Grace Communion International

[WillSingForCake]

One of my friends has recently got heavily involved in Grace Communion International, which appears to be quite an evangelical branch of Christianity. She is dedicating more and more of her time to them, and is losing touch with old friends, which made me feel a bit sceptical. Have done a bit of reading on the Internet and found they were the renamed Worldwide Church of God which had a bad reputation for cult-like behaviour?

Does anyone have any experience of Grace Communion International? I don't mean to offend anyone, just a bit worried for my friend.

Many thanks.

You could try asking on the website Ship of Fools. Someone there I think would be able to help. Is this in the UK or elsewhere?

Just seen your post.

Worldwide Church of God was a very unhealthy sect.

Some changes have been made but not enough, imo, for them to be a good option for your friend. I would do everything in your power to detach her. You would probably find it useful to read up on cults & how they operate because you may notice this happening to your friend. Losing touch with friends outside the cult is one of the first symptoms.

I have no experience of Grace Communion International, but do have some of the Wordwide Church of God, ( a friend joined and was sucked in for several years).
It is NOT a denomintion of Christianity but a cult.
You sound like a very nice friend- if she will nto listen to your concerns, just try hard to keep the lines of comunication open so you can support her when she wants to get out.
I also agree posting on ship of fools might get you some more help.

Sorry for the slow reply, only just seen your replies. Very interesting, and also very worrying. Thank you for your help, will post on Ship of Fools too.

You'll pardon me, please, as I only recently found this website. I am personally very familiar with Grace Communion International. This church is an evangelical, grace based congregation. GCI is a proud member of mainstream Evangelical Christianity through the NAE. The GCI fellowship preaches the gospel of Christ crucified, and risen to save all mankind. Their focus is on Christ's love, mercy and forgiveness, with a solid belief in the trinity. In the late 90's, the former Worlwide Church of God's leadership was brought to repentance from observing many Old Covenant teachings toward observance of New Covenant teachings of Christ, through repentence. The repentance of a church from the leadership down is historical in itself and speaks to God's power to change the hearts of man. Repentance was brought about through conviction of scripture and prayers of other concerned Christians. The name change to Grace Communion International was given in order to better reflect it's strong Christ focused ministry. GCI is a loving congregation with compassionate leadership. Don't worry, your friend is safe!

Grace Communion International is a member of the NAE. GCI's focus is on Christ's love, mercy and forgiveness of sins. This congregation was brought to repentence in the late 90's from Old Covenant teachings to the new Covenant teachings of Christ and the acceptance of the trinity. Formerly know as Worldwide Church of God, GCI is firmly established as a warm, caring evangelical fellowship. Don't worry, your friend is safe!

Thanks for that redlady.

OP- Yup- definitely sounds like a cult.

to big blue stars: What is your definition of a cult? If anything in the above message reflects a cult, then I fear that all evangelical, Christ preaching churches are doomed to bear the title of "cult". That would include Baptist, Foursquare, Methodist, Lutheran and many other mainstream Christian churches. To judge Grace Communion (GCI) only by it's roots is unfair in the extreme. Factual info on the very real doctrinal changes toward evangelical Christianity may be found on the Grace Communion International site. The doctrinal changes toward the simple gospel of Jesus Christ is nothing short of miraculous. These doctrinal changes may be researched in the revised and updated edition of the "The Kingdom of the Cults" by Walter Martin. Assuming you are a fair minded individual, you will research the facts for yourself.

Can I please share my personal experience. I grew up in the world wide church of god, they were a cult who encouraged you not go have any contact with people who were outwith the church. I left aged 20 and swore that I would never go to another church or bring my children up in a church. 20 years later I came across a few people from church and after a few life events was asked if I wanted to go along to the new Grace communion . As I still had a faith I decided to go. The changes are so dramatic ( and changes are still happening) with a focus on grace and love and are properly regulated. I have now been going for 4 years and I have to say that because of the harsh past and living through such drastic changes it has created a very empathetic and loving congregation. You have nothing to fear for your friend but do find out why she’s moving away from her friends because grace communion do not endorse this. Maybe ask your friend if you can go with her to support her choice....you know what we are like in the western world talking about a relationship with God is not always an easy thing to discuss and she might be feeling awkward.

