2024 Summary of Changes at Gloriavale

Opinion piece: Liz Gregory.

(Thoughts, opinions and views expressed here belong to Liz Gregory and may or may not represent the views of all leavers, current members or the Trust).

Is Gloriavale Changing?

There’s an interesting dynamic that I’ve noticed in the past year or two – where those who want change inside Gloriavale say nothing is really changing, and yet those living in there say that things are very much changed. I thought it would be helpful to map out the changes that have occurred, and consider what is meant by the word “change”.

If you mean the natural changes that occur in response to situations that arise – then yes there have definitely been changes. It would be impossible for any group to remain unchanged with the intense scrutiny the community has experienced in the past few years and the significant exposure of wrong-doing that has occurred. Structural changes in the way the community is organised are evident. The schooling has been impacted, some businesses have disappeared, and the number of side-hustles has increased. Money flow is more transparent, and leavers are turning up there to see their families in numbers not seen before. Let’s examine some of the major areas of change.

Employment

Due to court rulings, Gloriavale have come under pressure to stop exploitation of their members, and for some cohorts inside Gloriavale there have been significant adjustments to the way work is done. In the most part it is the young men’s work that has been impacted (with piecemeal and little real progress for the young ladies and adults in the partnership).

Young men (16 – early 20’s) are moving towards a type of self-employed contractor style of work, where they decide what tasks they would like to complete and are given a set amount of money for these tasks. They get paid for this work, and the money goes into bank accounts that they (or their parents) access. Some young people are purchasing items for themselves, or their family, or helping them fund required medical treatments, or trips away. Some are saving the money for themselves for when they leave, while others are donating it back to the community.

In the past young men would have been removed from the community at the first hint of independence, but now a new category of “members” has been created. This is coming with some significant challenges to the unity of Gloriavale.

The community sharing life is still the core of Gloriavale – and much of this new behaviour is running contrary to this. We are aware of various amounts of pressure that gets applied to some of the young ones to direct their money towards different community causes, or hand over your phone “or else”. If you want your life to progress in Gloriavale (ie marriage and stability in the community), then chances are you need to be seen as a responsible and loyal young person and you will need to eventually sign the Commitment Vow which promises obedience to the leaders and willingness to submit to the ethos of the community’s beliefs. If you are unwilling to enter into this phase, there is an expectation that you will not remain in the community. But at present this is a period of grace as the community grapples with how to respond and not create more drama in the courts and media.

The community leadership still seems to be resisting the idea that the young ladies domestic and childcare duties is called work. They are waiting to appeal the Pilgrim employment court ruling that designated the girls as employees – and so the changes here are piecemeal and lack a specific direction. One of Gloriavale’s first responses to the court ruling was to move the washing machines and dryers out of the “commercial” shared laundry facility, and onto the hostel floors. This way no one can suggest these chores are anything more than normal domestic duties (and which of you at home gets paid for those?)

Likewise, the “commercial” shared kitchen facilities and the roster system for meal prep has changed. Covid 19 helped put an end to the communal evening meal and the court ruling has adjusted how the food is organised. Food is prepped on hostel floors – making it look more like a family domestic chore. Many children are also being home-schooled in the hostels, and so it’s convenient to have the young ladies involved in laundry or meal prep nearby to assist with schooling or child care duties. The leaders have not expressed any interest in paying these young ladies, in the same way as they do the young men. I think there is a lot of stress for mums and young ladies living in these hostel situations.

Adult partners have very little change – with a few hundred dollars a month passing through their accounts as partnership distribution, and then an expectation it will be donated back after (after paying their own tax – through the Gloriavale tax agent) . The amount of money certainly doesn’t reflect the number of hours worked, or come with the freedom that the young men have to keep and spend the money. Additionally Working for Families money is now deposited into individual mum’s accounts that are able to be accessed by her, and a deliberate decision made to donate the whole share to the “Sharing Account”. This is the account that goes towards food, clothing, health and living expenses for the whole community. This may appear like a a good change – and it is – but it does come with an expectation to hand over all the money or suffer consequences. 1-2 years ago there was a lot of heavy teaching that those who didn’t hand over their money were stealing from the church (and they were reminded of Annanias and Saphira who died). Members were receiving “visits” to remind them to hand over the money, and group pressure was applied. I think that outward pressure may have lightened up recently, but the indoctrination programme worked – and I know some people still feel a sense of guilt if they withhold money for their own needs.

