Those who have followed this magazine will recognize that we have increasingly focused on investigative reporting, constantly seeking to maintain biblical standards of integrity and accountability. Therefore, when the spotlight is turned on us, it is only fitting that we should disclose our own inner workings in the same manner of relentless honesty--or, as our advertising department likes to say, with the same commitment to "raw truth."

In keeping with the high premium we place on being accountable to the body of Christ at large and to our denomination, the Evangelical Covenant Church, we present the problem--as best we understand it--to you, our friends and readers.

Jesus People USA Covenant Church, as our regular readers know, is an evangelical ministry which lives "in community." This means that we not only have a magazine and several Christian outreaches, but that we also live together at the same address, work together, and put all our money into a common purse. The vast majority of people only come in contact with us via this magazine, Cornerstone Festival, Cornerstone Community Outreach homeless shelter and transitional housing, REZ, various other GRRR music artists, etc. These friends normally have little idea what it's like to live in community, or even that there is a community behind the magazine.

JPUSA does, however, have a constant flow of people coming and going at our inner-city address: youth groups visiting for a "missionary week," college students coming for a summer's service or a year's internship, troubled married couples who stay long enough to find healing in their relationship before returning home, unwed mothers needing spiritual and physical shelter, young Christians intrigued by what friends who lived with us told them, people off the street who have never experienced family stability. Some come and, feeling that God is calling them to community life with us, elect to stay. Others come for healing and growth and leave when they feel ready to move into the next chapter Christ has for them, holding their time with us as a positive experience.

Yet we've never claimed to have all the answers to every question, and within our own fellowship we've had our share of people who, after several months or years here, left feeling disappointed and unappreciated, some with needs and hopes we were unable to meet. Many of them have remained Christian believers; others have moved in a different direction spiritually. Anybody who has worked in a church knows breakdowns in relationships occur in every congregation. Over the past few years, both JPUSA and our parent denomination, the Evangelical Covenant Church (ECC), have attempted to work through Matthew 18 issues with some of the dissatisfied former members. Results have been mixed.

Last summer, we learned from the ECC that Dr. Enroth had sent the Covenant's midwestern office a letter stating that he was preparing to publish the stories of selected former JPUSA members. He suggested the ECC's leadership was either ignoring our alleged wrongdoings or was "truly unaware of what goes on behind the carefully crafted public relations persona of JPUSA." Both JPUSA leadership and the ECC's president, Paul Larsen, responded by inviting Dr. Enroth to visit JPUSA facilities--no strings attached--and see for himself, a repeated offer which to date has not been accepted. Over the past ten months, we attempted to dialogue with both Dr. Enroth and the former members. A series of letters (numbering around forty) between ourselves, the ECC, Dr. Enroth, and Zondervan provides a historical framework for what has transpired, but has not led to resolution. We, from the beginning, have shared the correspondence with other Christian leaders, journalists, and countercult groups, attempting to be accountable and transparent with those we have worked with through the years.

Throughout this painful process, we have tried to maintain a loving and respectful attitude toward those who once lived with us. There are times when all of us, from our pastors to our newest members, have been and are irritable, presumptive, "too busy," and neglectful of others. And when you live communally, those shortcomings affect not only your immediate family but also your co-workers and fellow community members. We know enough to call our shortcomings sin.

The Christian life offers glaring, empirical proof that "all of us make many mistakes" (James 3:2), and we are grateful for the forgiveness offered us in Jesus Christ (1 John 2:1). And yet that is far different than the accusations brought by Dr. Enroth that our community and its leadership have a hidden agenda of "spiritual abuse"--that is, purposely and/or continuously doing damage to those within our fellowship.

As the result of Dr. Enroth's accusations, those of us who have been here long enough to take some part in leadership have tried individually to take inventory of our own prejudices, stereotypes, presuppositions, and general outlook, and how these attitudes might affect our relationships with people in and outside of this community. We've tried to zero in on the real complaints--the where and when did we go wrong?--so that we might gain wisdom for the future.

Determining this has not been easy. Many of the accusations Dr. Enroth raised in our lengthy correspondence are flatly contrary to our written ministry policies and community teachings, which have been conveyed over the past twenty-two years through sermons, classroom instruction, this magazine, and other in-house publications. In our investigative experience, unbiblical practices and beliefs show up sooner or later in a person's or group's written and spoken statements.

Most of the accusations raised by Dr. Enroth were presented to us without any details, surrounding context, historic purpose, or facts as to where and when certain offenses occurred, to whom, by whom. As sociologist Anson Shupe explains in this issue, when a member of a religious group begins to consider leaving, they may begin to misinterpret the everyday frictions of community as personal offenses or affronts. Obviously, five hundred people living together will at times hurt one another's feelings, misunderstand each other, and strongly disagree!

It must be noted that when we repeatedly asked Dr. Enroth for details or specifics about these charges, he told us that most of the allegations of wrongdoing he heard were conveyed to him in confidence and that it would be a violation of his "professional ethics" for him to share details of these cases (like names of the persons involved, what happened, what year, etc.). We find this to be a very strange and backwards kind of Christian confrontation, where one is accused but not provided with an explanation of specifically what he or she did wrong.

