Arranged marriages, broken families and concerned parents : a

It is a partner church of the Mauritian-based organization Church Team Ministries International (CTMI), led by Miki Hardy. Limited choice exists when, as a result of psycho-social group dynamics, a personal fusion occurs between the individual and the ideology and customs of the group.

Chapter One: “Finding meaning in abnormal things”

Introduction

Both parents and young people reported that Grace Gospel Church (GGC), and its parent organization Church Team Ministries International (CTMI) inspired a powerful, atypical and sometimes rapid change in the worldview and behavior of many of those exposed to the groups s teaching and / or devotees. In the short time it has existed (since 2003), Grace Gospel Church has left a negative impression on society.

Methodology

Reflexivity: The researcher
Reflexivity: The research subjects
Reflexivity: the relationship between researcher and research subjects

Information about GGC was collected from band members, former members, members' families and the media. Silk then provided me with the names and addresses of those who wanted to participate in the survey.

Ethics

As permission was not granted by the GGC to interview members of the group, the only subjects involved in the research were former members of the GGC. Regarding the second principle, that research should strive to be respectful of research participants, I submit that after evaluating GGC's beliefs and practices, I found significant departures from mainstream Christian theology and practice.

Power

I respected the confidentiality of members of the GGC and CTMI who shared their stories with me, generalizing information about the GGC and its members' behavior without mentioning names or identifying details in my open letters. In essence, I used the personal power at my disposal to challenge the power that GGC and CTMI exercised over the lives of members and their families.

Subjectivity and the quest for objectivity

It should also be noted that the data largely reflects others' perceptions of GGC and CTMI, and not my own, although I was of course responsible for selecting the material. There is no denying that the researcher had an entangled and hostile relationship with GGC and CTMI, and this will always raise concerns about subjectivity.

Overview of the dissertation

Chapter Two: Cult definitions and dynamics

Introduction

The use of the term “cult”

Given the negative connotations of the term, it is necessary to justify the fact that the term cult will be used in this research. To avoid using the term is to avoid reflecting on the use of the term in this context.

Defining a cult

Second, this research is within the discipline of theology, and the word cult has an established use in theological circles, as opposed to, for example, the term "new religious movement." As this thesis represents "first generation" research, and in line with what Richardson noted above about the need to ensure that what is researched is clear to others, the term cult will be used.

Psychological perspectives

Thought reform
Social psychology and group dynamics
Various cult definitions based on the psychological model
Psychological factors predisposing individuals to cult membership

Thus, a special attitude towards the group and the world outside the group is learned through conditioning. Singer defines a cult in terms of the processes and interactions that occur within a group.

Theological perspectives

Defining cults sociologically
Sociological critiques of psychological perspectives on cults
Sociological critiques of theological perspectives on cults

This is largely due to the influence of a second generation born into the group and the death of the charismatic leader and initial convert. Aging in New Religions: The Variety of Later Experiences.” The Journal of the British Association for the Study of Religions. The recruit must form an affective bond with one or more members of the cult.

Chapter Three: Janja Lalich and the bounded choice of the true believer

Introduction

Janja Lalich: professional profile

Heaven's Gate was founded in the early 1970s by Marshall Applewhite and Bonnie Lu Nettles, who thought they were aliens from "The Evolutionary Level Above Heaven". 34;Bounded Choice: The Fusion of Personal Freedom and Self-Renunciation in Two Transcendent Groups." Ph.D. Lalich used this model to investigate and analyze the Heaven's Gate cult in the article.

Group social dynamics

In Bounded Choice, her four-dimensional model offers a new approach to understanding the dynamics of cultic groups. Using the Bounded Choice Model as an Analytical Tool: A Case Study of Heaven's Gate”, which was published in Cultic Studies Review.187 Since then she has not revised her bounded choice model, but has produced works that continue to explore the theme of psycho- social manipulation. Her theory of bound choice is drawn from the field of social dynamics, which broadly deals with the circular effect a group has on individuals in the group, and the effect that individuals in a group have on the group.

Lalich’s social dynamics framework

This dynamic serves to transform members of the group – some may undergo relatively superficial personality change and transformation because their identification and involvement with the group is limited. Others engage deeply and become what Lalich calls a “true believer” or “deployable agent”192 of the group. The true believer is the individual who acts in ways that appear extreme or irrational to outsiders of the group.

