VICTORY OUTREACH INTERNATIONAL
Victory Outreach International was founded in 1967 by Sonny and Julie Arguinzoni in Los Angeles. VOI is involved in church planting and development, rehabilitation homes and training centres in what they describe as “strategic cities around the world”. They claim to be one of the largest inner-city ministries in the world having expanded into a network of over 600 inner-city churches and ministries in over thirty countries. The “vision” of VOI is to evangelize and disciple “the hurting people of the world with the message of hope and plan of Jesus Christ.”
Victory Outreach International in the US has a mixed reputation and a significant number of former pastors and ex-members describe VOI in very negative terms. VOI has been described as a “spiritual pyramid scheme” with founder Sonny Arguinzoni and his leadership benefiting at the expense of the slave like labour of the lower members. The leadership of VOI have been accused of being grossly exploitative towards their vulnerable adult residents with little accountability. Ex members and former pastors describe VOI as cultish having authoritarian and manipulative regimes based on greed rather than the benefit of the residents. Ex-members have reported that they were forced to work long hours without pay and that they were deprived of basic needs like food, sleep, recreation time and were forced to live in overcrowded unsanitary conditions. There are testimonies about forced “approved” Bible studies and brainwashing techniques in order to keep residents in submission to the leadership. It has also been reported that residents are encouraged to defraud the welfare system for the financial benefit of VOI and are told to fill in DSS forms fraudulently.
All this of course is in the name of Christianity!
There is some substance behind these accusations:
“State officials in the early 1990s found many church rehabilitation homes to be unsafe and unsanitary. After only four of the 70 or so Victory Outreach facilities in California got a state license, the church withdrew all its license applications.”http://www.rickross.com/reference/victory_outreach/victory_outreach4.html
“On March 22, 2010, Victory Outreach Pastor Max Garza will begin serving a five month prison sentence for Aiding the Preparation of a False Tax Return.”
There is negative testimony after negative testimony about VOI on the following web pages:
A testimony from former Pastor of Victory Outreach Peter Belaustegui:http://www.apologeticsindex.org/v01.html
Victory Outreach International in Ireland fares no better with similar horror stories . It has been said that Victory Outreach in Ireland are “shepherding churches”where every detail of members lives are subject to the leadership whose total authority cannot be questioned. Much has been written about illegal fund raising of VOI in Ireland.
"Bible verses drilled into memorization, long periods of study and activity without rest, long repetitive prayer meetings, further teachings and so on. Leadership is unquestionable (using the same old verse used by all Bible based cults and false prophets out of context "Touch not the Lord's Anointed and do His prophets no harm" 1Chronicles 16:22 / Psalms 105:15)http://www.oocities.org/athens/parthenon/6528/cult.htm
POINTS OF CONCERN ABOUT VICTORY OUTREACH UK
Victory Outreach UK is independent from Victory Outreach International,
though it is run along very similar lines. The history of VO UK goes back to
the 1960s when it was founded by David and Dinah Sansome MBE. Victory Outreach
UK offers housing and rehabilitation to vulnerable adults, many of whom have
suffered abuse; specifically those with drug and/or alcohol addictions, those
on release from prison and homeless between the ages of 18 and 40 years. As
well as housing, they claim to offer counselling, care and on-going support to
help people integrate back into society. According to their own website,
Victory Outreach UK have four properties in South Wales and accommodate young
people from all over the UK. In 2009 the Sansomes handed the directorship of VO
UK over to Richard Taylor, a former drug addict and convicted criminal, and in
January 2010 Victory Church in Cwmbran was founded by Richard Taylor with
former addicts and ex-offenders. Dinah Sansome was present at the launch of
Victory Church and I understand that she continued to support the work for a
period of time, though this is no longer the case.
We have a period of about three years only from 2010 in which to assess
the situation at VO UK. This is a relatively short period of time compared with
VO International. However even in that short period of time there are very serious points of
concern.
On the home page of Victory Church Taylor is very defensive and directs
criticism to those local churches who do not go along with the “Welsh
Outpouring” due to theological issues and ecumenism. Victory Church is
part of Elim and is ecumenical. It is partners with the Roman Catholic Church
and the other major denominations which form “Churches Together”. However,
the Roman Catholic Church preaches a different Jesus (2
Corinthians 11/4) and the other denominations are members of the World Council
of Churches which are all compromising on important aspects of the Gospel. One
must ask the question: Would a true man of God associate with those who promote
doctrines of demons and a different Gospel? (1 Timothy 4/1) Taylor has modelled
the “Welsh Outpouring” on Reinhard Bonnke's model for “blood
washed Africa” which is based on inflated statistics, unverified
healings and false teaching. In fact sixteen (? some reports say 14) people
were crushed to death at one of Bonnke's Nigerian Crusades, so it seems that
attendees found death rather than life on that occasion! Taylor has the same
agenda for Wales as Bonnke, namely “taking Wales for Christ”.
