Dear Family and Friends:
We are writing to tell you that we have decided that we will no longer be going to meetings. This decision has come after months of praying and searching the scriptures. We have felt moved by God’s spirit in this decision and we cannot ignore it, as difficult as it is to change from what we have done our entire lives. Our peace in this decision runs deep as does our grief in such a life changing decision.
However, we are so thankful for God’s help in taking steps in faith. We want to assure you that we love God and Jesus as much, if not more, than ever. We are not leaving Him, nor the teachings of Jesus. Please do not consider us as “lost” or having “lost out” because we no longer choose to belong to this fellowship. Our love for you, of course, remains unchanged. Our love for those in the fellowship is not changed. We assume that this will come as a shock to you and we apologize for this.
This deeper searching and questioning of what we believe was initiated by the revelations about Dean Bruer. Since then, we have become aware of the doctrine of Exclusivity, Legalism and LWD (Living Witness Doctrine) that the fellowship seems to have been founded on, and which is alive and well to this day. These wrong doctrines are what has caused such damage to the lives of so many in the fellowship. These are not ideas that Jesus taught and in fact, are things that he came to do away with.
Since we had never heard of these terms before (even if we understand their meaning), we are guessing you probably haven’t either. The doctrine of Exclusivity is the belief that only those that belong to this fellowship can be saved. Legalism means that by doing good works or obeying the unwritten rules of the fellowship (we know there are lots of these), we somehow earn salvation. Living Witness Doctrine means that we can only be saved through the workers. The current crisis in the fellowship with CSA and SA, as well as emotional abuse suffered by many both in and out of the ministry, are results of these doctrines that have allowed perpetrators/abusers to get away with this behavior for so long.
We didn’t want this to get too long and there is certainly a lot more to share and discuss if you want, but just know we love you and hope our decision won’t come between us.
Love,
Derick and Crystal (Sandford) Mosman
Salem, Oregon USA
February 15, 2024