CLOSE TO THE EDGE, June 1994 Issue 8 TOLC, PO Box 348, Morden, Surrey SM4 6ZD, United Kingdom Tel: 081-646-7477 Fax: 081-646-8151 Twenty four hotline: 0860 579211 Triumphing Over London Cults is a group of former members of the London Church of Christ, and also the Belfast, Birmingham, Bristol, Dublin, Edinburgh, Leeds, Manchester, Tokyo, and International Churches of Christ Secret Church of Christ report reveals negative growth ------------------------------------------------------ WORLD EXCLUSIVE: Church leader orders: "Only spiritual people may see this information" Details of the 1992 World report from the Boston Church of Christ have been passed to Close To The Edge. The report is considered highly confidential - understandable when its contents are fully disseminated. Elder Bob Tranchell is reported as being so concerned about its findings becoming public knowledge that he has deemed it may only be read by "spiritual people". Perhaps the worst news in the report for the Boston Church of Christ and its daughter churches around the globe are the appalling details of ailing church membership. The Boston Church of Christ has set itself the task of "evangelising the entire world in a generation". Unfortunately the report reveals that even in the mother church of Boston itself membership has been shattered by those who have rejected the harsh authoritarianism and dangerous discipling practices. In 1992 the Boston church lost about 1200 members, and only managed to baptise 700. Many of these 700 are felt to be only weakly involved in church activities and likely to "fall away". The figures are equally disastrous in many of the other cities around the world. Based on the 1992 statistics a total of 17,000 people decided to leave the Boston Church of Christ and its daughter churches. Boston and 50% of the other ministries all had negative growth. Last month Close To The Edge reported that the 23 members and a zone leader decided to leave the Toronto Church of Christ after disagreements with world leader Kip McKean. We can now reveal that, according to the Church of Christ's 1992 World report, Toronto managed to baptise 346 members and yet lost 343. Remember, all of these are official Church of Christ figures. In previous issues of this newsletter we have revealed the true membership figures of the London Church of Christ, which has fallen from over 1000 in December 1992 to 579 by October 1993. Senior sources within the London Church of Christ have confirmed to us that these membership figures have continued to decline. This is in spite of the new "hard-line" attitude of the church since the dismissal of UK co-leader Fred Scott. Meanwhile Close To The Edge have received a highly detailed account of the last months of the Milan Church of Christ and the extraordinary behaviour and abusive practices of Bob Tranchell and Gordon Ferguson. Those no longer members of the Milan congregation were defined as "rebellious and unsubmitted, sinners, possessed by Satan". In some churches, members were given a list of the people in Milan who were still to be considered brothers and the people Christians should avoid having contact with. One girl in Milan commented: "I called one of my dearest friends in the States, the girl I studied with after meeting the church in New York, because I wanted to explain to her the situation in Milan. She didn't want to talk to me because she had been warned not to. All of my attempts to convince her that I still wanted to be a Christian even if I did not intend to follow the movement anymore were in vain". Midweek article helps young Londoners keep clear of LCC ------------------------------------------------------- In May the magazine MidWeek's cover story was an expose of the London Church of Christ and its controversial methods of fund-raising and discipling. One reader of the article was so moved by what she read that she contacted the editor of Midweek, and subsequently TOLC. She told TOLC that she had been extremely distressed, unhappy, and disturbed by the tactics of two members of the LCC from Balham. The LCC members (who she refered to only by their first names of Ebie and Letisha) had subjected her to a harrowing degree of pressure and coercion to join the church. As the two members of the church pushed her to go to meetings with them she felt they were trying to make her "lose control of her life". Every time she met with the girls they told her they would only stay for 30 minutes, but invariably meetings would last for three, four or more hours, as they attempted to browbeat her into submission. Reading the article in Midweek made the young woman realise precisely what the two girls were trying to do to her, and she thanked TOLC profusely for the help she got from the article and the subsequent detailed information about LCC financial and psychological abuses. Tithes to be phased out? ------------------------ LCC administrator John Partington has finally replied to the letter of former intern David Vaz (see Close To The Edge issue 6). We hope to publish details of Partington's reply in a future edition. But one item which will be of interest to all members of the London Church of Christ is Partington's claim that there is no requirement for members to pay 10% of their gross income to the church. Close To The Edge would like to hear from anyone who feels they have been pressurised into giving large amounts of money to the LCC. Mediawatch ---------- Just as this issue of Close To The Edge was being published a revealing documentary was about to be broadcast on BBC1 in the well-respected Everyman slot late on Sunday, 29 May. Those reporters who have seen previews of the programme have already reported on the disturbing facts about the London Church of Christ it reveals. For your benefit, we re-print the preview from The Times: "EVERYMAN: Cult breakers Tomorrow, Sunday, BBC1, 10.50pm The Church of Christ is supposedly the fastest growing born-again sect in this country. It passes all the tests of a religious cult with ease, employing those useful techniques of sleep and food deprivation, authoritarian central control and a private, exclusive vocabulary (which originating in Boston, includes the words "awesome" and "cranking"). Up against the sect are the families of its members and what seems to be the new profession of "exit counsellors". This documentary follows the efforts of one pair of parents and their new friend, the exit counsellor Graham Baldwin, as they try to persuade their daughter away from the cult. They meet in a hotel room where cameras have been hidden. They throw statistics at her, accounting malpractices, doctrinal hypocricies, theological errors. And, rather voyeuristically, we watch her flinch and struggle under the assault and, finally, succumb. Every now and again, the film cuts to a seedy looking spokesman of the church who explains what a nice group of people they are and how horrible the exit counsellors are. There are too many questions unanswered." AVAILABLE LITERATURE: The Boston Movement: Analysis, Commentary and Media Reports; Rick & Sarah Bauer. Churches that Abuse; Ronald M. Enroth. Combatting Cult Mind Control; Steven Hassan. Cults: What Parents Should Know; Joan Ross & Dr Michael Langone. Damaged Disciples: Casualties of Authoritarian Churches and the Shepherding Movement; Ron & Vicki Burks. "A Diary": Why I left the Boston Movement; Susan Condon. "A Time to Speak": A Personal Journal of My Years in the Boston Movement; Sarah Bauer. The Discipling Dilemma; Ed. Flavil R. Yeakley. Discipling Ministries: An Inside Look; Danny Dixon. The Emperor's New Clothes; Susan Condon. Thought Reform and the Psychology of Totalism; Robert Jay Lifton. Toxic Faith: Understanding and Overcoming Religious Addiction; Jack Felton and Stephen Aterburn. What Does the Boston Movement Teach? (Volumes I - III); Dr Jerry Jones. The opinions expressed in this newsletter are those solely of the writers and are not meant to be indicative of editorial policy or TOLC as a whole. Close To The Edge is a non-commercial venture, produced for current and former members of the LCC by current and former members of the LCC. We have made every effort to ensure that the information in this newsletter is correct, but we welcome notification of change in case of inaccuracies. Published June 1994. Close To The Edge welcomes contributions from readers and writers, but unsolicited mail is sent at the sender's risk. Copyright (c) TOLC 1994, All Rights Reserved. SUBSCRIPTION RATES: To ensure you don't miss an issue send a stamped addressed envelope to Subscriptions, TOLC, PO BOX 348, Morden, Surrey, SM4 6ZD for further details. Alternatively email us on aakshar@cix.compulink.co.uk THIS NEWSLETTER COULD NOT HAVE BEEN PRODUCED WITHOUT THE SUPPORT OF A LARGE NUMBER OF CURRENT AND FORMER MEMBERS OF THE LONDON CHURCH OF CHRIST.