However Taylor's “blood washed Wales” does throw up many of
the same anomalies as Bonnke's “blood washed Africa”.
Victory Outreach UK and Victory Church are inextricably linked; they
share the same postal address in Cwmbran and have the same people in positions
of authority. Richard Taylor and his wife Jill Taylor are Joint Directors of
Victory Outreach UK. The Executive Officer of Victory Outreach UK is Andrew
Parsons who is also Executive Pastor at Victory Church, and his wife Susan
Parsons is the Finance Officer. Parsons is a bankrupt whose previous company in Auckland New
Zealand, Contrast Designs Ltd (2008-2011), was struck off by
the New Zealand Companies Office. Neither Taylor or Parsons completed their theological studies at The Birminham Bible Institute. Kenneth Brandie, elder Victory Church and
Lead Pastor at Cwmbran is also a Trustee of Victory Outreach. Other Trustees
are Campus Pastor and Facilities Manager of VO Robert Hart, Darril Dowden (? no
information could be found about him) and Chairman, 74 year old retired
solicitor Dr Anthony Weston who lives in Hereford.
I would suggest that this situation fails to adequately protect the
vulnerable residents of VO. Victims of abuse do not easily come forward,
usually because of intimidation and fear of reprisals etc. Apart from rules and
regulations, residents are subject to a daily work programme at the manager’s
discretion. TV viewing, music and literature is monitored by the management.
Though it is stated by VO that residents can leave at any time, this is not
actually the case since many are isolated and have nowhere else to go. The
residents of VO UK are actually sitting targets for abusive treatment with no
apparent checks in place for their protection.
Richard Taylor: “I have to be honest here and tell you I take no
salary from our church and serve with no financial burden to our
congregation.” http://www.victorychurch.co.uk/the-challenge-of-large-church”
Taylor uses the word honest very loosely considering he
claims to be a minister of the Lord! The fact is that Victory Church
contributes financially to Victory Outreach UK. Taylor's salary therefore does
come indirectly from Victory Church as does his house, his Jaguar and other
benefits which contribute to his excessive lifestyle. Taylor and his wife,
Parsons and his wife along with others employed by Victory Outreach UK do
therefore benefit financially from Victory Church.
Another financial anomaly is that in 2008 Victory Outreach UK were
ineligible for funding. Apparently this decision was taken by the SPRG
Inspectors because the Sansomes would not compromise their faith and comply
with the condition to remove scripture passages from the funded rehabilitation
centres. VO's 2011/12 financial statement shows a figure of £413,649 for grants
and donations – clearly VO are getting funding now. This funding is subsidising
the extravagant lifestyles of Taylor and Parsons and the taxpayer is footing
the bill! Perversely Taylor continually pleads poverty for Victory Church on
his "outpouring" podcasts.
The number of houses available for vulnerable adults was reported as six
by Radio Wales in 2009. http://www.bbc.co.uk/wales/radiowales/sites/allthingsconsidered/updates/20091220.shtml
According to the VO UK website, there are now only four houses
available. Both Taylor and Parsons live in large houses owned by Victory
Outreach. All the residents have been moved out of the Tredegar home and it is
currently occupied by two managers. In VO UK's financial statement of 2011/12,
the cost of vehicles was £81,187 and yet no ministry vehicle was purchased
during that time. VO also picks up the tab for services to their private
vehicles. The lifestyles of the leaders is clearly a very far cry from the
vulnerable Victory “volunteer army” who live on benefits and
probably far exceeds most of their local congregation. Whatever happened to the
principle of …..being an example to the flock (1 Peter 5/3)?
It has been argued that the “Welsh Outpouring” must be
genuine because so many ex-prisoners and drug addicts attend the nightly “outpouring” events.
However the reason for this is that the residents of the Victory Outreach homes
are coerced into attending all the events and are bussed to VC in Cwmbran and other "outpouring"
locations. I have been informed that refusal to attend these events results
in eviction. Someone commented on my previous article: “Essentially the
same congregation travel to all the different churches and they boast great
numbers whereas they are the same people.” Like Bonnke's African
Crusades, the “Welsh Outpouring” gives a false impression of
numbers and success which no doubt attracts the attention of other deluded
people who hope for “a touch from the Lord”, or those simply
curious about what is going on. Another concern is that the vulnerable adults
who attend every single “outpouring” event are subjected to hours
of so called “worship” and
false doctrine. Some have called the worship Kundalini Yoga because of
the similarity to mantras which induces mass hypnotism, falling down backwards
and other non-biblical phenomena.
Just as in VOI, the residents of VO UK attend compulsory Bible studies:
“They (the boys from the rehab homes) meet regularly for bible study
but every day scripture teaching and study is essential in the homes.”
