Read Part One HERE
In this blog post I will continue to focus on C.J. Mahaney, pastor of Sovereign Grace Church, Louisville, Kentucky, USA. He was formerly president of Sovereign Grace Ministries, now known as Sovereign Grace Churches. Their culture incorporates a strong emphasis on homeschooling, patriarchy and corporal punishment. A civil suit was filed in 2012, accusing Mahaney and other Sovereign Grace pastors of covering up sexual abuse of children.
Testimony of a survivor:
"I attended a SGM church from 1992 - 2000. I had been a Christian for many years and was a seminary student. I was put off by the top-down structure among other things. I had never experienced such a strange form of church government in the several churches I had been part of over the years. I found it most troubling but didn't really have anyone to discuss my concerns with so I pondered it on my own. Although I tithed (but never gave to the misnamed "mission fund"), I was never privy to any sort of financial documents or budgets. I always thought it strange that the paid pastors had the ability to determine their own wages etc. Now I will say, I was never a member, so perhaps these documents were available to members. However, I did attend membership classes and went as far as having the pastoral interview in which, as we were finishing, the pastor remarked, "I believe God is giving you to us." I have no idea what I said in reply, but I remember thinking that God was going to have to communicate that to me before I signed on!"
"Because I had been involved in very missions-active churches, I was puzzled by the lack of any sort of mission outreach. In fact, I was told that PI (the forerunner of SGM) didn't do missions.I left in 2000 for many reason but the bottom line for me was that I was a square peg trying to fin into a round hole."
Read Part Four HERE
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