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Post by Admin on Aug 22, 2023 6:33:49 GMT -5
Open letter from fmr worker Greg Swenson to the F&W community
From: Greg Swenson <greg.swens@gmail.com> Date: Mon, Aug 21, 2023
Subject: Next steps
Dear all,
Fourteen years ago, I started in this work. For me, these have been good years, helpful years.
But now we know, for many they haven’t been. People have been deeply wounded. How have so many been hurt in the name of Jesus? I’m thankful for those who have helped me see this. I’ve reached out to ones who I’ve ignorantly hurt, and I apologize to any who I’ve misjudged.
I’ll share with you from an email I sent to our staff a month and a half ago:
The personal calling I have been feeling on my heart these days and for the foreseeable future is to attend to two important issues:
1. The healing of the broken-hearted (which is most of us at this point) through active listening and reassurance that victims/survivors and our friends are heard by someone who represents the ministry. The listening sessions are providing one channel for this to occur. But others are reaching out by phone too, ones who have felt isolated for many years. Survivors of abuse–some currently attending meetings and some not–are pouring out their hearts. Many have been in therapy for most of their life, but it can still be healing to hear a ‘worker’ acknowledge and validate the hurts they experienced.
2. Ministry reform. The approach to our calling and what it means to be an apostle/minister has been pushed into a mold that doesn’t seem to be working well for many. This is evidenced by the high incidence of mental health problems and burnout. This is not because of being weak or different, but many expectations which may or may not be scriptural have been thrust upon an ever-dwindling supply of workers. No one of us can singularly save the current state of things, but I am willing to continue having conversations with overseers, workers, elders, friends and anyone to better understand what direction to move in for sustainability.
I fully understand if you are not feeling called to these same tasks, or if you’re feeling called to other tasks which I cannot do, as we are all different members of the body with differing gifts.
So this is how we’ve been spending our recent months. It’s a start, but there is still much to do. Faith is seen through action, and if the Lord is in each step there can be benefit.
I appreciate Jim’s offer to place me in a field again this fall, though I can’t commit to doing that right now. In view of all that’s come to light within the fellowship the past few months, I believe it’s also an appropriate season to pause and consider, and take a break for well-being.
If you find it discouraging to see fewer names on a workers list, I hope your reaction is to rise to the occasion. Many of you have done that already, and some are now awakening to this. As my late mother often quoted, “Paths of usefulness surround you–need for every hand.” The work of God is something anyone can be a part of if we allow him to use us.
I still feel a call to share the gospel, and I value attending fellowship gatherings and Bible studies. I’m happy to meet with anyone who has the sincere desire to “worship the Father in spirit and in truth.”
At this time I plan to leave North Carolina at the end of September. While I travel the country and make visits, I’ll continue to be available by phone, text and email, so feel free to reach out at any time.
With love in Christ and prayer for healing, Greg Swenson
+1 630-862-0789 greg.swens@gmail.com
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Post by Admin on Aug 22, 2023 6:57:48 GMT -5
This thread is for TMB members to pass on to Greg some personal views and concerns and suggestions, that might be useful for Greg as (in his words) "While I travel the country and make visits, I’ll continue to be available by phone, text and email, so feel free to reach out at any time."
I'm not sure if Greg would ever feel comfortable even reading on TMB, he may have the view that this site is a place of misfits, folk who are "bitter", rebels, "enemies of the Truth" as we sometimes hear.
But Greg, if you really mean what you say in your paragraphs above on healing for victims of abuse and ministry reform, I don't think you'll find any enemies here in that regard. In fact, TMB is a fairly unique place where a whole spectrum from believers in God through to those who have lost their faith and are now atheists share and find friendship and healing. All of us have a connection (sometimes going back many decades) to the F&W church and fellowship (with one member belonging to the 'Cooneyite' branch of the fellowship, in Wales). TMB and its members are definitely part of the F&W landscape as you tour the country and visit with so many different people with diverse views. You will find the views of TMB members, whatever their current status regarding the church or personal belief and from all our different perspectives and life experiences, very worthwhile I would guess.
So you may hopefully discover this thread and read what TMB members pass on in a spirit of encouragement, in your current quest of discovery.
Personally, I wish you every best wish and blessing in your endeavors.
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Post by Persona non grata on Aug 22, 2023 13:10:38 GMT -5
Thank you, Greg, for your empathy, your honesty and vulnerability, and your willingness to discuss the issues openly. Hopefully your actions will encourage other workers to take true responsibility and to engage in positive reform in the ministry, ensuring a safer, brighter and more inclusive environment in the church.
Being aware of your own, and of others’, mental health is so important; We need to treat each other with compassion and respect, understanding that each one of us, as emotional human beings, may react differently to the serious issues that are being raised.
Faith is not just words, it’s about actions that reflect a genuine desire for positive change and healing.
I appreciate your reaching out to others, regardless of their current relationship to the fellowship (“in or out”). This commitment to open dialogue and bipartisan cooperation is essential for positive change. What the last decades have proven, is that the ministry will not implement the necessary reforms without pressure from outside. The only way for us to move forward, is by working together despite our differences.
One of the points you raise is that of the mold into which the ministers have been pushed. The rules and regulations (specific or implied) imposed on workers (and in the wider sense, also upon the friends), has created a culture that has allowed abuse to flourish.
Ironically, for a people who profess to be followers of Christ, it is the lack of empathy which is the biggest hindrance in restoring trust and ensuring justice for the abused.
