Abuse with a Smile w/ Emily

IndoctriNation

Religion & Spirituality

4.8 • 566 Ratings

🗓️ 19 January 2022

⏱️ 47 minutes

🔗️ Recording | iTunes | RSS

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Summary

Emily is a former member of C3 NYC where she endured three years of pastoral abuse. Her account @C3ChurchWatch on Instagram was created in June 2020 as an effort to stop the harassment she was experiencing. She did not think anyone but her pastor would notice it, but soon found herself with plenty of followers and supporters privately and publicly citing harm or abuse from C3 churches all over the world. Her church and the Philadelphia location responded by conducting a smear campaign, telling members to block the account, hunting down account supporters, and sending Emily a false legal threat that was rescinded when a journalist became involved. Following along with a larger movement, and with a prior background in cult recovery, Emily quickly saw the need for those exiting toxic evangelical spaces to understand what happened to them and where to go to safely process their experience. She operates her account today to document her own journey, gathers articles and investigations involving C3, holds space for those wanting to share their story publicly or privately, shares resources, helps people find appropriate therapy, and speaks with family/friends of current members. Emily provides some background on C3 Church Global, a charismatic movement founded in Sydney, Australia, with a community of over 500 churches worldwide. In addition to her insights on the mega-church culture in general, she shares her personal experience of pastoral abuse in the Philadelphia location of C3. Rachel and Emily discuss the red flags she noticed along the way as well as the self-doubt that prevented her from having the clarity of mind to see the group for what it really was. Emily shares with Rachel how she ultimately extricated herself from the church and came to victim advocacy work through her IG account. Before You Go: Rachel explains the importance of exploring the biases that may prevent you from noticing warning signs of high control groups. She points out how the optics of certain situations can be a distractionary element that clouds your perspective. Follow Emily's C3 account here: https://www.instagram.com/c3churchwatch/ More Info on C3 here: https://c3churchwatch.com/2012/03/10/macdougalls-testimony-of-pringles-early-beginnings/ Find Rachel's book "Now I Know, Kids Talking To Kids About Divorce..." here: www.amazon.com/Now-I-Know-Rachel…ein/dp/1620867893 Thanks to all our new Patreon supporters: Nicole Kraft Marla Hendershot, Frank Morgan, Jennifer Atkinson, Sylvia Bernstein, and Tara S. To help support the show monthly and sign up for cool Indoctrination shirts and tote bags, please visit: www.patreon.com/indoctrination Want to support the IndoctriNation show with a one-time donation? Use this link: www.paypal.me/indoctriNATION You can help the show for free by leaving a review on Spotify or Apple/ iTunes. It really helps the visibility of the show! Advertising Inquiries: https://redcircle.com/brands

Transcript

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0:00.0	Welcome to indoctrination, a weekly conversation series about protecting yourself from systems of control. I'm your host, Rachel Bernstein.
0:15.1	I'm Rachel Bernstein, an educator, therapist, and mom, and the author of Now I Know. Now I Know, kids talking to kids about divorce is a one-of-a-kind children's book
0:25.8	narrated entirely from the perspective of kids.
0:29.8	Free from exclusivity, Now I Know, focuses on how kids feel when their parents get divorced
0:35.5	and provides guidance for the parents as well. In this book,
0:39.7	kids ask kids questions and help each other find answers, work on accepting their own feelings,
0:45.4	and learn that they're allowed to process and progress at their own speed. Parents also in this
0:52.1	book have no gender, and the illustrations are indicative of a
0:56.1	universality where the only important aspects are the kids themselves, full of helpful and accessible
1:03.0	activities like a journal, a place to draw, and a one-year reflection. Now I Know is a self-contained educational and emotional resource.
1:25.4	Hi, everyone. Today on the show, I have Emily who contacted me to be able to tell her story,
1:32.7	and I'm so happy she did. Emily is a former member of a church called C3. She was in C3, NYC. It's all over the world,
1:43.7	and she was involved in New York City, where she endured
1:47.4	three years of pastoral abuse.
1:52.0	Her account at C3 Church Watch on Instagram was created in June of 2020.
2:00.2	As an effort to stop the harassment, she was experiencing,
2:03.7	and she has experienced a lot of it. She did not think anyone, but her pastor would notice it,
2:09.7	but soon found herself with plenty of followers and supporters privately and publicly citing
2:15.4	harm or abuse from C3 churches all over the world.
2:20.4	Her church and the Philadelphia location responded by conducting a smear campaign,
2:25.5	which doesn't surprise me, that happens to so many people who come forward with their stories,
2:31.1	telling members to block the account and they hunted down account supporters and sent
	...

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