Cornerstone magazine and other public voices of JPUSA have stressed the term accountability over the years, speaking frequently and strongly of the need for Christian musicians, speakers, teachers, and ministers to seriously "plug in" to solid, biblical churches or fellowships where someone else can have meaningful input into their lives, teachings, and public ministry. Accountability also means there should be a mature Christian from whom a person can receive correction, admonition, and encouragement.

Accountability for Christian publishers means refusing to publish sensational, unverified stories as truth. It means when a controversial manuscript is on deck, they will carefully scrutinize the author's assertions, sources, and conclusions, and then be willing to reject the manuscript if it does not measure up evidentially and/or doctrinally. This regardless of profit or loss.

How does accountability fit in with this situation? We believe that God alone can hold Dr. Enroth accountable for his motivation and attitudes; Dr. Enroth's publisher and the entire Church should hold him accountable for his research methods and his philosophical assumptions. We assert that a public critique of our ministry, or of any ministry, should be based on biblical standards of evidence, sound logic and reason, and attention to scriptural methodology.

Cornerstone magazine normally focuses on issues facing the larger body of Christ and today's world, emphasizing sound thinking and biblical action. We have avoided functioning as a promotional piece for our own community. But we are, quite literally, the voice of Jesus People USA Covenant Church and have been overseen by one of the pastoral staff from our beginning. Our integrity is only as solid as JPUSA's.

Since we cannot respond specifically to charges which are vague and without evidence, we have tried to do the next best thing. This issue of Cornerstone will present part one of JPUSA's history, a heavily documented story of our ups and downs that explains not only the dynamics of our history but the dynamics of our heart. And it really is an exciting journey we've experienced together.

We've included a central document, the JPUSA Covenant, which has, from the day it was first printed, been available to anyone upon request. It describes in detail the particular working requirements, legal relationships, and spiritual values we share as members of the Jesus People USA community. Though a communal group ourselves, we have frankly been skittish about artificial and failed attempts we saw in many so-called covenant communities; our own JPUSA Covenant didn't appear until after we'd been in existence for over ten years. It grew out of both a legal and a personal need to express formally how we relate and wish to relate to one another. It gives a valuable inside look into our community life and lifestyle.

Some larger questions affecting the Dr. Enroth/JPUSA conflict center on the issue of "mind control," also known as brainwashing or thought reform. Dr. Ronald Enroth, in a book entitled Youth, Brainwashing, and the Extremist Cults (Zondervan, 1977), wrote: "There is ample evidence that brainwashing as practiced by the cults impairs logical reasoning processes and alters interpersonal relationship patterns. In some extreme cases, individuals have experienced a loss of such basic skills as reading and simple arithmetic" (p. 164). In October 1993, mind- control-model advocate Margaret Singer, recommends Dr. Ronald Enroth in a letter she sent to the Justice and Treasury Departments regarding the Waco tragedy: "If the department does decide to expand its consultant pool and/or initiate training pertinent to groups such as the Branch Davidians, I strongly recommend that it consult behavioral-science professionals familiar with thought reform programs. I have attached a list of persons to consider (Attachment E)." Said attachment, entitled "Experts on Thought Reform and Cults," lists Dr. Ronald Enroth third of eleven names. Robert and Gretchen Passantino target the mind control ideology with scholarly precision and a dose of biblical common sense.

We are including an open letter handed to Dr. Enroth at a meeting between JPUSA and the ECC, Dr. Enroth and Zondervan, January 5, 1994, at the ECC national headquarters in Chicago. The letter focuses on a number of allegations against the ministry listed by Dr. Enroth in a letter he had sent us. We think our response will clear the air regarding the central themes of Dr. Enroth's charges.

Dr. Enroth has written us that his book is meant to tell the story of people who identify themselves as victims of their churches and that it was not his goal to tell the "other side" (the church's side) of the story. While we do believe there are individuals who are truly victims, we also believe our culture and even we Evangelicals have become preoccupied with "victimization." We have seen people drown in the morass of relativism and therapeutically defined victimhood and have touched on this trend in our articles regarding satanic ritual abuse. Dr. William Backus, licensed consulting psychologist and author of Telling Yourself The Truth (Bethany House Publishers), received copies of the Dr. Enroth correspondence from us and has responded with some thoughts of his own on "the culture of victimization".

At one point we asked by letter if Dr. Enroth would meet with us using an agreed-upon moderator, four observers (two for each side), some former JPUSAs, and some current members. In addition, we suggested that Zondervan and the ECC have representatives at the meeting. Dr. Ronald Enroth complained in his response that we were attempting to create "a trial-like environment or a Congressional hearing-like scene (complete with side rooms for the 'witnesses' to retreat to after cross-examination). . . ." Yes, a trial was exactly what we wanted. Dr. Enroth rejected such a meeting as an attempt to "control" him.

Spurgeon once wrote, "A lie travels round the world while Truth is putting on her boots," yet we continue to believe that the truth is absolute, revealed, findable. It only remains for us to begin the search. We wish to overtly aid in the process by being accountable to the body of Christ.

First published in Cornerstone (ISSN 0275-2743), Vol. 22, Issue 102/103 (1994), p. 5, 8. © 1994 by Cornerstone Communications, Inc.

Electronic version may contain minor changes and corrections from printed version.