Thank you, once again, for your concern for the broken hearted, for victims/survivors, and for being true to your convictions.
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Post by openingact34 on Aug 22, 2023 14:44:58 GMT -5
He's going to be a unsanctioned, nomadic worker?
From what I understand, even the regular workers get very upset if somebody crosses field lines without permission and starts meeting with people.
But this is a whole different level, without any sort of overseer approval. This could be the type of thing that gets a bunch of people excommunicated
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Post by Admin on Aug 22, 2023 17:29:58 GMT -5
He's going to be a unsanctioned, nomadic worker? From what I understand, even the regular workers get very upset if somebody crosses field lines without permission and starts meeting with people. But this is a whole different level, without any sort of overseer approval. This could be the type of thing that gets a bunch of people excommunicated Radical? Yes. It's what got Cooney booted, many years ago. Maybe The Times They Are A-Changin' ??
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Post by Persona non grata on Aug 23, 2023 0:04:46 GMT -5
He's going to be a unsanctioned, nomadic worker? From what I understand, even the regular workers get very upset if somebody crosses field lines without permission and starts meeting with people. But this is a whole different level, without any sort of overseer approval. This could be the type of thing that gets a bunch of people excommunicated Radical? Yes. It's what got Cooney booted, many years ago. Maybe The Times They Are A-Changin' ?? It'll be interesting to follow this situation. One hopes that the ministry has matured since Eddie's days, and that Greg won't meet the same treatment.
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Post by Dan on Aug 23, 2023 0:55:11 GMT -5
Radical? Yes. It's what got Cooney booted, many years ago. Maybe The Times They Are A-Changin' ?? It'll be interesting to follow this situation. One hopes that the ministry has matured since Eddie's days, and that Greg won't meet the same treatment.
Sounds like an apostate, I doubt he'll be around much longer.. The Friends who finance his cross country vacation probably won't fair to well either? I'm not sure what his revolt is suppose to prove, I would think he'd be more effective by staying in the Work to effect change? I suspect he's just disgusted with all the recent debauchery and wants to separate himself. I'm guessing that many Workers are embarrassed by some of those who they had previously held in high esteem and just need some time to personally reconcile all that's happened. Maybe they'll give him some space and then welcome him back into the fold - if he doesn't ruffle too many feathers. Its kind of sad that he feels its necessary to venture off on his own. His note sounds like an unofficial resignation with a pre-announced farewell tour.
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Post by Persona non grata on Aug 23, 2023 1:59:21 GMT -5
It'll be interesting to follow this situation. One hopes that the ministry has matured since Eddie's days, and that Greg won't meet the same treatment. Sounds like an apostate, I doubt he'll be around much longer.. The Friends who finance his cross country vacation probably won't fair to well either? I'm not sure what his revolt is suppose to prove, I would think he'd be more effective by staying in the Work to effect change? I suspect he's just disgusted with all the recent debauchery and wants to separate himself. I'm guessing that many Workers are embarrassed by some of those who they had previously held in high esteem and just need some time to personally reconcile all that's happened. Maybe they'll give him some space and then welcome him back into the fold - if he doesn't ruffle too many feathers. Its kind of sad that he feels its necessary to venture off on his own. His note sounds like an unofficial resignation with a pre-announced farewell tour.
That’s not the tone that I read into Greg’s letter but, of course, each of us may interpret it differently based on our own attitudes and experiences. If indeed, Greg is an apostate, bent on revolt, then he should have no problem addressing that here on TMB. Incidentally, Admin’s description of a group of misfits and rebels sounds similar to the group of 12 that Jesus chose to represent himself. 🙂
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Post by fixit on Aug 23, 2023 4:41:00 GMT -5
Incidentally, Admin’s description of a group of misfits and rebels sounds similar to the group of 12 that Jesus chose to represent himself. 🙂 There's a lot of power in a diverse range of people listening to one another with love and respect and empathy. There's a lot of good people in the fellowship and a lot of Sunday AM meetings that just work. What isn't working so well is a hierarchy where people are unaccountable to everyone below them (which Jesus expressly forbid). Luke 22:24 A dispute also arose among them as to which one of them was to be regarded as the greatest. 25 But he said to them, “The kings of the gentiles lord it over them, and those in authority over them are called benefactors. 26 But not so with you; rather, the greatest among you must become like the youngest and the leader like one who serves. 27 For who is greater, the one who is at the table or the one who serves? Is it not the one at the table? But I am among you as one who serves.
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Post by snow on Aug 23, 2023 15:54:38 GMT -5
It'll be interesting to follow this situation. One hopes that the ministry has matured since Eddie's days, and that Greg won't meet the same treatment. Sounds like an apostate, I doubt he'll be around much longer.. The Friends who finance his cross country vacation probably won't fair to well either? I'm not sure what his revolt is suppose to prove, I would think he'd be more effective by staying in the Work to effect change? I suspect he's just disgusted with all the recent debauchery and wants to separate himself. I'm guessing that many Workers are embarrassed by some of those who they had previously held in high esteem and just need some time to personally reconcile all that's happened. Maybe they'll give him some space and then welcome him back into the fold - if he doesn't ruffle too many feathers. Its kind of sad that he feels its necessary to venture off on his own. His note sounds like an unofficial resignation with a pre-announced farewell tour.
Maybe he's hoping that if he starts this 'crusade' that those workers that think like he does will join him and put the guys at the top out of business. That's usually how change actually happens and is successful. Replace what wasn't working with something that does and slowly those in the category of 'doesn't work' lose their hold on people.
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