A former pastor of an ultra-strict Pentecostal sect operating in Australia, one described by former members as having cult-like practices as part of a news.com.au investigation, has broken his silence.
Adam*, who spoke on condition of anonymity because he is “still a committed Christian attending a Bible-based church”, lashed the Potter’s House, its leadership and the bizarre rules it imposes on followers.
News.com.au earlier this month published stories from ex-members of the church who lifted the lid on a system they believe is highly dangerous and extremely damaging.
Among them was former Bachelor contestant Megan Marx, who said she was forced to wear oversized jumpers at the age of 12 because her body was “causing husbands (within the church) to sin” and was labelled a “whore” at the age of 16 because she kissed a boy.
“From a young age, girls were taught that we were responsible for mens’ lust,” she said.
“Although I was a virgin when I got married (at 18), my husband and I had kissed when I was about 16. I was sat down by the pastor and called a whore — with bible verses to support this — and disciplined by the church, which was humiliating.”
On the back of that story, several other former members of the Potter’s House reached out to this author to tell their stories.
So, too, did former pastor Adam, who gave his life to Jesus in January 1997 at a Potter’s House church in Sydney. He now says he was led astray.
“Initially things were great,” he told news.com.au. “I was on a real high. They ‘love bombed’ me and my family and we stayed. Everyone wants to be your friend in the beginning and it all looks good.
“But after some time, the cracks started to appear, and things didn’t appear to be as they seemed. There was some very questionable activity especially among pastors.”
That “questionable activity” included, according to Adam, the unwavering notion that the “pastor is king”, pastors having “access to every aspect of your life from your wife and your marriage to your children and your finances”.
Adam, who held various roles between 1997 and 2012 including preacher and Sunday School teacher within the Potter’s House church, says he heard comments like, “You need to deal with your wife” and “Your wife is headless”.
Followers of the church are expected to give a percentage of their incomes to their church. The act, known as tithing, is not a request, Adam says.
“‘How much are you giving the church?’,” they would say. “‘If you are not tithing then you are cursed’.”
Potter’s House churches bring in millions of dollars in revenue each year and dozens receive tax concessions because they are registered as charities. A search of the Australian Charities and Non-for-Profits Commission reveals a number of Potter’s House churches no longer have their charity status.
Adam says they push hard to ensure members marry within the church at a very young age.
“If you are single, your pastor will tell you if someone is a good choice to marry. And they firmly believe in marrying them young. If you are not married by 25, something is wrong.”
Adam said he had witnessed pastors interfering so heavily in the lives of members that they “caused marriage after marriage to breakdown”.
“It is very tragic,” he said.
The rules are rigid within the Potter’s House, Adam says.
“These include no secular music, no movies, no TV, no alcohol, no ‘unsaved’ friends, socialising with family outside church is frowned upon.
“Leaving the church? There is never a good, amicable way to leave a Potter’s House church. You are shunned (if you do). God forbid that you ever leave a Potter’s House church.
“Everyone labels you rebel, a backslider or they will just make stuff up about you. And once you leave, you are ‘destined for hell’.”
‘I escaped in the middle of the night’
Nick* knows the feeling intimately.
He was born into a Potter’s House church in Western Australia in 1992 and did not leave until he was 20.
The night he left, he says, followed the “tipping point” that was members of the church “trying to exorcise demons out of me”.
“I still remember barely being able to see the road through my tears, I don’t know how I didn’t crash,” Nick says of the night he left.
“I slept on a mattress in my friends lounge room for weeks, in a car I had been able to borrow, in various friends beds sometimes, if that was the only option.
“I had never been away from my family or the church for longer than 4-5 days, and we had only ever been taught to abstain from everything. I had no bearings on morality or how to navigate the world, I spend many of these nights black out drunk.
“Sleeping in car in car parks if I couldn’t go home with one of my friends, or a stranger.”
He says what he went through led to a diagnosis of complex post-traumatic stress disorder, a condition that develops from prolonged or repeated exposure to trauma.
“I endured a lot of abuse at the hands of the church, leaders, other parents who were all acting as instructed by fellowship leaders,” Nick told news.com.au.
