Christian Growth Ministries

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Christian Growth Ministries ( Engl. , About Christian growth Mission ) is a charismatic embossed American Mission, which seeks to establish a management and accountability relationships in Christian churches.

Christian Growth Ministries (CGM) was founded in 1970 in Fort Lauderdale by Pentecostal clerics Derek Prince , Charles Simpson, Bob Mumford and Don Basham , initially under the name Holy Sprit Treaching Mission . The goal was to introduce some form of discipline in the emerging charismatic movement. The pyramid-like structure propagated by CGM is also known under the name Shepherding and provides a special emphasis on the responsibility of the community members to the leadership and the submission to the community leaders.

The concept of Shepherding (also called Disipling ) placed every congregation member under the authority of a congregation elder, who in turn was subject to the authority of the pastor. The authority to issue orders went beyond the individual municipalities. The ward pastors, in turn, reported to a regional movement leader who eventually received his orders directly from the leaders of CGM in Fort Lauderdale.

Although CGM was accused of abusing parishioners and promoting sectarian behavior, the movement spread to charismatic parishes of the Roman Catholic Church and charismatic free churches. Prince gradually distanced himself from CGM, so that finally the headquarters of the plant was moved to the vicinity of Simpsons Golf Coast Convenant Church in Mobile .

criticism

Conservative American television preacher Pat Robertson accused CGM of teaching magic and drew a comparison of the movement with the sect of Jim Jones , whom his followers in Jonestown had followed in a mass suicide. According to Pentecostal pastor Jack Hayford, many people have been deeply wounded in the spirit of the teachings of CGM.

Individual evidence

  1. ^ J. Gordon Melton: discipling / shepherding movement . In: Encyclopedia of World Religions . Encyclopedia of Protestantism, No. 6 . Facts of File, New York 2005, ISBN 978-0-8160-5456-5 , pp. 186 (English).
  2. ^ Randall Herbert Balmer: Christian Growth Ministries . In: Encyclopedia of Evangelicalism . Baylor University Press, Waco 2004, ISBN 1-932792-04-X , pp. 163 (English).
  3. ↑ Randall Herbert Balmer: Sherpherding Movement . In: Encyclopedia of Evangelicalism . Baylor University Press, Waco 2004, ISBN 1-932792-04-X , pp. 622 (English).