It’s clear that the community still relies on free labour and handing over any monies earned to keep them float. One of their major expenses for the past three years has been millions in court costs (with over $330,000 being put aside monthly for legal costs at present). This has to come from somewhere.

Workplace Safety

It does appear there are some stricter rules in terms of workplace safety and in some areas (like farms) people are supposed to receive one day off a week. (However, it’s not uncommon for someone to feel pressure to keep working, or take time off from one workplace, and go and help out in another workplace for the day). The concept of needing rest to refresh the mind and body is still foreign. Some people are still working 70+ hours a week, and it’s getting more and more difficult to cover all the jobs as more young ones leave.

Safety & Communication

We would suggest that there has been an increasing improvement in the safety levels for children with regard to physical and sexual abuse – thanks in part to the outside agencies who work tirelessly in this sphere. It’s complex and difficult to educate and move a whole community towards safety when they still hold poor beliefs about such issues, and aren’t willing to really trace back the origins. Safety also involves emotional safety, and there is a lot of work still to be done here.

The introduction of the cell phone tower this year, and the access young ones have to phones and laptops for schooling, is creating the ability for people to plan their exit with more precision and arrange a support network before leaving. Additionally it’s given a life-line to those who are suffering from mental stress to receive support from family and friends who have left, or professionals, and can give them hope that they don’t need to live under this oppressive environment.

However, access to phones and money comes with access to other services and goods, and there have been some unintended negative consequences for this. (Think about young people and phones use…)

Education/Pre-School

Many children are being home-schooled, and thanks to the increase in correspondence school (Te Kura), more students are staying in school until the legal age and are starting to explore a greater range of subjects – although still limited to more practical studies rather than academic. Some younger children are being kept at home to be raised by their parents – instead of being forced to send them to pre-school.

Living Situation

There is a trend inside the Gloriavale community, where less people are living in the hostel situation, and more people living in houses spread around Gloriavale. This has occurred for various reasons – farming needs, expansion at their Lake Brunner community, bail & probation conditions, health & mental health needs. These people have a little more freedom to create a new rhythm to their lives, giving time for reflection and some clarity. These people are moving around with greater freedom and making decisions that are better for their families. This is important, although it can come with levels of guilt when they know they are enjoying freedoms that might be considered selfish.

Health, Counselling and Social Services

There seems to be improved access to healthcare and social services inside Gloriavale at present. The cell tower and increased access to communication devices has been a game-changer with many people now better able to reach out directly for support. For them to know that it’s not sinful to take care of your body and your mind is a huge shift in thinking. We are encouraged to hear of progress in this area, but we know there is still much more support needed.

Parental Control

During court, many statements were made that it was always the parents in Gloriavale who controlled the children, (not the leadership). But everyone knew this was not true. Since then Gloriavale have announced that parents are allowed to have authority over their children. Some families have decided to take these statements as true and are now making many more decisions that in the past would have been unacceptable. This looks like getting their hands on vehicles and heading out for a home-school day trip, or allowing a loosening up in what clothes are worn when off the property at Gloriavale.

Shunning and Disconnection

Mandated shunning requirements has taken on a different face recently. Shunning is the disconnection, cutting off, social death, exclusion, and excommunication that occurs when someone leaves the community. In the past it involved a strict cutting off (as if they had died) and punishment for those who were found to have been in contact with the leaver. It has been a cornerstone practice for Gloriavale since its inception.

But the courts and recent scrutiny has created some adaptations recently. Each family seems to be interpreting what is considered acceptable contact, and the parents aren’t under the same pressure to fully cut off their children as expected in the past. Make no mistake, shunning still occurs – but there is a wider spectrum of acceptable kinds of shunning, and different families have different rules.

Full shunning appears to be delayed at the start, in the hopes the young one will return to the community. (Most young ones say they are just going for a little break… but they rarely go back). After 2-3 months it’s evident they aren’t returning, and the shunning appears to gets ramped up. The threats and guilt start getting heavier – with emails and texts from family inside that are cruel. The young ones are made to feel very guilty for abandoning the family and making mum’s life more difficult. Some young ones are reminded that they wouldn’t have been born if it weren’t for the community. Other young ones are threatened that they won’t be allowed to see their younger siblings ever again, but they can have contact with the parents. They all know that their soul is in peril and they need to come back to the safety of the community to be assured of eternal life. Some are told they will end up on drugs or something bad will happen to them. Some young people have to promise they won’t receive help from certain people or organisations on leaving, and if they keep to this they will be able to keep some contact. If they break these rules, they know the cutting off will be more severe and they will move into the traitor camp and suffer the consequences.

