Good afternoon,

The past few weeks have brought some big steps forward for Samson Rising — and in some cases, lives are already changing. We’ve been incredibly busy on some of our initiatives. So, it’s time for an update. Here’s a list of things we are doing to raise awareness, compel investigations and bring change.

Investigation has commenced – more to follow

The Victorian Reportable Conduct Scheme (RCS) is now collecting information regarding Melbourne Christian Fellowship’s safety practices regarding children. The RCS works in conjunction with police and child protection agencies, with powers to hold leaders accountable for the mistreatment of children. Six former members are already assisting the RCS as they collect evidence.

• Of the complaints we’ve received, 44% allege child endangerment, 66% allege severe corporal punishment, and 28% allege sexual grooming.

The RCS is also reviewing recent CFO books and sermons for content that could harm children.
The scheme investigates any alleged misconduct toward a person who was a child at the time of the alleged misconduct. Of the 57 formal complaints we’ve lodged with the ACNC:

Fresh Wins You Should Know About

Families are reuniting

Our push to use Family Court access laws — without needing to go to court — is working. Grandparents are seeing grandchildren again after years of forced estrangement.

A free mediation service makes it clear to CFO parents that they must allow access unless there’s a real and present danger to the children. “Some parents have said they were told by leaders that ‘God wanted them to cut off grandparents.’ Whatever the intent, this is not considered a valid reason in family law.”. In some cases, the conduct of CFO parents may represent a threat to their child. On the brighter side, we’ve actually seen partial healing in wider family relationships, which resulted from the free mediation service.

If you’d like more information, please contact us at sa***********@***il.com

Media firepower joins our cause

A Walkley Award–winning journalist has come on board pro bono to help bring national attention to the CFO’s practices. Stories like this take time, but the groundwork is being laid now. The journalist helping us chose us out of hundreds of other stories because of the potential number of people they could help by their involvement. We’ll keep you posted.

Other Investigations Underway

State Regulators

Most CFO outreaches operate as Incorporated Associations, regulated by state agencies. We’ll soon lodge all 57 complaints with these regulators, which are not bound by the same secrecy requirements of the ACNC. This means we can share more about the progress of these investigations.

We will start with the Office of Fair Trading in Queensland and then Consumer Affairs Victoria.

Our principal argument is that the polices and practices of the CFO are, in our view, against the public interest. Accordingly, we believe the CFO cannot operate through incorporated associations. We are seeking the appointment of administrators and redistribution of CFO assets to other associations that act in accordance with the public interest.

Privacy Commissioner

We’ve confirmed the Federal Privacy Act applies to all CFO entities regardless of size. “It has been alleged that leaders shared sensitive pastoral information without consent — in some cases complainants say false statements were added — which, if proven, may represent a breach of the Act.”

Sixty per cent (60%) of the ACNC complaints alleged privacy breaches. Penalties under the Act are severe. We’ll soon be asking the 57 complainants for their permission to lodge complaints with the Privacy Commission.

Domestic Violence & Coercive Control

Stand by — we’ll soon announce an initiative under Queensland’s new coercive control laws.

Human Rights Commission

We’re preparing complaints about alleged systemic breaches of human rights, particularly the subordination and coercion of women and children.

Here’s where the hard work we’ve done to assemble 57 written complaints pays off. We can lodge these same complaints with many agencies without asking anything more from those heroes who’ve already come forward with their statement.
Of course, we’ll ask permission from each one before we proceed.

Police action is growing

“We’ve been informed that police in five states are aware of, or have received, formal complaints.” They are encouraging other people to come forward, and new written complaints are already in the pipeline. Police are keen to investigate, but the alleged victims must come forward. We can come with you if you’d like our help.
If you’d like any information to help you decide what to do, please get in touch.

Why We Post Publicly (and Why Leaders Read It)

We know CFO elders follow our updates — and we want them to.

Every time they visit the site, their IP address is recorded. If serious breaches are proven, it will be harder for leaders to claim ignorance. Some are already quietly giving us information to distance themselves from CFO policies and practices.

How You Can Help Now

We need 100+ written statements to win this. I cannot overstate the importance of this. We’re at 57.

If you’ve thought about writing yours, please do that. If you’re still working on yours – finish it. Every statement strengthens our case and increases pressure on the authorities. Contact us at sa************@***il.com if you need assistance.

The Long Game: ACNC

We’ve lodged 57 complaints with the ACNC. They have the strictest secrecy provision I’ve come across. This means we won’t know where they are up to with their investigation. These are slow-burning processes – in a comparable case, it took the ACNC four years before they deregistered a religious charity for harmful practices. So, we need to be very patient and proceed with our other initiatives because we can’t wait around for the ACNC.

Victorian Parliament Inquiry

Our 95-page submission to the Victorian Parliamentary Inquiry into cults was submitted in July.— The Inquiry will report to Parliament in September 2026, and we hope to attend the public hearings in person between now and then, to give our evidence in detail.

This is slower than we’d all like, but each step is essential, and each of the above initiatives assists.

We will win — if we keep going

The CFO shows no sign of change. We owe it to the next generation to keep pushing.

If you’d like to lodge a statement or have questions about any of these initiatives, contact us.

Or use this link to download a draft statement in less than ten minutes.

Automated Statement Generator