The Fellowship (Australia)

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For other uses, see The Family (Christian political organization).

The Fellowship is the name of a group within the Presbyterian Church of Australia. Located in Melbourne, its membership is estimated as being between 300 and 400.[1] The Fellowship has been labelled a "secretive cult".[2]

Contents

[edit] History

The Fellowhip was started by Ronald Grant and Alan Neil, who had both served with the South Seas Evangelical Mission in the Solomon Islands. Influenced by holiness teaching, they "felt persecuted by the evangelical world of the time"[3] and started fellowship meetings in their homes in the late 1930s. Alan Neil died in the late 1960s, and Ronald Grant led the group until his death in 1995. During the following year, members were asked to leave their current churches (most were Presbyterian or Anglican) and join one of three Presbyterian churches: Clayton, Mount Evelyn and Trinity Presbyterian Church, Camberwell.[4] In 2002, the last members of the Fellowship left the Mount Evelyn church.[citation needed]

[edit] Characteristics

The Fellowship is a group associated with the holiness movement. Members are strongly encouraged to discern God's will for their lives, and to submit to the advice of their leaders. Members are required to confess their sins in a group setting, and those who are perceived to have fallen into sin are often shunned.

The Fellowship is strongly opposed to Freemasonry, and members have been directed to refrain from listening to Mozart, due to his masonic connection. A theory of "generational curses" is taught, which encourages repentance if a member's ancestors were Freemasons.[5]

[edit] Criticism

The Fellowship has been criticised for broken relationships between Fellowship members and their families. Allegations have been made that non-Fellowship people have been refused contact with their grandchildren, and that Fellowship people have refused to attend funerals of non-Fellowship family members.[6]

[edit] Recent developments

In February 2006, the Presbytery of Melbourne East excommunicated all 15 elders of Trinity Presbyterian Church, Camberwell over their involvement with the Fellowship, and allegations of abuse.[7]

In August, 2007, the elders were reinstated, "[b]ut members of the Victorian assembly, which excommunicated the 15 elders of Trinity Camberwell, were not too downhearted, saying the Fellowship had won the battle but lost the war." [8]

[edit] References

  1. ^ Morag Zwartz, Fractured Families: The Story of a Melbourne Church Cult (Boronia: Paranesis, 2004), vi.
  2. ^ Barney Zwartz, "Breaking the Fellowship: a bitter-sweet crusade" The Age March 4, 2006.
  3. ^ John Stasse (ed.) Fractured Fellowship: A Presbyterian Case Study (Melbourne: PCV, 1999), 72.
  4. ^ John Stasse (ed.) Fractured Fellowship: A Presbyterian Case Study (Melbourne: PCV, 1999), 8.
  5. ^ Barney Zwartz, "Breaking the Fellowship: a bitter-sweet crusade" The Age March 4, 2006.
  6. ^ John Stasse (ed.) Fractured Fellowship: A Presbyterian Case Study (Melbourne: PCV, 1999), 75.
  7. ^ Barney Zwartz, "Church excommunicates 15 for cult membership," The Age February 25, 2006.
  8. ^ Barney Zwartz, "Cult elders back in church fold," The Age August 3, 2007.

[edit] See also

[edit] External links