The groups (including the Institute for Religion and Democracy, Full Gospel Businessmen's Fellowship International, and lesser known groups) that push this generally make thirty-year plans (or more) in that they will "farm" congregations within a mainstream congregation for years or decades--and then "movements" like the ones linked to IRD will be actively encouraged once a critical mass of "convertees" has been reached.

These same groups also believe that "sheep-stealing"--the deliberate attempt to convert people who are already members of a Christian faith--is not only acceptable but to be encouraged, because (in their worldview) all non-dominionist Christians are "lukewarm" Christians at best (and thus seen as damned because "God will spit them out") and as frank blasphemers at worst.  (Yes, you're reading that right.  These groups literally do not see non-dominionist Christians as being fellow Christians at all but as heretics.)

Typically the groups actively farming this stuff encourage members to stay in their home churches (rather than split), encourage them to recruit others in stealth, and demonise the leadership and emphasize the importance of hijacking.  The recruitment tactics in some cases strongly resemble the deceptive tactics used in recruitment to dominionist groups linked to--or actually identified as--coercive religious groups.

The best things you can do to protect your church from this:

a) Learn how groups like the IRD and other "church hijack" groups operate (the IRD is by far not the only one).

b) Keep a careful eye on "charismatic" groups within your church.  Whilst some are legitimate and unaffiliated with dominionist groups, some "charismatic" and "evangelical" groups within mainstream denominations are in fact "seeded" groups from dominionist neopente churches (the Full Gospel Businessmen's Fellowship International, a de facto front of the Assemblies of God, is downright infamous for this; among groups hit have been the Catholic Church (a lot of "Charismatic Catholic" congregations have been FGBMFI seeded), the Southern Baptist Convention (which eventually was hijacked entirely by dominionists; there is strong evidence that the takeover was farmed as early as the 1960's by planting "Charismatic Baptist" congregations in mainstream SBC churches, and at least one of the persons linked to the SBC hijacking was a "Charismatic" Southern Baptist; this same person was a member of the "Fort Lauderdale Five", a group of "dominion theology" promoters who invented the coercive "cell church" setup specifically as a tool for church hijacks and originated the tactics now usd by the IRD), and (in proof that no church denomination is immune) possibly even the Friends (the "Evangelical Friends", one of the three main Friends congregations in the US, is a dominionist split which has more in common theologically and in its worship services with neopentecostals than other Friends groups, and was largely the result of close partnering and "sheep-stealing" by neopente "evangelical" groups targeting conservative Friends).

c) Educate yourselves, and your church body, on the tactics used by spiritually abusive groups in general.  (Yes, this is a very powerful "dominionist-proofing" tool; the major way in which church hijacks and splits are "farmed" by dominionist groups is by outside groups or infiltrators starting "cell churches" within your church.  "Cell churches", as used by dominionist groups, tend to be highly controlling of facets of members' lives and are in fact increasingly considered a warning sign of a spiritually abusive group as is (because in practice these groups have almost inevitably turned highly abusive).  Other bits of dominionist theology--especially among the "dominion theology" practitioners who breed these groups--also qualify as highly abusive and learning how abusive groups in general recruit and control members is a valuable tool to keep them from coming in to begin with.)

c) Keep an ear out--both with your fellow pastors and in your congregation--for possible hijack attempts.  This includes keeping a watch out for "renewal" or "revival" movements in general.  (Again, some of these are legitimate; basically you have to find out some information first.)

d) You may have to end up placing a specific church bylaw in regards to what to do re infiltration or split attempts--including disfellowship, if your church bylaws allow it.  (Yes, I know it's extreme.  Sadly, these groups are determined enough that just about the only sure way to keep them out is to "IRD-proof" the congregation as much as possible and boot anyone out trying to breed a "cell church" group.  Speaking as a survivor of one of the very denominations most infamous for breeding these "revival" movements used to hijack churches, I can safely say that you must be this vigilant.)

e) Realise that if you have found one group that is pulling this in your church, you may well have up to five other "cells" or cell members that you aren't aware of.  (Again, stealth is a BIG part of how they spread.)

by dogemperor on Tue May 30, 2006 at 12:14:57 AM EST
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