Brief Introduction to this Topic [Archive]

View Full Version : Brief Introduction to this Topic

steve26 (steve26)

09-06-2005, 06:31 AM

Some introductory info for those who may never have heard of Community Chapel--

Community Chapel and Bible Training Center was a Oneness Pentecostal church and Bible college south of Seattle, Washington. It began as a home Bible study in 1967 led by a man named Don Barnett, who later became the pastor of the church formed from the group. He was a self-taught student of the Bible who was employed as an engineer for the Boeing company before quitting to become the full-time pastor of Community Chapel. He had himself been raised by a Pentecostal pastor and had gone to one or two years of school at a small Bible college in Boise, Idaho, that had been founded during the Latter Rain revival of the 40's.

By the mid-80s, the Chapel had grown to around three thousand members. It's Bible college had around 800 full and part-time students. It had at least a dozen small satellite churches in the U.S., and one in Switzerland. It also had a large K-12 Christian school for its members.

The Chapel was anti-Trinitarian in its theology. Don Barnett had developed his own theology of the Godhead which was taught in a series of classes named "The Unfolding Revelation of God" (referred to as UROG - pronounced "you're rogg" - by Chapel members). He referred to this as a "Oneness" doctrine, but it was different from the better known Oneness doctrine of the United Pentecostal Church, which teaches that the one person in the Godhead is Jesus, who is also the Father and the Holy Spirit as well as the Son. In UROG theology Don taught that Jesus' existence began with his human birth, but because of the indwelling of the Father in the man Jesus, Jesus was also fully God. This teaching of Jesus as both man and God was called the "dual nature" doctrine.

In the early 1980's, Don and his wife began having revelations that they said showed that Jesus wanted to be worshipped as "the glorified Son of Man" independently of his deity - an intimate place of fellowship into which God wanted to bring the church. In 1985, men and women of the congregation were began to have "spiritual" experiences while dancing in worship with one another that they claimed fulfilled these revelations. This soon developed into a full-blown practice and doctrine known as "spiritual unions" or "connections."

In late February and March of 1988 it was publicly revealed that under the influence of this practice, Don and many of the other elders were in adulterous relationships. The resulting scandal split the church and basically brought the Chapel to an end. Upwards of 70% of Chapel marriages have since ended in divorce. Multiple lawsuits, some of which had already figured in the exposure of Don's adultery to the congregation, were brought against the church by those who had been emotionally damaged by the Chapel's practices. Several members were convicted of the sexual abuse of children.

The elders won control of the church buildings, while two or three hundred members followed Don into a new church he named the Church of Agape. It still exists as a group that meets in a rented hall in Renton, Washington, and which still practices connections. Additionally, Don Barnett has gone further into heresy and now teaches that the "dual nature" doctrine was mistaken - Jesus is not both man and God but is only a man in whom God dwells.

The elders' church eventually changed its name, dropped the practice of connections, and removed any trace of its origins as Community Chapel. None of the Chapel elders remain on its staff.

According to a poll taken last year on a Web site for ex-Chapel members, over 70% of them still retain "Oneness" beliefs of one form or another (including the variety that holds Jesus is not God). Of these, less than a third are actually attending a Oneness church. Nearly half are attending Trinitarian churches while the rest attend no church at all. So in spite of present church affiliation, the Chapel's influence has remained strong in the lives of its former members.

calv (calv)

09-13-2005, 02:01 PM

bump

steve26 (steve26)

09-14-2005, 08:07 PM

Bump.

[Explanation to new FACTNet readers: FACTNet doesn't have a way to pin certain threads at the top of topic areas, so "bumping" is a way that participants can do that. I would like to keep this thread near the top so new readers will get some idea of why this topic is here on FACTNet.]

movinon (movinon)

09-15-2005, 02:52 PM

Thanks, steve26, I was really beginning to wonder what this whole "bump" thing was all about. :-)

Your planned times of reading and contemplation sound ideal...

mo

david_munson (david_munson)

09-18-2005, 07:30 PM

So,to put it simply,they teach another gospel?
I have never heard of this group but what you state above about their beliefs ,leaves them in a state of being lost.

