On May 1st, author Joel E. Crosby published a book detailing the experiences of ten former members of churches belonging to the Christian Fellowship Ministries (CFM) organization.
Churches affiliated to Christian Fellowship Ministries (CFM), often called The Fellowship by their members, include the Potter’s House, The Door, Victory Chapel, and Lighthouse. It is important to note that not all churches that carry these names are affiliated to Christian Fellowship Ministries (CFM).
Former members have shared their complaints on online forums for several decades, including Google Groups, Yahoo, Facebook, and Reddit. But no serious media attention has been given to the Christian Fellowship Ministries (CFM) organization.
The author hopes that his book, Escaping the Potter’s House: An Anthology of Memoirs by Former Members, will change that. “This church has made serious efforts to stay out of the media,” Crosby states, “their members are discouraged from looking up information about them online.”
Now that this book is published, Crosby hopes former members will be able to process their experiences and current members will listen to their side of the story. “It’s not just one person,” the author explains, “ten former members across three continents have similar experiences.”
Crosby further said his book helped put the church on the radar in the first month it was published, but wasn’t able to share much information about that yet.
What Crosby had to say about his critics is this: “Current members of The Fellowship always make assumptions about me, they think I’m full of hate, that I can’t forgive my transgressors, that I’m a rebel guilty of witchcraft, and that God will judge me. But I’m still a Christian and I wrote this book out of love for the people who are still trapped inside that cult. Also, why are they angry about a book they’ve never read?”
