Disillusionment might seem negative, but upon reflection, it can be a positive experience. The term generally means the disappointment resulting from discovering that something is not as good as one believed it to be.
The positive aspect is that the illusion you were under has been revealed. Once this happens, you can act to free yourself from the false beliefs you held.
In 2000, I wrote a series of feature articles for both secular and Christian presses, which I felt were ignorant or dismissive of the New Churches and their growing popularity and influence within the UK church scene at the time.
My praise and enthusiasm for the new movement are evident in every line.
I gathered material from books, magazine articles, papers by key proponents of the movement, and interviews with its leading figures. I clearly remember interviewing Terry Virgo, then the leader of New Frontiers, for over an hour on the phone and meeting with another member of that organisation in a restaurant at Waterloo Station.
Although the articles covered a range of topics, they all had one central aim: to get the nation, including the established churches, to recognise what I then saw as the amazing changes taking place in the UK's religious landscape. Some of them or parts of them did not directly address the issue of deceptive ideologies in the church, they provided commentaries on the changing landscape.
I wrote about how, in a postcolonial, post-Christian Britain, missionaries from the countries we originally evangelised were now coming here to bring back the gospel they believed we had forgotten.
I wrote a long article about the history of the New Churches, their growth, and the Christian festivals and camps they spawned.
Other articles examined revivals in the UK and around the world and the media products promoting them. One notable piece was an in-depth investigation into the founding and development of what is now known as GOD TV.
A particularly moving story was about John Gillespie, a Methodist minister who was asked to leave the organisation because of his public objections to his church’s drift from scripture, its increasing liberalism, and moves towards interfaith policies. The piece highlighted other ministers who left their denominations to form New Churches, contrasting the stultifying systems of the old established churches with the energy, vigour, and freshness found in the new ones.
It's important to clarify that since writing these articles and conducting a thorough investigation into the foundational belief systems of the New Churches, I have wholly rejected those beliefs.
This includes Replacement Theology and its counterpart Restorationism, which I now recognise as false teachings leading the Western church astray. Now combined with other erroneous ideas, they form a hazardous catalyst that threatens further harm.
Most of the articles are reproduced here as evidence of my past support. I aim to show that I was an 'insider' in the New Church Movement.