Mum tells how controversial Church of Christ outlawed her from her family after she attended different kirk

Daily Record & Sunday Mail, UK/September 9, 2013

Angel Johnson was 'disfellowshipped' from the Church of Christ and was threatened with spending eternity in hell after she attended a service at a different church.

A MUM has told how leaders at the Church of Christ warned her she would spend eternity in hell for attending a service at another kirk.

Angel Johnson claimed she was put through a degrading ex-communication process by control freaks at the sect.

She said: “I still have the letters which warn me of my eternity in hell if I don’t come back and repent in front of the congregation.

“Now that I am disfellowshipped, my family are not allowed to eat with me or talk to me unless they are trying to convert me.

“Most of them don’t follow that rule but my aunt and uncle won’t eat at the same table with me and will barely say anything to me.”

Last week, the Daily Record told how the US-based Church of Christ had infiltrated two state primary schools in East Kilbride.

Their “missionaries” helped children with school work, took them on outings and passed on books spelling out their extreme religious views.

South Lanarkshire Council kicked the Church of Christ out of Kirktonholme and Greenburn schools after our revelations.

Angel’s story suggest that parents of pupils at the schools were right to be concerned about the church’s involvement.

Her experience mirrors that of thousands of others who were welcomed into the church then spat out for minor breaches of their hardline rules.

Scores of support groups exist for ex-members of the sect whose lives were blighted by their experience.

Former members of the church contacted the Record after last week’s reports.

Angel, 36, fell foul of the church after she attended a service at a Baptist church, which led to her being ex-communicated.

Angel, who moved to the UK from Arkansas after her nightmare experience, said she was hounded during the “disfellowship” process.

She said: “The Church of Christ is what you get when you strip away Christianity from any of its historical or political context and attempt to live and worship using only the New Testament as your guide.

“The ex-communication process involves getting people to write you letters, make unannounced visits to your home, and so on.”

Jim Higginbotham emailed the Record from his home in the US after reading our articles.

He said the church’s elders told him to keep quiet when he tried to report a sexual assault.

Jim said: “When we alerted the leaders of the church, they advised us to ‘drop it’ and ‘forget about it’.

Each congregation of the Church of Christ is independent of the others so there is no central leadership.

“A group of men are appointed for life to lead each congregation.They answer to no one. This structure makes it impossible to hold anyone accountable for their actions.’”

The Church of Christ, based in the US deep south, were involved at Kirktonholme for eight years.

Head teacher Sandra MacKenzie invited them in and their missionary Jared Blakeman was a chaplain.

Many parents were unaware of the church’s involvement with their kids until they brought the sect’s books home.

The extremists don’t believe in the theory of evolution and consider homosexuality to be a sin.

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