Gracepoint Berkeley. Loekito said his eldest daughter spent large portions of her early childhood at the churchs babysitting ministry while he and his wife were participating in events. That familial attitude tied into the churchs model of whole-life discipleship. Hereis a Yelp Review (that is hidden and not tallied into their final score) that is from October 2018 from Christain that sounds exactly like the Berkland I attended decades ago. We are a church where you can belong even before you have believed. I work at a big company now, and its a company thats pretty good in its field. Press J to jump to the feed. One individual, who writes under the pseudonym John Kim, started a blog in June 2010 detailing Gracepoints faults, and in recent months, former members have established a subreddit dedicated to discussing Gracepoint. Lets start with the first, and probably the most important. After all, there was a lot of yelling, most likely some crying, and maybe some forced fervent and desperate prayer. . Gracepoint Ministries Collegiate Churches Parachurch Ministries and Fueled by 1600 Covocational Ministers 1 Collegiate Churches An Acts 2 church in every college town. At least I personally, am not out to "get you" because I hate Christians or something like that. And, I can say that close friends of mine also had seriously negative experiences, the effects of which I saw up close. Needless to say, they were forced to break up. Im not going to get into the correct, or Biblical way to rebuke, for that material is abundant. The irony is, that on numerous occasions, Ive heard a rebuke about not doing things out of a love for God and others, but the result is that people act because they do not want to get rebuked again. Log In Sign Up Please contact the team via Discord or reddit to help contribute with any corrections or additions. They were Christians before they met Paul, and probably told him much about the Roman church. Acts2Fellowship Instagram Marketing Intern. Although the sites primarily focus on the issues surrounding the Gracepoint Berkeley church run by Ed and Kelly Kang, many of these issues are also manifested in other Gracepoint churches including Davis. Consequence: A visceral internal shuddering for any kind of organization that takes itself at all seriously. Address. Welcome to Gracepoint! One of my old friends is apparently is in this church and I wanted to find out more about the "cult-like" organization after a mutual friend brought up how she's completely been brainwashed by them. Here's another topic u/TheGPNarrative , hope this is new enough for you. Disclaimer, College ministry (known as KBSU, ABSU, or KBSK, depending on the year). And if I had stayed, I shudder to think how much more I would have lost, and how much more I would have been damaged. Small potatoes, I know, compared to what many still suffer from. An anonymous source, who first encountered Gracepoint Church on UC Berkeleys campus, attended throughout their time as a undergrad and continued participating in church activities after graduation, noted that within Gracepoint, church leadership encourage LGBTQ+ members of their congregation to implement guardrails., The source defined guardrails as something that was very prominent at various points in terms of how a person should make decisions and behave, particularly in opposite gender relationships.. They cared more that I was staying and being a productive sort of functioning member.. The Berkland network disbanded in 2006, and the Berkeley and Davis churches rebranded as Gracepoint, eventually planting churches in college cities and towns beyond California. The world is analog. Change), You are commenting using your Twitter account. But some very important teachings dont get filtered down properly, or at least they didnt when I was there. here on Reddit) are out to "get them." Yes, finally, what you did caught up to you, it got addressed by the leaders, and if you repent, you have a small stamp of approval. When you've isolated the individual from his or her old support network and substituted the group, they're psychologically locked to the group and cannot leave. I say this as a preface to make clear that I have no ax to grind. 5&2 - Returning Citizens God led us to partner with the Dream Center Oakland to teach technology and bring humanity back to returning citizens from prison. Scroll . GRACEPOINT CHURCH - COMPASSION MINISTRY Culture of Service & Mission Serving our Local Community and Internationally Changing the World by Sharing the Love of Jesus Impact Serving since 1997 Gracepoint has established multiple churches at several new campuses across the country this fall, and multiple sources have expressed concern regarding these plans. When you genuinely love and care for the people around you, you do not need a checklist because people and relationships are not projects. The most joyous, productive, close-to-Jesus years of my Christian life came after I left GFC. Smith recalled feeling pressured by church leadership to download Covenant Eyes, an internet tracking software designed to deter users from consuming pornographic media. 269276. During the early years, many others (who would later go on to start other churches) also started coming to the church. 2000 Northloop Drive. I had seen ita couple years before, when other students had trouble academically and seeing what standard practice was when the church is trying to help the students get their academics and I knew it was going to be [a] suffocating environment, Sam C. said. GracePoint Community Church is a member of the Evangelical Presbyterian Church. Gracepoint has since expanded to ~100 sites, primarily in college towns. Listen online, no signup necessary. 2005: The Letter, church split, and Gracepoint is born - As time went on, there was growing concern about Rebekah Kims behavior, harsh rebuking and shaming of her disciples in a public manner, and overall lack of humility and accountability. Ed and Kelly Kang and most of the leaders spoke of her highly and looked up to her, almost as one who could do no wrong. Not always, but Ive seen it. Becky Kim was intimately involved in many details of running all the BBC churches. It really suprised me and other students. He told CT that eight people have contacted him since he first posted in April 2021. Gracepoint had secured him a $400-a-month apartment in Berkeley, where he was attending college. Or, to the contrary, are you constantly getting the feeling, encouraged by your leaders, that if you leave GFC, you might lose your salvation? However, GP consistently pushes student to participate in service and evangelism to an almost distasteful extent. WORLD? Will probably get downvoted for this, but I'm near positive that a good half of the religious fellowships on campus (whether Christian or otherwise) qualify as "cult-like". The church grew in number steadily. Jun 2020 - Jul 20202 months. Gracepoints training documents teach staff to