Interview with Kim Crutchfield ... Part Three

This is the concluding installment of a three-part interview with Dr. Kim Crutchfield, pastor of Taipei International Church.

In Part One, Kim answered questions about his pastorate in Taiwan, his doctoral studies, and his Pentecostal upbringing.  Part Two dealt with his years spent at Princeton Theological Seminary, under the tutelage of professors like Bruce Metzger and James Loder.

Crutchfield

Today the subject matter is much different.  Part of Kim's life journey took him through Atlanta, Georgia, where he served on the staff of Chapel Hill Harvester Church (aka, the Cathedral of Holy Spirit).  Much of what Kim experienced there was not joyful like his pastorate in Taipei, nor edifying like the classrooms of Princeton or Columbia Theological Seminary, where he earned both a master's and his doctorate.

Once a prominent charismatic megachurch, Chapel Hill Harvester Church (CHHC), under the leadership of the late Archbishop Earl Paulk, became a scandal-ridden spectacle.  As stories of sexual misconduct, as well as, stories of financial and psychological manipulation of the congregation oozed out of CHHC in the 1990s, it became clear that it was an unhealthy place.

That serious and sustained wrongs occured there is well-documented (see a Charisma magazine article here, a Lee Grady column here, and the video below from Fox5 in Atlanta).  Today's blog is not yet one more news report about the travesty at CHHC (that news, thankfully, is rather stale).  Instead, it is an attempt to learn from an insider's viewpoint on how parishoners might recognize the early warning signs of a church going spiritually, financially, and morally awry.

When I say "insider's viewpoint" I need to be clear:  Dr. Crutchfield was never, ever involved in the horrific events at CHHC, nor did he have knowledge of them when he was there as a staff member.  What he did see were the attitudes and teachings and actions that served as the seeds to produce such a terrible harvest.  He gained a great deal more information on the scandals by staying in contact with many former members of the church, ministering to them in such venues as the Cathedral Survivors internet forum.

Today, the massive cathedral that housed CHHC has been sold, and the very shrunken congregation, now led by Paulk's son, D. E. Paulk (his son by reason of an affair with his sister-in-law!) is pursuing a theology that is a mish-mash of charismatic Christianity, universalism, and Eastern mysticism.  As Lee Grady opines in another column,  "A pulpit that was already defiled by diabolical perversion is now the breeding ground for unthinkable deception."

JR:  What are some of the lessons to be learned from the Earl Paulk debacle?

KC:  Jon, I served in that ministry staff from 1975, after graduating from bible college, until the end of 1983.

Although many bad things happened and many people were hurt in that ministry, I learned much from it.  I kept in touch with many friends whose lives were affected by their participation in Chapel Hill Harvester Church and the Cathedral of the Holy Spirit long after I left CHHC and joined the United Methodist church.  I witnessed spiritual manipulation and crass social control in its raw form.  I learned to be critical of spiritual authorities in a healthy way.

When leaders resist questioning and set themselves above the flock there is danger.  As Lord Acton warned long ago, "Power corrupts and absolute power corrupts absolutely."  Red flags go up for me when a minister stresses the need for everyone to submit to his or her authority.  All leaders need healthy checks and balances.

One of the watchwords of the Cathedral of the Holy Spirit at its height was, "The kingdom of God is built on trust."  That sounded spiritual.  However, it translated to mean that members of the congregation should suspend all critical evaluations of spiritual leaders and trust them blindly.  This slogan led followers to believe that God would judge leaders for their mistakes and, therefore, their participation was not culpable.  Their only duty was to trust and obey spiritual authorities.  This is plainly false, but it formed the practical essence of Kingdom Now Theology.

The leadership used gifts of prophecy and discernment to gain control over people.  They placed one woman, touted to have the gift of discerning of spirits, in the leadership structure.  Whenever she sensed a staff member or someone in the congregation in disagreement with the direction of the Bishop, she would "discern" in them a "Judas Spirit" and "Spirit of Intellectualism", or that they were relying on the "mind of reason".  She would call them out in public to rebuke this spirit.  This was a ritual of humiliation.  It was a clever way to discredit anyone who opposed or questioned the wilder and wilder direction the leaders wished to take the congregation.

The Bishop prophesied that God had told him that everyone should offer twenty percent of their income to the church.  Who could question such a pronouncement?  If they did, were they opposing God's Man of the Hour?  Were they "Judas spirits" or relying on the mind of reason?  Such devices silenced voices of dissent.  This abuse of the gift of discerning of spirits was a form of crass social and spiritual manipulation.

I also learned that arrogance in leadership is ugly and destructive.  I am appalled at the number of those whose faith suffered damage through their participation in CHHC and the Cathedral of the Holy Spirit.  Many will never darken the doors of another church.  Their faith was so violated and their trust betrayed.  Yet the arrogance of the leadership prevented them from uttering words of apology for their wrongdoing.  Rather, they continued to vilify their victims and castigate the whistle blowers.  A clear acknowledgement of wrongdoing and an apology would have brought enormous healing to so many.  The leadership should own up to the scandals and come clean.  However, arrogance issued in denials and flat out lies.  They accused their victims of being instruments of Satan who wished to "destroy this ministry."  Abuses continued until they became undeniable and public.  It was a sorry spectacle and left enormous human carnage in its wake.

Nevertheless, some "true believers" still hang on to the decaying carcass.  I learned that religious committments that become fanatical have great tenacity.  Few people are willing to admit that they had played the fool.  The insular world of the religious sect keeps the devotees loyal to authoritarian leaders.  Binary thinking prevents people from healthy and critical assessment.

JR:  Thank you, Kim, for your candor and insights.  I pray the Lord's richest blessing on you and those you serve in Taipei.
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