In the United Church of Christ, local churches are fully autonomous. They own their property, their endowments, their membership contributions, and any other assets they have accrued over the life and history of the congregation. Lyle Schaller has described the United Church of Christ less as a denomination than a "voluntary affiliation of local congregations." A 2/3 vote by any congregation is all that is needed to leave, and to take with them millions of dollars in assets. For this reason, they have been aggressively targeted by the religious right and their minions.

George Dohm was called to be the Pastor of the Church of the Redeemer, and his mission there was clear from the start: take this church out.

George was mentored by Mark Friz, currently the pastor of St. Paul's Evangelical Free Church in North County St. Louis - formerly St. Paul's United Church of Christ. (This church voted to disaffiliate under Mark's leadership in the late 90s - the second successive church served by Mark to do so). Mark Friz speaks across the Mid-West to UCC churches, teaching them tactically how to complete a takeover of their church, and speaking also about why he feels it is necessary and appropriate for them to do so. (We have a tape of one such presentation made in the fall of '05 at one of our UCC church in Jamestown, MO.)

In the years that George served Redeemer UCC, he was able to identify members from the church who reflected his ultra-conservative ideology and place them in positions of power. They called themselves `George's Disciples.' After he resigned his position as Pastor of Redeemer in Feb. of `03, George continued to meet with these leaders in their homes. His behind the scenes machinations included a promise to return as their pastor once they completed the work he had started: namely, the takeover of the church culminating in a vote to leave the UCC. (George admitted this when confronted by the author in July of 2003 - an admission that lead to a Fitness Review which, given this and other actions he would undertake (read on), ended in the St. Louis Association Committee on Ministry terminating his standing.)

George's disciples continued his ministry of deception, printing propaganda in their newsletters meant to denounce the United Church of Christ. In one such newsletter, it was stated that the United Church of Christ did not believe in God, Jesus, The Holy Spirit, or the Bible. (It should be noted that almost ten years earlier the author read the same accusations in material circulated to the members of St. Luke's in Wellington, the first church that Mark Friz led out of the United Church of Christ).

They bullied members into submission and silence at town hall meetings that were held to make the case for disaffiliation. The United Church of Christ was accused in these hearings (many of which the author attended) of not believing in the Virgin Birth, of not adhering to the Apostle's Creed, of denying the primacy of Scripture, of promoting sexual deviance, of demanding that pastor's who serve UCC churches be Open and Affirming (a designation of some local churches who have voted to accept all members, regardless of their sexual orientation), and of threatening to force gay pastors on churches who, if they refused to call them, would not get any pastor.

In one public hearing which I attended, a rather shy elderly woman spoke up and said that she was scared for the first time in her life to speak her mind in her own church.

In preparation for what was supposed to be a vote to disaffiliate in late August of 2003, a series of preachers was lined up for the month of July. The first of these three was Mark Friz. The next was a pastor of an independent congregation in South St. Louis. And the third was none other than the pastor who had resigned in Feb. of that year, and whose disciples were orchestrating the eventual takeover of this church. Tapes and transcripts were made of each of those sermons. But far and away the most damaging, and most enlightening piece from all of them, came towards the end of George's sermon.

George tells a story about a father sitting at a table with his children, who ask to see a movie which the father points out is too violent for them. They counter by saying there was not a lot of violence in the movie, only a little. The kids go to school, and the father prepares dessert for that night's dinner: brownies with dog crap baked into them. When he serves it to them later in the day, he points out just before they eat it what he has done, and of course they refuse it. He counters by saying: but its only a little!

George goes on to point out that the United Church of Christ is to Christianity what dog crap is to brownies: just a little bit of if ruins the whole thing.  In order for Christianity to be worth anything, the UCC must be removed from it. This is an incredible insight into the psyche of these activists: it reveals in no small measure what it is they feel justifies tactics that to every other clergy person would be egregious breeches of pastoral conduct and ethics.

Is it any wonder that fed such garbage from the pulpit, in their newsletters, from their own elected leaders, that this church voted to leave?

There is much more to say about this church, and I will share more details in the coming weeks detailing the final days before the vote. Soon thereafter I will begin to share the story of a second St. Louis area church which underwent the same kind of attack at the very same time, and involving a few of the very same people. But this church chose to remain faithful to their covenantal and historical relationship with the United Church of Christ.  The contrasts are revealing.

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