Thank you to all of you who responded so kindly to my previous email concerning the followers I lost after speaking up about abuse inside churches.
The Body of Christ is NOT built on lies, abuse, and fear
Dear Friends,
Thank you to all of you who responded so kindly to my previous email concerning the followers I lost after speaking up about abuse inside churches. My children and I are encouraged and comforted to know that you really do care about survivors and justice.
How many churches are there in America where abuse and adultery are being brushed under the carpet for the sake of appearances by those who are duty-bound by the Word of God to confront and root out such wickedness?
What’s more, how many of these failed leaders are themselves engaging in and perpetuating the abuse?
The more we ask these questions, the more survivors come forward with their stories, and the more we hold leaders accountable for their actions, the better chance we have at ending this dire epidemic that has for too long perverted the houses of God.
Last week, a story began to circulate of an Indiana pastor who was confronted during a public “confession” that he’d had an affair — by the woman he’d groomed and abused as a teenager all while he was supposed to be leading his flock.
Pastor John Lowe and his wife co-pastored the New Life Christian Church and World Outreach in Warsaw, Indiana for decades before he told his congregation that he’d had an adulterous affair years prior.
What he didn’t tell them — but what his victim was willing to say before the whole congregation was that she was 16 when he took her virginity and began their “affair” — that was a years-long sexual relationship which she said left her feeling like she was in a “prison.”
After the video of this tense confrontation circulated, two other women came forward with their stories of abuse at the hands of the Lowes.
One woman came forward to reveal that Jeremiah Lowe, one of the pastoral couple’s sons, sexually abused her as a child and was ultimately shamed and pushed out of the congregation when she finally had the courage to come forward years later.
As we reported on the blog, she said New Life Christian Church was built on “lies, deceit, abuse, rape, and fear.”
This is NOT the foundation of the Body of Christ.
The second woman, the ex-wife of Jeremiah Lowe, revealed that not only had she been violently assaulted in her marriage, but that he’d engaged in routine extramarital affairs and beat one of her dogs to death, and that his parents were in on everything and did virtually nothing.
The Lowes are no longer pastors at New Life Christian Church, yet they led the congregation for decades while their family was engaging in grooming, sexual abuse, physical abuse, adultery, and minimization of the trauma they were causing with no accountability for their actions.
The victims all said that the Bible was used against them to keep them silent, controlled, and shamed — all the while, the Lowes themselves were routinely ignoring everything the Bible says about how leaders and spouses ought to behave!
This is the very definition of spiritual abuse, and we cannot take lightly the warning this church’s story has to offer.
Most ministries will not confront this crisis of abuse in the church head on — but we will.
This is why we need your support. There are very few voices crying in the wilderness about this epidemic in the nation’s churches, and we need all the help we can get to bring true, honest, bold accountability to professed ministers of God who are using their position of authority to hide and commit heinous sins against their flocks.
Will you partner with us to end this crisis and shine light on the true mission of the Body of Christ?