Boundedness

The relational dimension: charismatic authority
The soteric dimension: the transcendent belief system
The self-sealing system

There is a requirement that members submit completely, or almost completely, to the group leader and rules. The leader's charismatic authority and transcendent belief system establish and confirm the leader's "right to rule" over the group. The limited reality of the group leads to the limited reality of the true believers of the group.

Lalich’s cult definition

As personal decisions and actions align with the group's worldview and goals, limited choice begins to emerge. Clearly, limited choice does not represent an abrogation of human free will, but rather a limitation and distortion of free will, thereby leaving the cult member responsible for their actions. Individuals driven by these dynamics into a state of limited choice validate and perpetuate the self-sealing system, thus creating a self-promoting loop, consistent with social dynamics theory.

Recruitment of cult members

Recruitment is most often undertaken by early devotees of the group and less occasionally by group leaders. Individuals deemed "ready" to participate in the group are purposefully selected. Potential recruits would learn that group membership required personal transformation, the ideal of which was represented in the group's belief system.

Commitment and conversion

Commitment to this process resulted in the adoption of a new worldview and set of behaviors, an outcome synonymous with conversion. Lalich notes that social psychologist Kurt Lewin described conversion this way: "It is a process in which changes in knowledge and beliefs, changes in values and standards, changes in emotional attachments and needs, and changes in everyday behavior occur not piecemeal." . Lalich argues that the type of coercive conversion persuasion was evident in the DWP and Heaven's Gate, as both groups used thought reform or brainwashing techniques such as de-identification, forced confessions, alternating periods of severity and leniency, symbolic death and the ordeal of rebirth.

Charismatic commitment and the creation of the true believer

This commitment can develop quickly and is motivated by the individual's belief that membership in the group will guarantee an important life goal, such as salvation. The point at which the individual is able to reconcile and merge the promise of personal freedom or salvation through the group and the group's attendant demand for personal self-denial is the point at which charismatic commitment is said to have occurred. Having reconciled the paradox of personal freedom and personal constraint in the name of the group and its goals, the member becomes a true believer and an employable agent of the group.

Analytical use of the bounded choice framework

Charismatic engagement should not be understood as an irreversible and stable state of being, but rather as a 'recurring, renewable and renewing process'.227 A “relapse” in terms of engagement is expected and the resolution of such crises leads to an even greater belief in the group. Lalich's use of the bounded choice framework as a methodology to study the Heaven's Gate cult provides justification for using the same framework to examine the radical levels of commitment exhibited by members of the GGC. The results of the questionnaire based on the bounded choice model and administered to former members of the GGC will also be evaluated in Chapter Six.

Conclusion

Furthermore, she neither attempts to prove nor disprove the harm caused by cults, and takes a middle-of-the-road stance regarding brainwashing. Lalich refuses to approach sects from a purely religious or theological perspective due to the wide range of sects that embrace non-religious ideologies, although she sees the group's belief system as an essential part of enabling bounded choices. Now that we have an overview of the academic literature on cultic groups, Lalich's integrated approach and its analytical application, it is possible to turn to the subject of this study, Grace Gospel Church, and learn more about its beliefs and practices.

Chapter Four: Grace Gospel Church - Its beliefs, practices and opponents

Introduction

The origins and development of Church Team Ministries International

Hardy took over the leadership of the group he previously belonged to after leaving the Assembly of God. Due to the separation from Roberts and the Durban Christian Centre, Hardy and Eglise Chretienne no longer fell under "apostolic". To present to the Church a living testimony of the power of the cross of Jesus Christ, which changes lives, families, churches and ministries.

The origins and development of Grace Gospel Church

To provide direction, encouragement and support to the churches that are part of the CTMI Network. 243. Since Eglise Chretienne and CTMI are both led by Hardy, and CTMI has its headquarters in the church, Eglise Chretienne is considered the headquarters of CTMI. We believe in the present ministry of the Holy Spirit, by whose presence the Christian is enabled to live a godly life.