}

calv (calv)

09-18-2005, 09:48 PM

HEY! Dave... glad you found us!

Its not quite gg... but the politics are the same.
Hope you doing ok, sorry about your mom, I was prayin for ya!

calv

david_munson (david_munson)

09-19-2005, 11:39 PM

Hi Calv,
Don't be sorry,she's made the praises in heaven a little bit louder.
I hope you got to read the urgent prayer thread that I used to share the experience I had with her passing.

God's blessings my brother/friend,
dave

}

calv (calv)

09-20-2005, 05:22 AM

Dave, I sure did, I appriciated your shareing. I keep an eye on things over there still! Its a long road out of a cult
as you know... I learned so much just observing and thru my interactions!!! hang in there bud!

calv (calv)

09-20-2005, 05:26 AM

calv (calv)

09-20-2005, 05:36 AM

calv (calv)

09-20-2005, 05:41 AM

oh oh... the machine is actin up again???!

myself (myself)

09-24-2005, 06:30 PM

Calv,
acting up is an understatement.I had to change my S/N to Myself just to post.Something happened on the 20th while I was posting to another individual about principalities and their activities.

I as well as a few others lost our username/passwords.
I think someone who likes federal prison has hacked into the system.

Dave Munson

}

calv (calv)

09-25-2005, 12:25 AM

Dave

It was the prince of darkness!!! I knew it!
myself suits you.... why be anyone else?

calv

steve (steve)

09-28-2005, 05:39 PM

Other Web sites about the Chapel:

My own Chapel site is at http://home.comcast.net/~sr_born/Chapel/. There I have posted my reflections and my conclusions about the Chapel and its theology.

The "Community Chapel Gathering" discussion board, often referred to on this site, is at http://members2.boardhost.com/ccbtc/. It was started in early 1998 by an ex-Chapel member for other ex-Chapel members.

The Onesismus who now posts on this board told me about the CCG board in October of 1998, and I began participating there shortly after that. In the beginning it seemed like it was a good place for discussing what had gone wrong at the Chapel, but it has since become dominated by those who believe the Chapel was a genuine move of God that only later went bad. Those who probe too deeply into the nature of Chapel theology are resented. Almost all of the regular participants retain the anti-Trinitarian theology of the Chapel and many there would like to re-create the kind of Pentecostal fellowship we had at the Chapel before the practice of "connections." The Chapel as it existed in the 70's and early 80's is idealized as a unique "move of God" and Don Barnett's teaching from that period is regarded there as highly "anointed."

In fact, the moderator and several others there have obtained most of the old Chapel sermon and Sunday school tapes from RLA (Resurrection Life Assembly - what the "elders side," meeting in the original Chapel buildings, eventually became) and have embarked on the extensive project of cataloging and digitizing them for Web distribution. However, the moderator, Dave Kenady, has also created his own set of Chapel pages, some of which contain useful historical information about the Chapel. A link to them is posted on the CCG site.

onesimus (onesimus)

10-09-2005, 11:24 PM

bump

calv (calv)

10-19-2005, 03:22 AM

Chapel was F**D UP from the start! We gave DB power because we chose to follow him. He showed us something we wanted, we fell for it, we didn't know anybetter. Do we know any better now or are we just clones of the abuse he taught to us. What did people really learn there? A form of godliness that got so far off base that we still can't see straight. Is there anyone that can help us? Or is everything else just too off????

calv (calv)

10-20-2005, 03:21 AM

A cult is a cult is a cult....they just wear differnt disguises!

movinon (movinon)

10-20-2005, 09:39 PM

Some are obvious and some really are not...cults that is.

mo

calv (calv)

10-24-2005, 02:26 PM

bump

steve (steve)

01-12-2006, 05:32 PM

<center>bump</center><hr width=75% size=2><center><table><tr><td>More Chapel reflections (http://home.comcast.net/~sr_born/Chapel/index.html)</TD><TD>Steve Born</TD><TD>My Home page (http://home.comcast.net/~sr_born/)</td></tr></table></center>

steveb (steveb)