I would like to correct my post above under my old user name All things loving, after having a very nasty experience with this apparent church, they are in no way a loving, caring or indeed safe church. Unfortunately Grace Communion International are a cult with one individual who has overarching control of everything. After 20 years of not being involved thinking they had truly changed, during covid I took employment with them and this led to a tribunal case as I discovered they are not who they say they are. You can find details by googling r.montgomery vs grace communion international. They have been found to have victimised, harassed, discriminated and unfairly dismissed me which is hardly ingredients for being a grace led church. One main reason that they are a cult is that their leader is the CEO, CTO, CFO, COO, Book keeper, office manager and data officer. The judgement which is on the government website has highlighted that this individual has no management experience, no qualifications in management or business and the trustees have not provided such training to him. The trustees have allowed this which can only be presumed to be because they are all ministers and can only get their credentials through this one man in charge. They also have a code of ethics where you are not allowed to speak negatively of a minister in public or in private, these are posted publicly on GCI.org. I have it in writing from this one man in charge in response to a formal grievance raised that I should be mindful of these code of ethics and didn't uphold the grievance despite the evidence to the contrary.

In my experience Grace Communion International runs a dangerous organisation, if you raise whistleblowing complaints as I did then you will be excommunicated. There is no safe way to raise safe guarding or health and safety complaints that involve going against a minister. Please if your friend is still involved do share this information for their protection. The other person commenting positively on this post has in invested interest in promoting the leadership of the one man in charge. Please go forward carefully.

GCI being a cult is not based only on the past, it is based on hierarchical dominate leadership. It is also based on the fact the stated transformation has happened with all the old guard being in charge. Anyone who has business experience knows that true transformation does not happen with all the same names in power, over a 40 year period with anyone new being pushed out. Codes of ethics that protect leadership and ignores points of law, to support one man in charge no matter what is a clear definition of a cult. All other evangelical churches who operate like this to avoid the law are believed to be cults. That's the definition of a cult and its leader is one who doesn't allow criticism. This I believe is a clear definition of who you are protecting, and it is understood that if you are protecting this induividual then you must be related to them, and therefore it is in your interest to put this kind or misleading information out there.

After the recent tribunal judgementR.Montgomery vs Grace Communion International people should not be duped by what Grace Communion International advertise stating they have moved away from the a dominant, hierarchical doomsday cult, which was led by Herbert W Armstrong until taken over by J.Tkach Snr. People falsely believe they are now a liberating, Christ Centred Grace led church, with the moto for their liberating culture being high support high challenge grace always which is the foundation for a book Giant step forward written by Greg Williams who took over the denomination president role from Joe Tkach Jr. Within the judgement on P110 paragraph 226 the tribunal disagreed with Gavin Henderson that they had moved from a dominant culture to liberating culture, one of high support and high challenge given the evidence before them. This makes a mockery of the book Greg Williams wrote. It also demonstrates that GCI are falsely advertising their purported culture change, demonstrated by the tribunal they have made no such change.

For anyone new coming in to the church believing the safety of high support high challenge and being able to challenge things such as safeguarding, health and safety and deep financial concerns then the recent court case highlights how members who believed what they advertised, were victimised and harassed as ruled within the recent judgement of an employee and members. The judgement from the tribunal ruled that the church member and employee was unfairly dismissed and suffered disability discrimination. It was also ruled that protected disclosures had been made before the dismissal. As a result of that the president of the church from the USA and successor from Joe Tkach Jnr flew to the UK and addressed a full national conference of ministers, deacons and church leaders from the UK and Ireland and made an announcement to discredit those that were making protected disclosures. That announcement within pages 147-149 of the Judgement highlights that the tribunal ruled that this announcement by Greg Williams the highest person in the church was victimisation. This act of victimisation by the highest person of the church where those that complain or raise concerns are in danger where their reputation will be maligned with their livelihoods being targeted all in an attempt to silence them. This demonstrates that the book Giant Step Forward written by Greg Williams who has been shown to fly to another country to victimise those who complain, clearly shows him embracing the dominate hierarchical and indeed controlling behaviour means his book is a false advertising and a danger to anyone new coming into the church thinking they have changed.

Please protect those who encounter this church who attract those who are vulnerable, looking for connection and belonging.