Cartoon used with permission by David Hayward. The Naked Pastor blog. Canada.
Christians around the world are critiquing Grace Bible Fellowship of Silicon Valley’s ByLaws, Membership Covenant, Statement of Faith and other documents on The Wartburg Watch blog. GBFSV is my former church and excommunicates any church members for being Bereans and having critical thinking skills. A middle-aged woman in finance, a doctor in his 70’s, and then me.
Todd Wilhelm, a U.S. citizen who is a Christian and lives and works in the United Arab Emirates, blogged about the problems at Grace Bible Fellowship of Silicon Valley and their use of the authoritarian, heavy-Shepherding 9 Marks model of running a church. (The ONE Biblical mark of a ‘healthy church’ in the Bible – LOVE – didn’t make the list of 9 Marks.)
Todd Wilhelm’s Thou Art The Man blog article was also republished on The Wartburg Watch, here:
Darlene posted this on The Wartburg Watch about Grace Bible Fellowship of Silicon Valley’s Membership Covenant, ByLaws, Statement of Faith and other documents.
“By the way…reading the By Laws from your former church [Grace Bible Fellowship of Silicon Valley] alone (not even getting through the entire document) reminds me of being put in a stranglehold. Rigid power structure is what comes to mind. And what is it with not wanting people to attend often without committing to signing the membership covenant/contract? Something to the effect of….maybe you should just find another church to attend if all you want to do is come to our services. Very strange.”
Muff Potter commenting on The Wartburg Watch blog about Grace Bible Fellowship of Silicon Valley’s Membership Covenant and other authoritarian documents. “Holy you know what! That’s quite the manifesto they require you to sign onto. Tell me though, do they recruit many of the kids fresh out of Stanford [University]? Or are they just a lot of wind on their growth projections?”
GBFSV SPIRITUAL ABUSE VICTIMS' RECOVERY 