The guilt, obligation and pressure to obey parents (even after leaving) is immense. Coercive control and manipulation is second nature to those who live in the community. Some parents who are currently losing their children, can’t even see what’s wrong with these threats and guilt trips. They deny that they are shunning. They think their phone calls prove they aren’t shunning. But they are. They have emotionally distanced the leaver from the community and the family unit as a kind of punishment for leaving. Shunning is about disconnection – rather than just a lack of contact.

Adult leavers struggle with shunning – and so you can only imagine the mental distress that occurs when young ones experience it. We know that shunning is still a very real practice, because every person who leaves Gloriavale (regardless of their age) does so in fear in usually in secrecy, and knows they will be shunned and disconnected from the only life they have known. It’s quite a devastating practice.

Some leavers deliberately choose to create some distance between themselves and their family immediately after leaving, and limit contact for their own self-preservation. This is not reverse shunning. This is survival.

So it’s clear that spiritual and emotional abuse still abounds, and those who leave still find themselves on the end of the cruel stick of shunning and disconnection from those inside. We will know when Gloriavale has really had a heart change. They will end their practices of shunning and there will be no guilt, fear, or consequences for those leaving.

Unity is in Jeopardy

Our observation, assisted by those who have recently left, is that the community unity is in jeopardy, and the strict routine and obedience to the leaders is diminishing rapidly. The leaders appear to feel quite powerless on some fronts, and have had to release their iron grip on the day-to-day control of their members. In their exercising of restraint, the old methods of public shaming and full Servants and Shepherds’ meetings have reduced, and in their place there are a lot more one-on-one conversations using implied threats and coercive control methods – like guilt and obligation. Loyal members of the next generation are sensing the vacuum of power and are rising up to ensure the continuation of the community.

But everyone knows that the leaders still hold the power. That’s why members still seek their permission to marry, or request accommodation changes, or take a job outside of the community, or own a vehicle (And yes, we know about multiple situations where adults still being restricted from these activities).

Has Gloriavale Changed?

And so the original question remains. Is Gloriavale changing?

Yes, the system is morphing to ensure their continued survival as more people leave and as more pressure is applied through the courts and investigations. Businesses practices are changing. Investigations are bringing pressure to bear in a range of situations. Schooling and work has changed shape. Physical safety has improved. There is more financial transparency.

Socially there is also a general lack of unity, and more division in Gloriavale. There are more opinions. There is more indecision. There is less social cohesion, and the respect for leaders has diminished.

But is Gloriavale REALLY changing?

Perhaps the question needs rephrasing. Has the Gloriavale leadership had a sea change? Have they had a 180 degree direction change? Have they had an upheaval in the way they think? Have they undone 50 years of indoctrination? Have they changed their ideology at the core? Have they examined their practices in line with the gospel and adjusted their doctrinal understanding to line up with biblical teachings? Have they seen their wrong, repented and willingly gone forward to be made accountable.

Ah, that’s a different story. It appears that these kind of changes are not yet in the wind.

At the leadership level, there is still a belief and trust that Hopeful was a good leader who promoted a pattern for the true church, but perhaps he was a little unwise in how he offered marriage support. They still promote the concept that any wrong-doing that is being exposed comes under the category of persecution, and that people have exaggerated the wrong-doing they endured.

There is still a belief the Lord’s return is imminent (50 children were baptised recently due to a video clip that circulated stating October was the date of the Lord’s return). Most believe the Lord will return before Gloriavale suffers any real consequences for their actions. Delaying appears to be their tactic.  

Many leavers don’t think the current leaders, or those up and coming, have yet understood the extent and impact of the pain, suffering and abuse inflicted on so many people. There seems to be an unwillingness to do an honest assessment and trace it backwards.

Ultimately, many members still believe that it’s God’s will for them to remain in Gloriavale, or suffer the consequences. Because that’s what they’ve been told from birth.

Research shows that cults don’t usually have a heart change, but they are adept at “shape-shifting”. I think we are seeing a lot of shape-shifting.

But the good news is that individuals inside cults can have a heart change! We are seeing that and we pray that continues throughout 2025.

Leavers and our team worked together to compile a document called Hope for Gloriavale. Click here to read how much change leavers would like to see before they are satisfied. Then you can answer for yourself “Has Gloriavale changed enough”?