“After a series of dramatic events in my late teens, I eventually escaped in the middle of the night in fear of my life, the tipping point being a long night (members of the church) trying to exercise demons out of me, mostly the demons that cause ‘rebellion (and) ‘homosexuality’.
“I was shunned by almost everyone I had really known my whole life.
“I never again heard from my friends who are still in the church to this day, only those who have left and reached out.”
He has some thoughts on what he might say to a person considering a life inside the Potter’s House.
“I have little hope that someone caught up in the whirlwind of love bombing that occurs when you first encounter the church would listen to anything from the mouth of a queer person who has left.
“But if they were open, I would ask what is missing from their life that makes this group so desirable?
“You are not inherently evil, you do not need to be protected or ‘saved’ from your own body, mind and humanness.
“If you want to follow Christ’s teachings and be a ray of light and love in this world, you have everything you need to do that within and around you already.”
‘Recruitment is pretty much the goal’
News.com.au has learned that on the streets of Melbourne, including outside busy train stations, young members of the church are aggressively recruiting.
Ms Marx says she is not surprised.
“Recruitment is pretty much the goal of the church,” she said.
Now 36, she is still repairing damage caused from her time in the church.
“When I left the church and got divorced, I had a pretty unhealthy relationship with sex,” she said.
“There’s this kind of guilt and shame that is there that — it is hard to deal with. And not knowing what is normal or not ‘in the world’.
“Our lives revolved completely around the church. Between daily morning prayer (before school or work), multiple weekly services, bible studies, outreach, concerts, and gendered meetings, there was little room for individuality or rest.
“Questioning leadership wasn’t welcome; dissent was met with isolation or the advice to ‘fast and pray’. Leaders had significant influence over personal choices… who you married, where you lived, even who your friends were.
“Contact with outsiders was discouraged, and theological training outside the church was frowned upon to keep everyone within their system of belief.”
The Potter’s House does not stay hidden. It is also renowned for staging graphic public productions staged on Halloween. The so-called “Hell Houses” include actors depicting abortions, car crashes, and life in hell.
“One of my mates played an aborted child,” Ms Marx said.
“As kids, we went doorknocking and street preaching, which made school life isolating since everyone knew about it.
“The church also pushedhate-filled messages against the LGBTIQ+ community, other religions, and even other Christian groups. Fear and guilt were constant tools… outsiders were seen as evil, and leaving often led to deep guilt and identity crises.
“After leaving, I had to completely relearn how to think, socialise, and define morality. I had no friends outside the church, no stable sense of self, and years of indoctrination to unlearn. It left a lasting impact on how I saw myself and the world.”
‘I was told I should kill myself’
Jarrad* wasn’t simply raised within The Potter’s House church. His parents were founding members of a pioneer church in South Australia in the mid-1990s.
Speaking to news.com.au, the now-34-year-old described a ruthless, all-in focus on religion and recruitment at all costs.
As a child, he was forced to attend marches and hold banners that read, among other things, “NO MORE GAYMES” — a slogan they shouted in protest against the Mardi Gras.
“The message preached was mostly hate, submission and self righteousness above all other Christian denominations,” Jarrad says.
“My upbringing was church seven nights a week. Sunday was two services. Wednesday night midweek services and youth groups, bible study, prayer group and morning prayer every day of the week.
“I was strongly encouraged to join the church band and was groomed for leadership from a very young age.
“The expectation being that by 18 I would be married and potentially have my own congregation.
“The church is very anti-women in leadership and encouraged women to ‘submit’ to their husbands.”
Despite the indoctrination, Jarrad says he “never could have called myself a believer”.
“I had been forced to street preach as a 13-year-old. Forced to participate in the speaking in tongues practice (a made up gibberish language of the angels). Forced to begin training as a minister. And severely punished if I rebelled or questioned the rule of law.
“I was told I had the spirit of rebellion and that any question of the churches rules was unacceptable.”
News.com.au approached The Potter’s House for comment but did not receive a response.
- Adam, Nick and Jarrad have had their names changed to protect their identities