Rehabilitation homes and programmes for vulnerable adults combined with
obligatory participation in a religious agenda is illegal. By law those vulnerable adults who need this
kind of support should not be forced to submit to a religious regime as a
condition of receiving help (The Human Rights Act 1998). The question might
reasonably be asked: What exactly are these vulnerable adults being exposed to
and could their obligatory participation in the “Welsh Outpouring” be
harmful to them?
Jeff VanVonderen: "Spiritual abuse occurs when someone in a
position of spiritual authority, the purpose of which is to 'come underneath'
and serve, build, equip and make a deity's or a god's people MORE free, misuses
that authority placing themselves over a god's people to control, coerce or
manipulate them for seemingly godly purposes which are really their own. "http://daviswiki.org/Recovering_From_Spiritual_Abuse
Reports continue to emerge about very serious abuse taking place against
the VO residents. The comments on the link below are extremely concerning:
Taylor issued "A WARNING FROM THE LORD" !!!! “I
have been warned by the Lord; the Lord spoke to me very clearly...........this
is a warning from the Lord. You need to be in every outpouring meeting because
there could be just one meeting, one moment which could change your life
forever and you could miss it..............” This “warning” was
reiterated three times! God would be very cruel indeed if it were possible to
miss His touch upon our lives by missing “just one meeting – one
moment”. This is the way that the
local members of Victory Church are spiritually blackmailed into attending every “outpouring” event,
on top of which they also have regular church activities “cluster
groups, church planting, academy on a Saturday morning and the preaching on a
Sunday.”
In a false teaching entitled “The Favour of the King” based on
Esther 5-7, Taylor encourages people: “Bring your enemy into the house
of God – into the presence of the King.” According to Taylor, if you
come to Victory Church and worship God enough times then your problems (which
Taylor defines as your “enemy”) will be turned around by God. However this is dependent upon “coming
into the house” i.e. Taylors meetings.
The ridiculous notion that the favour of God depends upon attending
Taylor's meetings is unconscionable, in fact in my opinion the opposite is
probably true, but this is exactly what cult leaders do. Biblically: …..where two or three are
gathered in my name, there am I among them. (Matthew 18/20) But
when you pray, go into your room and shut the door and pray to your Father who
is in secret. And your Father who sees in secret will reward you. (Matthew
6/6) The problem is that we cannot make a formula out of Queen Esther's example
with King Xerxes and Haman to apply to our own situations. The Apostle Paul: I
know how to be brought low, and I know how to abound. In any and every
circumstance, I have learned the secret of facing plenty and hunger, abundance
and need. (Philippians 4/12) What would the martyrs and the persecuted
church say about this teaching?
Special entrance cards have been issued to “regular supporters “ so
that they can use the “academy door” and avoid the queues.
Should believers make distinctions amongst themselves and give favour to those
who regular givers as against those who are needy and vulnerable? The apostle
James tells us that if the better off people are given advantages this is the
sin of partiality (James 2/1-12). Listen, my beloved brothers, has not
God chosen those who are poor in the world to be rich in faith and heirs of the
kingdom, which he has promised to those who love him? But you have dishonoured
the poor man. (James 2/5-6) The two class system at Victory Church is
totally against the teaching of the apostles which says that we should have
equal concern for one another. This is something that is reiterated again and
again in the Bible because God himself shows no partiality (Romans 2/11).
Please feel free to write your own comments, even if anonymous, if you
or anyone you know has had a negative experience with VO UK.
Give justice to the weak and the fatherless; maintain the right of the
afflicted and the destitute. (Psalm 82/3)
http://www.gilstraplaw.com/articles_detail.sstg?id=40 sexual abuse Esudero ex pastor
thanks for the article. i hope more than just myself has read it! I needed this, was about to visit VC, i just wanted to be with the poor and lowly christians who love God.
ReplyDeleteMaybe God wants me to go still, to witness any spiritual abuse and respond accordingly.
Will pray to the Father now to ask Him for His will in this situation.
God bless
I was a resident of victory outreach UK back in 95 left after a few years since I've left I have never set foot inside a church since due to what went on there I developed a personality disorder anxiety severe depression and psychosis I'm still having therapy today
ReplyDeleteI was in hopecentre and there so called supported housing. Its spiritual abuse from the off. I'm currently working on an article about Victory church and have collected various stories of former residents which will go in depth about there bullying and coercive techniques.
ReplyDeleteI attended VO in Colorado. I experienced abuse from the start. I was shamed, guilted and bullied on a regular basis. I was told I had to tell leadership everything about my life. I was made to believe I could not miss church or any meetings or I obviously wasn’t close to God. I left in complete darkness and am still in therapy. This church is a cult. I served 5 days a week and attended church and meeting 6-7 per week most months. I was told if I don’t give then they know where my priorities are….. run. Don’t look back.
ReplyDelete