How does MCF/BCF pull-off institutionalized bullying?

It struck me today that what MCF (Melbourne Christian Fellowship) and BCF (Brisbane CF) essentially have managed to achieve is institutionalized bullying.

But how do they manage it without tipping off everyone?

Part of the answer is the new, un-Biblical theology has so many built-in excuses for bullying:

• You need to hear from outside yourself
• The elders have supernatural sight for you
• You can’t name yourself (to a calling), that’s like marking your own exam paper
• You can’t choose your elder! How it falls is how God wants it.
• Even if the elder is wrong due to marred hedship, it doesn’t matter, God sees your heart and all things work together for good
• You’re planted here
• You can’t talk to others about what your elder is doing to you, that would be murmuring
• We need to be like Christ and close our mouths
• Hearing what we don’t want to hear is part of taking up our cross
• Isaac let Abraham tie him to the altar
• Circumcision of the heart is like literal circumcision – we need to let the elders work where we’d least want it (Yuk! Yep, they taught that.)

And on and on.

Much of it is Biblical . . IF (a big IF) . . we replace the word elders with . . God.

All the emphasis on getting ‘deep and meaningfuls’ from your elder. It was just fluff and garbage.

I hated it from day one but thought, no this has to be God’s way.

But what goes on behind closed doors?

In addition to the built-in bullying nature of the twisted theology, today I’m wondering what goes on behind closed doors to turn these friends of mine into monsters?

What is going on behind closed doors? We can only speculate here. But from discussiosn with elders wh ohave left (most before the Vic Hall era, but not all) it’s stuff like:

• The only tasks ever given to anyone are related to bullying people
• They learn from how they are treated and at the top they treat each other at least as bad as we have been testifying
• it’s all done at threat of loss of salvation and position in the church
• They are only rewarded for harsh treatment

In any other church apprentices would be patted on hte back for all sorts of things:

• visiting the sick, elderly & the widows
• a good sermon
• an evangelical thrust
• their portfolio tasks done
• a great initiative

But forget that ‘worldly’ stuff. I’m not kidding, at MCF, at the senior level, kudos comes from bullying people. I’ve seen David Bonham managing his henchmen as they destroyed my life.

To make people behave like David Bonham and Tim Maurice, just imagine what those bastard presbytery guys are doing to them!

You are so sick MCF & BCF.