Distinctive CTMI/GGC doctrines and practices

Apostolic anointing
The revelation of the cross
Revelation and heart supersede Scripture
The relationship of CTMI/GGC to the wider Church
Family superseded by the CTMI/GGC spiritual family
Arranged marriages
Fear-based control of members
The relationship of CTMI/GGC to the world
The kerygma of CTMI/GGC
Unorthodox and illegal activities
Claims of changed lives

It is clear that in Hardy's theology the apostolic ministry and the revelation of the cross are necessarily complementary realities. An apostle is designated by receiving the revelation from the cross (as understood by Hardy). The supplementary doctrine to that of apostolic anointing is Hardy's "revelation (or gospel) of the cross".

Opposition to CTMI/GGC

Growing concerns about “broken families”
The formation of the Concerned Parents’ Group (CPG)
GGC and CTMI adopt a policy of non-engagement

It is possible that a meeting held on August 5, 2008 marked the beginning of the end of dialogue between GGC and those involved in its practices. An increasing involvement in the life of Grace Gospel Church to the detriment and exclusion of hobbies, connections, friends and ultimately of the individual's family. On 7 November 2009, at the insistence of the CPG, GGC and CTMI made media headlines in the Independent on Saturday newspaper332 where they were accused of brainwashing members, arranging marriages and encouraging the alienation of young members from their families.

Conclusion

Introduction

Evaluating GGC/CTMI against theological perspectives on cults

Of the three major theories of atonement (the Christus Victor, Contentment, and Subjective theories),343 Hardy's teaching comes closest to the Subjective theory. I repeat: Hardy's revelation of the cross is a unique teaching on human atonement that falls outside the Christian tradition. Miki Hardy brought the clear message of the Cross and the Grace of the Lord to the Church.353.

Evaluating GGC/CTMI against psychological perspectives on cults

From the perspective of a GGC member, to reject the group's interpretation of these texts is to deny the uniqueness of the GGC and the authority of God's word. The power of the cross and the grace of God can lead us to true freedom in God. Hardy's revelation of the cross creates a distinction between those who live the "given life" and thus are said to have pure hearts, and the outsiders of the group who have "perverted hearts" since they do not accept it.

Evaluating GGC/CTMI against sociological perspectives on cults

Mbeki created jobs in the middle sectors of the economy and oversaw a rapidly growing black middle class with the implementation of Black Economic Empowerment. This is demonstrated in the formation of the CPG and the various media articles about it. The formation of the CPG is further circumstantial evidence that CTMI/GGC can be considered a cult.

Conclusion

Thus, a group can be cultic in orientation and practice, but cannot be defined as a cult. However, it fails to overcome the weakness of the categorical approach in that both poles of the continuum must be defined according to categorical criteria, and then along the dimensional continuum a group can become "cult-like", then "cult in orientation". then "cult in practice". If legitimate criteria are found to label a group "cult in orientation" or "cult in practice", but not a cult, it is anticipated that public concern about such a group will be minimal.

Chapter Six: Evaluating GGC against Lalich’s theory of bounded choice

Introduction
Evidence of Lalich’s 4 dimensions drawn from testimonies
Evidence of Lalich’s four dimensions drawn from a survey of former members The research also included a survey of former GGC members using a confidential,

Results

Personal score/Maximum possible score of 20 Charismatic Authority 20/20

Evaluation of results
Conclusion

Hardy is the "source" of the transcendent ideology known as the gospel or revelation of the cross. It hides the fact that the revelation of the cross is extra-biblical and heterodox. In GGC, "pure heart" theology is a prime example of the unattainable ideology that Lalich postulates.

Chapter Seven: Conclusion and suggestions for further study

Review

In chapter five, GGC beliefs and practices were evaluated against the literature on cultic groups presented in chapter two. It remained to assess the GGC in relation to Lalich's theory of limited choice, which formed the content of Chapter Six. This was achieved in two ways: first, by comparing accounts of GGC taken from the CPG website, the media and GGC/CTMI's own documents with Lalich's theory and noting similarities; and second, by administering a questionnaire to former members of the GGC.

Conclusion

A curious but distinct aspect of the cult's departure from authentic Christianity is its embrace of a dual set of ethics. This guarantees dependence on the leader's direction and thus the leader's control over the cult member. In cults, members are confronted with the proposition that the cult's worldview and lifestyle is "pure" in comparison.