03-04-2006, 06:36 PM

bump

steveb

03-14-2006, 05:34 PM

bump

steveb

04-01-2006, 04:39 PM

bump

steveb

04-10-2006, 06:26 PM

Should people be wondering why this topic remains important today and why I continue to post about it, it is because I, as an ex-member of Community Chapel, believe its anti-Trinitarianism still to be a danger to the unwary and the untaught. It is still possible to encounter men and women who are under the influence of the Chapel's anti-Trinitarianism who are "ministering" its version of the gospel, some of whom have founded churches or who are conducting Bible studies. They are evasive in what they teach concerning the Trinity, but they believe that the historic church is in deception on this issue, and they lead people away from it. The end result of joining their movement is isolation from the church and a confused faith. I know this by experience. That is why I have published a list of active Chapel "ministers" and teachers here (http://www.factnet.org/discus/messages/3/19865.html?1144602695) and why I have been banned as a result from an Internet discussion board for ex-members of this group. These people are well-intended, but what they teach is a corrupt form of the real thing. It is important to know its history and recognize it for what it is when it is encountered.

steveb

04-24-2006, 02:08 PM

The Latest Chapter
This month Resurrection Life Assembly (RLA) voted 135-35 to dissolve their church. RLA is what remains of the "elders' side" from just after the Community Chapel split of 1988; it occupied the older, "east campus" Chapel buildings, the site of the former Bible college and original Chapel on 8th Ave. South. None of the Chapel elders remained there, although most of its members were former Chapel people. Its pastor (up until this month when it dissolved) was a non-Chapel man called seven or eight years ago. It was he who moved to dissolve the church. It is reported the pastor wants to find another Christian ministry to which it can donate the property. See these threads for details:

<center>RE: RLA Service/members-only meeting--Part I (http://www.factnet.org/discus/messages/3/20143.html?1145836601)

The res-life thursday night all-church meeting (http://www.factnet.org/discus/messages/3/19881.html?1145043811)</center>

Besides showing that a very large majority of its members agreed that the church was not viable and ought to be dissolved, the vote in favor of dissolution shows that RLA's membership had decreased to only 170 voting members. It turns out the motivation for dissolving RLA was its discovery that it could not keep new, non-former-Chapel members. Once new members found out that the foundations of RLA were in Community Chapel they left.

This leaves only Don Barnett's present following, also founded right after the Chapel split of 1988 and called the Church of Agape (COA), as the only organized remnant of Community Chapel.

For more information on the history and the doctrine of Community Chapel and Bible Training Center, see these three threads, which sum up what I feel are the most important things to know about it:

<center>Where Did the Chapel Err? (http://www.factnet.org/discus/messages/3/16957.html?1143905830)

Was Community Chapel a Cult? (http://www.factnet.org/discus/messages/3/13109.html?1143905915)

Why is Jesus' deity so important? (http://www.factnet.org/discus/messages/3/14923.html?1143905555)</center>

<center><hr width=75% size=2>More Chapel reflections (http://home.comcast.net/~sr_born/Chapel/index.html)Steve BornMy Home page (http://home.comcast.net/~sr_born/)</center>

sparko

06-19-2006, 11:31 AM

Wow,there goes the property. I always liked the library. I know the Kirkland church building is still there but it has changed names a few times. I spent my first year as a christian up there.
Great post Steve26. I thought your summary was well written and accurate. Sparko

steveb

06-19-2006, 01:42 PM

Sparko,

I myself spent my first two years as a Chapelite at the Kirkland branch, from 1978-1980. However, I was already a Christian when I joined the Chapel, having been raised a Lutheran. I would say that joining the Chapel was the worst mistake in my life, but I don't think I would have ever been convinced how far off Pentecostalism in general (and Oneness Pentecostalism in particular) really was if I had never seen for myself. Now I understand the true nature of faith in Jesus and God's grace in Him so much better than if I had never gone through the Chapel debacle. Also, I don't think I would have ever been motivated to really dig into Lutheran theology and to learn it the way I have now if it had not been for my desire to figure out what was true about faith, the church, and the nature of God had it not been for seeing other surviving Chapelites veer into "Jesus is not God" theologies subsequent to the Chapel years. From that perspective, my time at the Chapel has paid very good dividends. I'm now back in the Lutheran church, very secure in my faith and knowledge of Jesus Christ and the grace of God.

