CLOSE TO THE EDGE, July 1994 Issue 9 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 Manchester Evangelist earns 50,000ukp a year -------------------------------------------- INSIDE INVESTIGATION: Manchester church raises 70,000ukp per year. Of this 50,000ukp goes in the pocket on Malcolm Cox, Evangelist. Approximately 9 months ago London Church of Christ administrator John Partington gave a talk to the Manchester Church of Christ about church finances. Some of the members present at that meeting were upset and puzzled by what they heard. Two of those members were Mike Hewitt and his wife, who after reading the first issue of Close To The Edge questioned John Partington. Partington dismissed the accusations of financial mismanagement out of hand. Over the next nine months the Hewitts were told more and more information about the salaries of the Manchester leadership, which included the following information: Malcolm Cox Pay Slip: SALARY: 30,000ukp basic + 10,000ukp rent allowance + 10,000ukp "overheads" TOTAL: 50,000ukp When Mike Hewitt, who used to preach in the Manchester church when Cox was not available, confronted the leaders he was told to mind his own business. What is astonishing is that the Manchester Church of Christ only raises in the region of 70,000ukp per year. That means over 70% of the money raised by the Manchester church each year goes straight to Malcolm Cox, its lead evangelist, with even his rent being paid for by the church. One curious aspect to Malcolm Cox's lifestyle that has been observed are his frequent trips down to London to confer with the London leadership (often as much as three times a week). There has been no explanation as to why Cox needs to communicate with the London leadership in person quite so often. Some have suggested he is nervous about discussing financial matters on the phone. Furthermore, reports have reached Close To The Edge that poor contributions of approximately 200ukp per week are not being properly accounted for and banked. When challenged on this issue Bruce Miller, trustee of the Manchester Church of Christ, said "Just trust us". We strongly urge all members of the church to be as thorough as the Hewitts in discovering the truth about the church's finances, and speaking out against abuse. Wish you were here? ------------------- Well, you don't have to wish if you're one of the lucky evangelists who has won an all-expenses paid trip to the exotic Philippines. Manila, the capital of the Philippines, is the setting for the World-wide Evangelists Convention presided over by Kip McKean. The convention has already been criticized by many for its extravagance and exotic location. Some have pointed out that it would have been far cheaper - and more fitting for a charity - to hold the conference in America, where most of the attendees are already located. One evangelist who has already arranged his flight to the Philippines is Malcolm Cox, lead evangelist from Manchester. Cox asked Mike Hewitt to book him a plane ticket to the conference in Manila. Mike Hewitt, wishing to save the charity money, arranged the cheapest ticket possible for just 500ukp return. Malcom Cox, however, decided to change his plans and wanted a detour to drop in on a fellow member of the church in India. Cox told Hewitt not to worry about the price. The total cost for this new ticket came to approximately 1900ukp. Mike Hewitt suggested the price was rather high, but Malcolm Cox told him "Don't worry about it - just book it". Hewitt refused, and Cox has now booked the flight through another agency. One former member of the LCC commented: "In their last published accounts the London Church of Christ gave only 3% of members' contributions to charity. Can they really justify events such as this?" News In Brief ------------- Information has reached us of the Church of Christ South African Rugby Tour. The London Church of Christ went back on its word by paying half the air fare for each one of the 25-30 members of the team. Earlier they had suggested they would make no contribution to the trip as there was felt to be far more pressing issues in Africa for the "charity" to be dealing with. Sadly they went back on their word. The cost of each ticket was approximately 1100ukp via South African Airlines. Someone else who is keen to fritter away money given for charitable causes is Chris McGrath, the recently sidelined leader of the London Church of Christ. When McGrath travelled to Los Angeles for three weeks at very short notice recently the cost of the airfare came to an astonishing 3,500ukp. It is believed that McGrath was being disciplined by the LA leadership for the UK church's poor performance. The London Church of Christ has changed the name of its magazine. What was once called "The Edge" has been renamed "UK News". Sadly there wasn't any real news in it all, a feature which also distinguished "The Edge" which only managed three sporadic issues. TOLC have thought of renaming this newsletter to "NOT the UK News" but thought better of it. One interesting tit-bit in "UK News" was Mike DeSouza's prediction that 500 people would attend the Birmingham Church of Christ's SunSplash event on 12 June at Cannon Hill Park, Birmingham. Sadly official estimates counted less than 200 people - even some members of the Birmingham Church didn't seem to be present! A surprising number of Birmingham members did, however, break the orders of their London leaders by chatting to members of TOLC protesting at the event. Some Birmingham Church of Christ members had to be reminded that some of us had been "disfellowshiped" for inquiring too closely into the church's accounts. Birmingham church members could not complain about TOLC's presence however, as at least two members of TOLC (Graham Cluley and Ayman Akshar) had been separately invited to the event the day before by Birmingham Church members in the town centre. The SunSplash event was well attended by the media with both BBC Pebble Mill and Central Television reporting on the activities of the church and the dangers of joining the movement. Birmingham church organizers did not help their case by antagonising the BBC reporter present, asking if she had permission to film in the park (she did) and demanding she did not film the play performed as it was "copyright". An interesting claim as the church was infringing the BBC's own copyright by having a rather bedraggled Mr Blobby character present! Tim Dannett, head of the Birmingham church, refused to be filmed by the BBC and referred all questions on to the London leadership. [Is this what autonomy means? It appears they cannot speak without permission from London. ED] Scott Bryden was however filmed by the BBC. As TOLC members staged a protest at the SunSplash event and handed out leaflets and information about the church's accounts, simultaneous demonstrations were taking place outside church meetings in Manchester and London. Membership figures revealed --------------------------- Close To The Edge has conducted a special survey into the membership of churches outside London. Referring to the latest issues of the church's own directories we have been able to ascertain the following official figures: BIRMINGHAM(1) 182 MANCHESTER(2) 107 LIVERPOOOL 14 LEEDS 8 SHEFFIELD 6 (1) A further five members of the Birmingham Church of Christ have left since the instatement of Tim Dannett as leader. (2) Sources within the Manchester Church of Christ have revealed that they have lost about a third of their congregation in the last six to eight months. 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 July 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, UK 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. Close To The Edge urges all members of the London Church of Christ to speak out against financial and psychological abuse.