If you’re accused of being a Gloriavale slave, this is what you say
“I liked working in the kitchen” and “I feel I am better off here than on the outside” are some of the suggested lines in a Gloriavale “ideas” document circulated to help members write affidavits to oppose a slavery class action. But some of those who left the closed community believe the document itself illustrates the problem: that Gloriavale wants to influence how people think. Paula Penfold reports.
In recent weeks, a document written by a Gloriavale leader, titled “Some Ideas for Affidavits of Opposition”, has been circulated both within the community and to former members.
It offers suggested ready-made sentences to anyone who doesn’t want to be part of a pending class action which accuses the community of slavery, servitude and entrapment. The document says it is to “to help get you thinking” to write a page “in their own words”.
The dozens of pre-written, multi-choice statements give an insight into how Gloriavale intends to defend the claim, offering options such as “I looked forward to working in the kitchen,” “I was not very good at academic work,” “I enjoyed working with my hands more than just working with my brains,” as reasons for not pursuing a higher education.
Another heading, “Why I don’t/did not want to leave the community,” suggests reasons such as “I like being with my family/friends”, “I feel I am better off here than on the outside e.g. no drugs or alcohol/no divorce & remarriage/more discipline/happier people/better social relationships among young people/a more Biblical way of life”.
The affidavits are being sought ahead of a multimillion-dollar class action which names four plaintiffs — former Gloriavale residents Anna Courage, Pearl Valor, Gideon Benjamin and Hosea Courage — who claim Gloriavale leadership and the Crown failed in their duties to protect community members from systemic abuse, and that Gloriavale’s insular and highly controlled Christian society operates as a system of slavery.
The plaintiffs allege they were subjected to forced labour and coercive control while living in the isolated West Coast community.
In 2023, after a 10-week case brought by six women, the court found they were employees not volunteers — a key factor in opening the door to further litigation.
Lawyer Brian Henry, who is taking the class action, told Stuff the court would be asked to approve automatically including former and current Gloriavale residents in the class action unless they “opt out”. He believed that was necessary because, “those in there have got no free will, so opting out is in our view better because that way those that are in there under control could never join”.
The “ideas” document seeks affidavits from people to object to any “opt out” directive.
But former Gloriavale members who reviewed the document described it as a “narrow, infantilised way of thinking”.
“Without trying to insult anybody, it just reads as quite childish,” said one. “It’s a multi-choice list dressed up as ‘your own words,’ but it treats the people being asked for affidavits like they’re incapable of forming their own thoughts. The questions and answers are so tightly framed they reveal more about Gloriavale’s mindset than anything else.”
Another of the 11 headings, “Why I do not feel I was/am held in slavery,” suggests options such as “I think that the active social life in the community made up for a lot of the work I did,” and “I believed the Bible and I wanted to do what it said”.
Members are prompted to state that being included in the lawsuit without their consent “takes away [their] autonomy,” and that they are “not in it for the money,” unlike, the document implies, the named plaintiffs: “There is the possibility that they might be.”
It also alleges the plaintiffs “have openly stated their intention to destroy [Gloriavale],” and encourages others to affirm their own loyalty: “That is not what you want: it is contrary to your interests or the interests of your family.”
Another former member said the the list of ideas showed “there are people in Gloriavale who refuse to admit the depth of harm. They still think Gloriavale is the best place to raise their families”.
A “cataract”
The former members, who did not want to be identified because of concerns for consequences for their families, said the document reveals more about what they say is the “controlled way of thinking” inside the sect than it does about the plaintiffs.
“Everything is seen through a very narrow lens. The perspective doesn’t line up with reality … and that makes good-faith conversation almost impossible. You can’t reason with someone who’s looking at the world through a cataract and thinks they’re seeing clearly.”
They believed the form implicitly communicated a desire by Gloriavale to influence what was said in affidavits.
“It’s like they’re saying: ‘We know you’re a brainless bunch of sheep, so therefore we’re going to give you helpful prompt sheet.’ It’s patronising. It’s infantilising.”
Metadata appears to show the author of the document is Faithful Pilgrim, who was the Principal of the Gloriavale school but was suspended for serious misconduct, after the Teachers’ Disciplinary Tribunal found he had endorsed a teacher as being “of good character and fit to be a teacher” while knowing the teacher had sexually abused a student.
Pilgrim was not banned from teaching and remains a registered teacher, understood to still teach at Gloriavale’s school.
Gloriavale did not respond to a request for comment.