Mercy Ministries closes
The Sydney branch of a controversial Christian counselling program closed over the weekend.
Mercy Ministries had been accused of offering ‘ex-gay’ style programs and performing so-called exorcisms during counselling sessions.
Mercy Ministries presented itself as an in-patient therapeutic counselling program with a Christian ethos, however, few staff had any mainstream accreditation.
Former residents complained their lives were controlled while in the program and that at-risk girls were expelled for minor infractions.
The organisation received financial support from the Gloria Jeans coffee chain and Hillsong Church as well as asking women who attended to hand over welfare payments.
Both organisations have since pulled their support and distanced themselves from the group. Hillsong pastor Brian Houston told media an inquiry into the group’s dealings by the Australian Competition and Consumer Commission led him to cut ties with their Australian and overseas operations.
“To ensure that this does not happen again it is important that we take immediate action to protect the reputation of our church moving forward,” Houston said.
Houston encouraged anyone who had been involved with Mercy Ministries to cooperate with authorities.
A number of Hillsong members served on the board of Mercy Ministries.
Freedom 2 b[e] convenor and A Life of Unlearning author Anthony Venn-Brown said, having met women who’d attended Mercy Ministries without issue, he initially found the allegations hard to believe.
“I defended the program when a boycott was planned on Gloria Jeans because it was believed [it was] providing ex-gay therapy. When I asked questions, I was told this was not the case,” Venn-Brown said.
“I apologise for that now — I was misled. We now know that a number of girls went into Mercy Ministries specifically to change their same-sex orientation.”
“After campaigning against Mercy Ministries for many years, and boycotting Gloria Jeans because of their funding of Mercy Ministries, I can only applaud the decision to close,” MCC Crave pastor Karl Hand told Sydney Star Observer.
“When a person involves themselves to such an invasive degree in the lives of another human being, it is their responsibility to be well informed so they do no harm.
“I wish the decision represented an ideological shift from those organisations but I suspect they were just covering themselves against bad press.”
The Tennessee-based organisation runs similar centres in the UK, the US and New Zealand, and is building others in Canada and South Africa.
The fate of another centre run by the group on the Sunshine Coast is unknown.
I have read all the 7 comments above and not one supports Mercy Ministries. I financially supported the organization for a number of months. I really support and have alot compassion for people who are depressed have eating disorders and the like. If the people working in Mercy Ministries claimed to be qualified psychologist, counsellors and they were not qualified, doing this is very dangerous because it can damage lives and do more harm thean good. It takes years of schooling to become a good psychologist and a good counseller. I feel really burdened for the people left over in the program when it closed and i sincerely hope that they do find a good counsellor to continue their development.
If Mercy Ministries do operate in another name in the future, i will not be supporting them. I also believe that everyone has a freedom of choice and even when counselling, the client should always make the decision about their choices not the other way round.
Last we heard, the professional bodies couldn’t do a thing because unless a person is qualified and registered with the professional body, they have no juristiction over them. And of course most of the staff who did these things were not qualified or registered in any way.
I thought it should be illegal to claim you’re a psychologist, counsellor or social worker when you’re not.
I probably should ask them directly but I would like to know what the professional bodies representing counsellors, psychologists and social workers are doing about these quacks.
Charlatans like Brian Houston are not only anti-gay bigots but also could be in breach of ethical standards and legal requirements governing the professions they are violating.
I am attempting to follow are rather nebulous lead that suggests that they will be opening up under another name in about 18 months time. Keeps your ears open for Margaret Stunt, the last Mercy Director shortly before the Houston announcement she allegedly intimated to girls attending her course that the centre would open under another name.
The head of Gorlia Jean’s Australia is on the board of Hillsong Church and they also ran Mercy Ministries.
My question is, how many Caffe Lattes led to someone in our community killing themselves due to the hate and violence, Hillsong has promoted calling us an Abomination and a Cancer.
I am not letting Gloria Jeans off the hook. How could they prey on young girls in crisis. It is just disgusting to me. We are yet to see an apology from Gloria Jeans and until we do, we should all take our pink dollars else where, and tell our friends, family, and others not to go to Gloria Jeans.
“Immediate” action, “Pastor” Houston?
When the stench of the torturous “Mercy Ministries” and the cries of outrage against them first permeated your gilded ivory tower and your comfortable insulated existence, how long before you really took action? And being a grotesque high priest of “prosperity theology”, how much of your decision was based on face-saving or monetary rather than humanitarian concerns?
The unpleasant stories have been known about “Mercy Ministries for some time. What took you so long? Is it the case that the sheer indefensible hypocrisy of it all was such that not even a self-preserving minister of greed like you could ignore it any longer?
Lest we forget:
Hillsong – the church with no answers (2007)
http://www.smh.com.au/news/national/hillsong–the-church-with-no-answers/2007/08/03/1185648145760.html
Hillsong farewells a lost sheep pioneer (2004)
http://www.smh.com.au/news/National/Hillsong-farewells-a-lost-sheep-pioneer/2004/11/12/1100227581958.html
Thank God they’ve closed. This place wasn’t even really Christian, the staff treated us really badly and they lied about the kind of “services” they provided. They believed exorcism was all you needed to “rid” yourself of the “demons.” They weren’t even qualified counselors!
The Sunshine Coast home closed last year for the same reasons (mistreating residents.)
I don’t think we have seen the end of them, I suspect they will probably open up under another name in a few months if they have not already done so.