explain why the churchs hierarchical leadership is not authoritarian or why negative perception of the churchs culture of rebuke is overblown due to an emotionally fragile generation. Weary of internal programs being leaked, leaders asked members to periodically delete sensitive recordings and emails containing talks and trainings or to watch them under supervision. Members realized their schedules were no longer their own. For anyone who is currently at GFC and wondering, even just a bit, if you want to stay or not, I would encourage you to listen to those stories. Youre my true family. This site uses cookies to improve your experience and to help show content that is more relevant to your interests. Members under discipline could be asked to refrain from serving in ministries and even attending services. Gracepoint Berkeley Church in Berkeley, CA 94705 is Unclear: Non-Affirming in their LGBTQ Policy Tweet to request clarity Unclear: Non-Egalitarian in their Women in Leadership Policy Tweet to request clarity Updated on Nov 20, 2019 Church Information Address 2425 Stuart Street Berkeley, CA 94705 Leadership Pastor: Ed Kang Gender: Man Race: Please download the NEW 2023 devotional notebook. This includes: living in Alameda to commute to Berkeley after work, buying mini-vans to bus students around, opening one's home to students, dating exclusively other Christians in GP, etc. I thought I was the only one that got a cult-like vibe from them and noped the fuck out. Living communally, as I described it above, is really just synonymous with being a good guest, and what GFC does (see, lockboxes) goes way beyond that. It feels like the bridge is being burnt from the other end, said Mun. for less than $4.25/month. After Doe and her significant other crossed physical boundaries, church leadership placed Doe on a repentance process and revoked her staff post. Of the big names that show up often on this sub Ed, Will, Manny, Daniel I had varying levels of interaction with each (though I've had at least one personal, one-on-one communication with each of them), which were generally positive. I got involved in ministry with another church. I had no idea that this person was dating until the rebuking session over and I asked someone what was that all about. This is a quote from http://gracepoint-berkeley.blogspot.com/a blog that exposes the cult-like qualities and history of Gracepoint Ministries, a church with many branch ministries such as Koinonia, ABSK, Acts 2 Fellowship (A2F), Kairos, and Berkland.Gracepoint Ministries is present in : UC Berkeley, UC Davis, SF State, UCLA, UC Riverside, USC, UC Santa Barbara, UT Austin, Duke University, UNC Chapel Hill, and more. We continue to be a miracle in the making within the Methodist Church of Southern Africa, and present an unconventional, but unique and exciting way of doing church. And, to be fair, if youre being rebuked, there is a fair chance that you did do something wrong or not (e.g. Kang confirmed the church no longer operates on the campus, though some students still attend the San Francisco location. For fledgling believers, it is very hard to know the right thing to do or how to respond, especially if you are a young impressionable college kid. Honestly, if someone were to tell me to cut off ties will all my non-church friends, I would seriously question the church. Served 113 Homes Since 2006, we've had the privilege to share God's love (the greatest love) to the elderly on Valentine's day. According to Len Tang, director of the Church Planting Initiative at Fuller Theological Seminary, high-pressure churches like Gracepoint often enforce a methodological purity within their ministry. I know it sounds weird. Lets be clear, rebuking sessions at Gracepoint are not fun. Over the course of CT reporting this article, Gracepoint has begun to rethink aspects of its ministry style and implement reforms. If the abuser fails to do that, they rationalize by saying, they dont love me and I guess I never loved them. At this church, it is the same, because if you do not respond to rebuke, you are spiritually desolate and they cannot shepherd or love you. Some critics are taking their concerns offline. Ed Kang received his law degree from Boalt and practiced for a couple or few years before quitting to attend seminary and . But I cannot bring myself to even say anything beyond its alright and I like the people I work with. Anything more think someone on LinkedIn saying Im proud of my company for accomplishing ____ just reminds me of the obsessively unending focus on Gracepoint, Gracepoint, how distinct it is, how much we love it. Saturday, April 19, 2008 Each of us have our own story of how God found us and transformed our lives, and we believe that college is a prime time for students to explore and grow their faith! I'll try to be succinct and objective. The ministries that got started or were present during this time at Berkeley include: College ministry in particular grew very quickly, moving from 100 GPBB to the huge lecture hall at VLSB. Yes, they are very intentional in their faith. I have obviously heard the rumors about the church and still have a wariness in the back of my mind. Because we know that laughter is the best medicine, right after Chinese herbal medicine and acupuncture and Western medicine. The University of San Francisco revoked the recognition status of Gracepoints Klesis fellowship in May 2021 because it did not meet the requirements to be a USF affiliated ministry, misrepresented its relationship with Gracepoint Church, and continued to have contact with students following an interim suspension issued in March. Paul Lee said his pastor at UC Riverside called to yell at him for having coffee with a female friend on staff, which he had done before but didnt know was frowned on. My time at Gracepoint ended with me feeling at the lowest point of my life, reads a testimonial shared in April via r/UCSD. I remember being very sleepy because this happened very late at night. While college ministries like InterVarsity and Asian American Christian Fellowship were launching programs to serve a growing wave of Asian immigrants and second-generation Asian Americans, Rebekah and Paul Kim (no relation to the other Kims) planted a church to minister to Korean Americans at UC Berkeley in 1981. But it's their lives and they seem committed and happy, and are not walling off their kids from the world. Also, Ive even seen leaders refer to how they got rocked by Pastor Ed or Kelly with a smug smile. This includes "unhealthy addictions" and "sinful acts" which may include: partying, drugs, bad influences of friends, excessive social media use, etc. I think it was at that point when I realized that [the church] really did not care for my well-being, Lee said. These included statements like You are a hopeless, morally bankrupt sinner, and nothing good can come from you.. Everyone was crying. 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