do you think having an Episcopal system (i.e. a bishop) has any advantages over more Congregationalist structures in quality control and stopping cult-like practices from developing?
Morag: No, I think the problem with exclusive groups in churches has little to do with their systems of government, but reflects the general reluctance of church people (and non-church people!) to deal with complex and uncomfortable problems involving relationships. Neither the Presbyterians nor the Anglicans dealt with The Fellowship effectively - and Tinker Tailor in Sydney was knocked on the head by a para-church group, not a church.
4. Did Sydney evangelicals do anything "better' that led to the demise of the group in this city, whereas the Fellowship continues in Melbourne today?
Morag: There may well have been a stronger core of Sydney evangelicals at the time the Grant brothers were starting out, who put them in their place, but it’s only fair to add that The Fellowship in Melbourne developed in a different way. It was far more subtle and underground and inoffensive than Tinker Tailor.
5. What should people do if they suspect a loved one is being caught up in a cult-like church group or an abusive church?
Glenn: Consult with their trusted friends first. Seek an interview with the leader to express concern. This second step is fraught with difficulty if such an approach may issue in a vindictive response. If the processes of conflict resolution available to the parish fail, then this is the time to speak to the bishop, or an outsider who has the respect of both the congregation and also the leader of the congregation.
Morag: Sadly, there’s no easy answer to this. The bottom line is prayer for the loved one, for their eyes to be opened. Loving, pleading and arguing seem to have little effect if they’re really hooked. People have told me that you have to learn to see the loved one as brainwashed, and unable to reason normally, and as not being their true self. You quickly start to realise the disastrous nature of spiritual deception.
6. How can Christians help someone who has been abused by a church or "cult-like' church group?
Morag: Top of my list in terms of helping someone who has been abused in this way is simply, believe them. Listen to them, Acknowledge their pain and suffering. Once they feel believed and validated (remember the perpetrators of their abuse will be people of high standing and respect) they can begin to heal and eventually move on. It’s also important at some stage to encourage them to acknowledge their own culpability - to some degree or another. We can’t grow if we hang on to a victim mentality, or if we refuse to deal with our own contribution to the situation.
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