Posted on 09/04/2023 5:03:29 AM PDT by Morgana
Dozens of Chicago-area residents are speaking out against a city plan to sell public land to Plymouth Brethren Christian Church (PBCC) to build a local church. Some claim the religious group will benefit from the deal at taxpayers’ expense, while others allege a pattern of abuse in the denomination.
On Wednesday, at a South Barrington Park District board meeting, residents objected to the proposed $1.7 million purchase of public land by PBCC, a Protestant denomination headquartered in Australia. The group had planned to construct a church and school on a 34-acre site in the wealthy northwest Chicago suburb.
An attorney for the park district, Scott Puma, announced at the public meeting that “The real estate closing is on hold,” according to a report in the Daily Herald.
Several residents spoke up against the proposed land sale in the meeting and later to media. Resident Sage Fattahian told NBC 5 Chicago: “(The city) purchased this land for $3 million in 2004, they’re looking to sell for $1.7 million. Real estate is just as hot as 2004. We’re concerned about taxpayer dollars and why it’s sold at such a loss.”
Some residents also expressed concern about the culture and practices of PBCC, which has more than 300 congregations located in 18 nations worldwide, according to its website. PBCC allegedly does not allow outsiders at their gatherings and also requires members to have no contact with former members, according to multiple sources who spoke to The Roys Report (TRR).
“Some say it’s a high-demand religious group, but I call it a coercive cult,” Cheryl Bawtinheimer, a former PBCC member, told TRR. “They govern every aspect of your life in there—to the point that you don’t have contact with family members once they leave.”
The official PBCC website states: “The Plymouth Brethren are not a cult . . . (Our) members extensively engage with the wider community on a daily basis.”
A Change.org petition calling for the Park District Board to halt the land sale to PBCC has garnered 1,148 signatures. “We strongly oppose the development of the Plymouth Brethren Christian Church on Bartlett Road and Route 59,” state petitioners. They call on the city to preserve this “unique natural area of South Barrington for the benefit of all residents.”
In a statement provided to TRR by an Australia-based public relations firm, Russell McAbery of the PBCC described the stalled deal as a “sale of unwanted land to our community.”
He stated that the denomination’s site plan has “been developed with deep consideration and commitment to the environmental sensitivities of the site as well as the fabric of the neighbourhood.” Insular community allegedly fosters abuse
At a protest prior to the Park District board meeting, residents chanted “Stop the Sale” and held signs that stated: “PBCC is NOT a public place of worship” and “No PBCC!”
Bawtinheimer told TRR that she briefed local residents via video call about her negative experiences with PBCC and her research. She said the residents also shared their concerns with her.
“Many residents are worried about the safety of their neighborhoods because these people keep pedophiles safe,” she told TRR. “They do not go to the police. You are taught not to go to the police.”
Bawtinheimer grew up attending a PBCC congregation with her family in Maple Creek, Saskatchewan, Canada. She alleges that, from the late 1970s to mid-1980s, she was sexually abused by an elder in that congregation. She said she fled the church in her late teen years.
Bawtinheimer recently filed a police report regarding the alleged incidents. According to email correspondence provided to TRR, the Royal Canadian Mounted Police has opened an investigation into Bawtinheimer’s case.
Formerly known as the Exclusive Brethren, the denomination was reincorporated as Plymouth Brethren Christian Church in 2012.
“They make a slick presentation, but they are not who they say they are,” said Bawtinheimer. “That’s why they rebranded themselves. All of it is false.”
Similarly, Richard Marsh, who spent years at a PBCC congregation in Cambridge, England, before leaving the denomination, said PBCC is “not an open organization.”
“The whole community is extremely insular and self-supporting,” he told TRR. “For instance, Brethren members only work for Brethren-owned businesses.”
In a statement provided to the Daily Herald, a PBCC spokesperson stated: “We have lived and worked in communities in this region for more than 150 years. We help our neighbors, and they help us.”
A GoFundMe page from South Barrington residents noted concern about the process by which the proposed PBCC church and school site plan had been approved.
Specifically, the residents call the land deal “pre-arranged” and that PBCC was the “single, desired bidder” for the public land in what was supposed to be an open auction.
PBCC did not specifically address this issue in its statement to TRR.
“As with all communities we are part of, we are sensitive to the concerns of the South Barrington neighbourhood,” the statement read. “. . . Indeed, after listening to concerns of our neighbours and community we have already altered plans.”
In the public board meeting on Wednesday, Teresa Jennings, executive director of the South Barrington Park District board, reportedly announced that further action on the plan is expected “in the near future.”
“Real estate is just as hot as 2004.”
In the greater Chicago area, not so much.
“In the greater Chicago area, not so much.”
How bad could it be?
None of the nasty slurs apply to the Plymouth Brethren I have known and fellowshipped with, any more than the horrific examples of child abuse oozing out of long suppressed files of Roman Catholic dioceses around the world would cause me to blame parishioners of that sect. This is pure NIMBY.
I don’t know anything about this bunch or why these people have their knickers in a bunch over their church being built. I was hoping someone here could give more information.
I rented rooms from a Plymouth Brethren woman 40 years ago. She may have been part of a smaller congregation as I believe they met in homes of members. The wikipedia biography of J.N Darby will give you pretty much the background in the first paragraph. The Scofield reference Bible was rooted in that theology and was influential in the strong growth of dispensationalism and of belief in the rapture of the church. The Oxford University Press was and apparently still is the publisher of the Scofield Bible.
Ditto. Know PB’s, sweet, godly people. Just very serious about their faith and practices.
They don’t build churches - they know that the ekklesia of God is people - not buildings. They meet in buildings they call a “chapel”.
“For instance, Brethren members only work for Brethren-owned businesses.”
NOT TRUE! A good friend is a large electrical contractor and one of his longest and oldest employees is a PB elder that is a true man of God and very kind and sweet. The electrical contractor is a strong Christian. I shared Christ with him (the contractor) many times in the ‘70’s, he became a believer about 1987 or 88 & called me immediately...”I had to call you first....” as I had shared the gospel with him so many times. His wife was saved and the transformation in her life was so dramatic he could deny the Lord no longer.
One of my sons is a senior electrician and works for this contractor and knows the PB elder well too. Son was with him for 13 years, then had better offers but just returned to the same firm after about 6 years away. Company came after my son and made him offer he could not refuse to come back.
The PB elder is a good friend of mine.
Interesting but still does not explain why people in this town of Chicago are upset with them or if something shady is going on. I’m not saying they are all bad people just wondering why the whole town is coming out with picket signs protesting them buying the land to build their church.
Simple answer is Nimby.
Because they are serious Christians and not nominal ones that are no threat to them......IMHO.......
Whoever these people are, they’re not from the same Plymouth Brethren Assemblies that I’ve been with most of my life.
I’ve heard of this fringe but never in a good way. No idea who they are
There was a pretty acrimonious split at least 40 years ago, the fringe group was called the “Taylorites, “ but I don’t know if this was an outgrowth of that. I don’t trust this source to be very balanced , whatever his biases may be. You get opposition to any kind of development in areas like the one described, I ‘m betting that’s why most signed the petition.
You may be right. That split was in 1970 from the article I read. They seem to be a very small group.
Disclaimer: Opinions posted on Free Republic are those of the individual posters and do not necessarily represent the opinion of Free Republic or its management. All materials posted herein are protected by copyright law and the exemption for fair use of copyrighted works.