Network Building Anti-Gay Churches Shuttered
Mike Wilkerson’s redemption groups small in numbers but infl uenced NYC congregations
BY DUNCAN OSBORNE
An evangelical ministry
that was dedicated
to supporting church
groups that have the
eradication of homosexuality as
part of their mission shut down
on December 31 after operating for
roughly a decade.
“It’s time to say goodbye to Redemption
Group Network, the
non-profi t organization founded to
support the training and development
of Redemption Groups,” Mike
Wilkerson, the founder and executive
director of the network, wrote
in a November 26 email. “We’ll be
closing down by December 31st,
2019 and discontinuing all activities,
including hosting the content
on redemptiongroups.com and any
training or licensing for Redemption
Groups.”
Wilkerson developed the structure
for redemption groups in 2007
and 2008 when he was a pastor
at Mars Hill Church in Seattle, a
mega-church that was founded
by Mark Driscoll, a now disgraced
pastor who was known for his
right wing views on theology and
social matters. The theory that
underpinned redemption groups
was that the doctrine used in any
church group had to conform to
the doctrine that was preached
from the church’s pulpit.
In 2011, Wilkerson published
“Redemption: Freed by Jesus From
the Idols We Worship and the
Wounds We Carry,” which was the
textbook for redemption groups.
The book treats eating disorders,
alcohol and drug addiction, and
other known mental illnesses
as sins or forms of suffering that
are best addressed with religious
doctrine and practice. Same-sex
attraction, which is not a mental
illness according to every major
mental health organization in
North America, is another sin or
form of suffering that can be ameliorated
by participating in a redemption
group, the book argues.
It also addresses behaviors, such
as using pornography, that are not
mental illness, but may be disturbing
Saying he is pursuing new employment avenues and theological currents, Mike Wilkerson announced
the end of his anti-gay Redemption Group Network.
for an evangelical.
Wilkerson’s book uses the Book
of Exodus, an Old Testament book,
as the model for freeing participants
from sin. Exodus tells the
story of the Israelites winning
freedom from slavery under the
Egyptians. Wilkerson devotes an
entire chapter to telling the story
of Ben who “spent years living in
the bondage of a homosexual lifestyle.”
In another chapter, the book
mentions a man named Steve who
struggled with his attraction for
older men. The book has a blurb by
Nate, who “spent a decade in habitual
sin and idol worship, including
lust and homosexual prostitution.”
This view is consistent with
Driscoll’s preaching.
In a 2005 sermon on the story
of Sodom and Gomorrah, Driscoll
said, “This society is so gross that
not only are the men perverted, but
they pervert their boys and their
boys beat them to the orgy… I want
you to just feel the sickness that’s
in this town... Every man eats dinner
and runs to the homwosexual
rape orgy, and the boys are keeping
pace with the men.”
The Sodom myth tells the story
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of two angels who visit Lot in Sodom.
All the males in the town
gather outside Lot’s home and ask
to have sex with the angels.
In 2014, Driscoll was fi red from
Mars Hill, which had grown to 15
locations drawing an estimated
15,000 worshippers on Sundays,
after disclosures that he had
plagiarized other authors in his
books, hired a private agency to
make bulk purchases of his books
to boost their rankings on bestseller
lists, and run Mars Hill in an
authoritarian fashion. He is now
the pastor at The Trinity Church
in Scottsdale, Arizona. Mars Hill
shut down.
Searches for “redemption
groups” suggest that these groups
are currently operating at churches
across the country though the
numbers appear to be small. A
number of churches that are part
of the Acts 29 Network, a churchplanting
group that Driscoll cofounded
in 1998, appear to use the
curriculum.
The Sojourn Network, another
church-planting organization, also
appears to have churches, including
one in New York City, that use
RELIGION
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MIke Wilkerson’s book that was the basis of his
redemption group theology.
or have used the redemption group
model and Wilkerson’s book. The
Apostles Church Network, which
has churches in Manhattan and
Brooklyn, operated redemption
groups and recommended Wilkerson’s
book as recently as 2016.
Apostles is part of the Sojourn Network.
The rankings on Amazon in
“Christian spiritual growth” and
“Christian pastoral counseling”
suggest that the book sells, but
not particularly well. The Redemption
Group Network was a 501(c)
(3) and its Forms 990 show that it
raised just under $40,000 in 2016,
just under $20,000 in 2017, and
just over $11,000 in 2018.
“I’m no longer the person to provide
leadership for Redemption
Group Network, both because of
my need to pursue fi nancially viable
work and also because I’m
changing theologically such that
it’s no longer a good fi t for me to
write, teach, and train in support
of Redemption Groups,” Wilkerson
wrote on the group’s website. “Both
developments — vocational and
spiritual — have occurred organically
over the past few years, as
those of you with whom I’ve stayed
in touch know well.”
Wilkerson would not speak
on the record and The Apostles
Church Network did not respond
to an email seeking comment.
GayCityNews.com | January 2 - January 15, 2020 3
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