Samson Rising has deliberately avoided posting emotive content.
Our focus is to stick to objective facts and advocate for an investigation into the CFO.
We have made one exception, in the case of Nathan Brown.
This account is provided by an uncle of Nathan Brown and represents his honest recollection of the circumstances leading to Nathan’s death.
Samson Rising does not have the resources to fully investigate the account you are about to read. However, we checked this account with two other people who knew Nathan closely, and they have verified the details are true.
We dedicate this page to Nathan’s memory and hope with all our hearts that Nathan’s suffering will not be in vain.
Nathan was a young man who was born into the CFO. His parents attended Brisbane Christian Fellowship, and they diligently followed the Presbytery’s directives in relation to their lives and Nathan’s.
Nathan’s Story:
‘I‘m Nathan’s uncle. I knew him his entire life, and I was one of the first people to find Nathan’s body a few days after his death.
Nathan was 28 years old when he died, alone in a unit at West End in Brisbane.
Six months earlier, Nathan told me he had fled his family home. He was living by himself and was renting the unit at West End.
He explained that he would not tell me or anyone his address. This was because he feared his parents would find him and try to coerce him to come back to BCF.
For many years Nathan had confided in me that he wanted to leave BCF. He hated going, and he felt every part of his life was controlled by the leadership of BCF and his parents.
During that six-month period, Nathan would call me and meet with me for a drink, and we’d chat about how he was coping with life outside BCF.
He struggled meeting new friends and struggled relating to women. He only knew how to converse with ‘Church people about Church things’. He would say to me, “I’m a 28-year-old virgin who’s never made a decision of my own.
He struggled very badly with condemnation and fear for his salvation. He was so used to only measuring his worth by what others said about him. Since his earliest memories, the strict doctrine of BCF was all he knew. Rather than teaching the joy of salvation, BCF attached salvation to strict obedience to the Presbytery.
Until he was old enough to start forming his own views, he actually believed the Presbytery heard directly from God, and anything they said about him was true.
He said they only made him feel valued if he was doing everything they said, including paying money to the church, attending meetings, and working bees at least three times a week.
Most of all, he railed against the church’s ‘demands’ to cut off family and friends if they left the church.
Nathan had severe epilepsy. This meant he could not earn a steady income of his own. He felt unable to leave his family home because he couldn’t support himself. He felt completely trapped and asked my advice about what he could do.
Once, when Nathan was trying to hold down a job, he suffered a workplace injury. This may have been due to an epileptic seizure; I don’t know. But he ended up receiving a small amount in compensation for his injury, and this is the money he used to rent the West End unit.
I did all I could to be Nathan’s uncle, friend, and councilor during this time. As did other members of his extended family. But Nathan didn’t seem to be making headway against the issues that plagued him. Worst still, there were even darker revelations to come from Nathan.
This is so difficult to talk about as a parent. And in hindsight, I realise Nathan was gradually working up to telling me something big. He was testing to see if I could be trusted with the news.
Eventually, Nathan began to tell me that during his time in BCF’s Sunday School, he was sexually abused by one of his Sunday School teachers. He gave a description of the man and told me, ‘He is still in the church.’ Nathan explained how he would feel when his parents ‘forced’ him to go to church and he’d have to look that man in the eye every Sunday, ‘helpless to do anything about it’.
Nathan also confirmed these things to his cousin, and I have since reported the matter to the Queensland police. As part of my own investigations, I learned that a man by the name of Ivan Matthews, who was the head of BCF’s Sunday School program when Nathan attended, had since been convicted of pedophilia. Ivan served time in jail as a result.
As a parent, I was shocked that I had never heard of the conviction of Ivan Matthews. I just assumed the church would have told the parents of children that attended the Sunday school while Ivan was in charge. That would have given us a chance to check if our own children had been attacked.
The same senior members of BCF Inc.’s committee that were in charge at the time are committee members today. And I would like an explanation why we were not told about Ivan Matthew’s conviction as a pedophile.
I ended up contacting Ivan Matthews as I tried to find answers. To my surprise, Ivan was happy to talk. He admitted his crime and did what he could to help me. I remain grateful to Ivan for his contrition and courage to face both me and the conduct of which he was so ashamed.
Ivan began to help me with my investigations. Regrettably, however, Ivan passed away not long after. But prior to his death, he gave me a manilla folder full of documents and photos. I’ve asked Samson Rising to use one of the photos Ivan gave me. It’s the photo you ‘clicked’ on to get to this page of the website. The photo speaks for itself, but in case it needs emphasizing, you can see Nathan on the far left of the group photo. The rest of the children were part of Nathan’s Sunday school class.
The faces of the other children have been hidden to protect their identity. But all the other children have smiling faces in the photo. Nathan’s expression speaks volumes, and I can only guess with horror why Ivan had that photo and why he gave it to me. Perhaps it was Ivan’s way of clearing his conscience.
Around six months after Nathan had fled his family home, I received a phone call from one of Nathan’s friends. I won’t use his name here, but the friend was concerned he had not heard from Nathan for several days. It turns out Nathan trusted his friend enough to give him Nathan’s address. And the friend was standing outside Nathan’s front door when he called me.
He gave me the address, and I raced to West End to help. When I arrived, the police were there, and they had barricaded Nathan’s front door and would not let anyone in. We stood there until we were given the gut wrenching news that Nathan had passed away.
All our families were plunged into a state of grief with which we still struggle today.
I knew immediately that my siblings, who were still in the church, would blame me for not telling Nathan to return to the church and for being an ‘ungodly influence’.
Sure enough, that was the message being circulated at BCF. But I heard the church add one further insult to throw at us. Rather than acknowledging that their church culture had a harmful effect on Nathan. They simply said, ‘Well, Nathan had mental health issues.’ And they took no responsibility. As you can imagine, my siblings (who are still in the church) are well and truly estranged from me.
My sister and elder brother have also cut off my mother and my other brother, using the same blame shifting as justification. Despite everything, they still believe what the Presbytery tells them. Often, I wonder if facing the truth would destroy them emotionally. Perhaps consciously or otherwise, they choose to remain trapped. In my view, Nathan’s tragic story is just one of many quietly being played out in households associated with BCF.
I believe countless lives are being damaged by the CFO, and I hold great fears for the next generation of children growing up under the CFO’s influence. Because of the circumstances, the State Coroner investigated Nathan’s death. I have asked for a copy of the report so I could know Nathan’s cause of death. I have not been able to obtain a copy.
I am grateful for the Samson Rising initiative, and I offer my full support to their calls for an investigation into the CFO.
May I please make a direct appeal to all who read this account to help get an investigation started by completing the survey on this website? Your answers will help greatly to start an investigation.
Nathan’s Uncle’
