Hannah Felsbourg
7 June 2024
Anglican leaders fear a cult operating in Melbourne could lead young people away from Christ.
Ministers are urging young Christians to be wary of Bible study invitations from strangers, as they may be from a group called Shincheonji Church of Jesus.
Most Anglican churches in the Jumbunna Episcopate have been approached by this group, and leaders believe the issue extends beyond that area.
A Melbourne vicar said his biggest concern was SCJ drawing people away from the gospel of Jesus.
In the past year at least two people left his parish to join SCJ. He requested anonymity for pastoral reasons.
The vicar said SCJ teaching seemed innocuous at first but on further examination strayed from orthodox Christianity.
He met with two group members who explained they did not believe in the divinity of Christ or salvation for those outside of SCJ.
The vicar said as well as drawing people away from the true gospel, SCJ isolated them from their former communities.
“The amount in which they get involved means that they’re cutting themselves off from other supports,” he said.
“In the end their whole social network, their whole life really, ends up being in that Shincheonji bubble. And so, the cost of leaving it for them becomes higher and higher.”
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The vicar said that it was difficult to identify SCJ members as they often did not say where they were from or used different names such as New Heaven and New Earth.
For this reason, it was important young Christians and church leaders knew how to recognise this group, as young people and leaders were most likely to be SCJ targets.
Diocese youth ministry consultant Brian Holden said churches should verify the background of any new group before engaging in joint activities.
He said he recently heard from vicars from Geelong and Melbourne’s fringes who were unknowingly approached by SCJ to run joint youth events.
He said more than a decade ago Brighton Church of Christ ran a joint Bible study with two members of SCJ, and most of the church members who attended the study left the church for SCJ.
Mr Holden said a danger of SCJ was that they isolated new recruits by cutting them off from their existing communities.
Because of people joining SCJ they often no longer communicated with their friends and families and viewed their former church as unbiblical.
“That’s one of the red flags that is really hard to see because it seems like these people really want to spend time with you to get to know you, to teach you about God,” he said.
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St James’ Dandenong vicar Reverend Graeme Peters said SCJ tried to get Anglican clergy to attend their events to add credibility to their teaching.
Mr Peters said he was twice invited by people who said they were from a Bible study group in the CBD to come and share with them but had declined.
On two occasions pairs of youths came to his church asking identical questions about the problems with young people today and his thoughts on the end of the world.
He mentioned the encounters at an archdeacon’s meeting and another vicar present recognised it as the activity of SCJ.
Mr Peters spoke at a recent Anglican clergy conference about his experiences with SCJ and estimated 90 percent of those present had interacted with the group.
“It is a bit disturbing that there are people deliberately trying to infiltrate our churches with strategies. And not just one church, but the majority of our churches,” he said.
SCJ Melbourne was reached out to for comment.
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