By the way, "steve26", "steve," and "steveb" are all different IDs for me on this board - FACTNet was having a lot of technical difficulties for awhile that required us to re-register every time they got them fixed.<center><hr width=75% size=2>More Chapel Reflections (http://home.comcast.net/~sr_born/Chapel/index.html)Steve BornMy Home Page (http://home.comcast.net/~sr_born/)</center>

steveb

07-09-2006, 07:29 PM

<center>Statement of Purpose for the
FACTNET Community Chapel Topic Area</center>
FACTNet is a large discussion board and news site on the Web for former members of cults, abusive religious organizations, and other groups that practice psychologically coercive mind control methods on their members. Calv and I created a Community Chapel topic area on FACTNet because we did not find the existing Web forum for ex-Chapel members, the CCG discussion board, to be the healthy, objective forum for analysis of the Chapel experience that it initially gave promise of being. Instead we have grown disillusioned by its seeming return to the Chapel-like group think that we ourselves have increasingly seen the need to be free of if we are to regain a sound outlook on life and faith.

Calv and I are not moderators of this site - so there are no rules, and no restrictions placed on participants except of course the obligation to abide by FACTNet's posting guidelines (which are given at the bottom of the main topic page linked to here (http://www.factnet.org/factnetcgi/discus/discus.cgi)).

Here is how FACTNet describes itself from its mission statement (http://www.factnet.org/mission.htm):<blockquote>FACTNet’s name is an acronym that means Fight Against Coercive Tactics Network. We are composed of a global network of former cult members and professionals who assist victims of cults, mind control, psychological coercion and fundamentalism. FACTNet's mission is to protect the most universal and basic constitutional freedom, the single freedom that is an essential prerequisite to the meaningful exercise of all of our other freedoms --- freedom of mind! Factnet focuses on protecting freedom of mind from harms caused by all forms of mind control and unethical influence.

In its earlier years (1993-2001) FACTNet focused on mind control and unethical influence as was commonly found in destructive cults. In 2002 it has expanded its mission to also cover mind control and unethical influence as found in governments, corporations, social organizations, advertising/marketing, political organizations, the military and family groups.</blockquote>For CCG lurkers and other participants who feel that CCG represents too much of a return to a doctrinally, socially, or psychologically aberrant past, we hope that the FACTNet site will provide a good source of information and a useful outlet for your thoughts on all Chapel-related issues, including COA and other aberrant, Chapel-influenced teachings such as those of Phil Maxwell and other advocates of "Jesus is not God" doctrine. Anyone may start a sub-thread there on any topic they like.

sally49

09-14-2006, 04:02 AM

I have read many of the postings and appreciate seeing that there are others who agree with my beliefs on the church. I was born into it, and still have relatives who are at the COA. It is very frustrating that they can not see the truth. Reading the CCG is also frustrating because they still want to mix in some of the false teachings that destroyed so many lives.

steveb

09-14-2006, 04:23 AM

Thanks for dropping in and leaving a note, sally49. I hope you are doing well today. It IS frustrating that even after seeing the Chapel fall apart around them, many can't draw the obvious conclusions about what was taught there.

However, I say that after having taking longer than I should have myself to wake up...<hr width=75% size=2><center><table><tr><td>More Chapel reflections (http://home.comcast.net/~sr_born/Chapel/index.html)</TD><TD>Steve Born</TD><TD>My Home page (http://home.comcast.net/~sr_born/)</td></tr></table></center>

steveb

12-30-2006, 07:27 PM

<center>-- Bumping this up to the top for easier access --</center>

[This site is now primarily an archive of past postings about Community Chapel. Please see the ex-CCBTC discussion board (http://members6.boardhost.com/exccbtc) for current postings on Chapel doctrine and its continuing influence.]

---Steve