The Samson Rising Initiative

Samson was a very flawed man who suffered greatly because of it.

But eventually he found his feet & used the gifts God gave him to bring down an evil temple.

One Central Message

Our Message: “That we are empowering government departments by weight of evidence to act to determine if CFO is in any way in breach of the law and to provide an opportunity for individuals to find support as needed and to disclose what outcomes they are wanting from this initiative.”

Four aspects of the one 'central message' on this website.

1. Advocate for an investigation into the policies and practices of the CFO

2. Concentrate attention on illegality, not theology.

3. Focus on laws that are most likely to give rise to an investigation.

4. Helping those who want to take action in prosecutions and civil suits.

So why the Samson Option - Because it can really work!

As a former member of Brisbane Christian Fellowship (BCF), hardly a day goes by before I hear that another person has been negatively affected by their encounter with BCF, Melbourne Christian Fellowship (MCF), and the wider group of churches using the “Christian Fellowship (CF)” name across Australia.

We refer to this group of affiliated organisations, as the Christian Fellowship Organisation (CFO).

The most common complaint I hear is that former members of the CFO are now estranged from their family and friends that remain within the organisation. The common theme is that the CFO may be teaching and enforcing this behaviour.

These practices go by many names, such as ‘cutting off’ or’ shunning’, or ‘commending a person to the cross of Christ’. In this website, we refer to it as ostracization.

Our examination of the CFO indicates that ostracization is now embedded in their theology, and privacy breaches have become a routine means to an end.

This website does not focus on the theology of the CFO. Nor do we have any comment as to whether the CFO, which started out some 50 years ago, had good intentions.

Our only focus is whether the CFO is breaching Australian laws.

We are focused on how the CFO treats its past, present, and future members.

While religious freedom is a fundamental right that we all cherish, we do not believe religious freedom includes the right to force others to believe someone else’s ideology.

We are concerned the practices of the CFO may now traverse the boundary of legality.

We’ve created this website to communicate our concerns and continue to gather information, which may lead to investigations as to whether:

The conduct of the CFO amounts to coercive, abusive, and controlling behavior.
The CFO has failed to meet the governance standards required of a “charity” (registered with the Australia Charities & Not for Profits Commission—ACNC).
Whether the CFO should be wound up on the grounds of public interests and,
Whether prosecutions and civil action ought to be brought against the CFO and or individuals controlling the organisation.

We ask your assistance with our work by completing the online survey and familiarizing yourself with the information we’ve begun to compile.

We intend to assist government regulators in forming their own views on the above concerns.

Whatever outcome you are wanting from this website, completing the survey will give you the best chance of achieving that outcome.