When Silence Becomes Complicity
Current CFC members should consider that if even some of the published accounts accurately describe what occurred, the issue extends far beyond individual misconduct. It becomes a question of institutional culture: whether leadership structures encouraged transparency and accountability, or whether they inadvertently fostered conditions in which victims' suffering was minimized, spiritualized, or handled exclusively within the church.
Insider Language at Christian Fellowship Center
Outsiders listening to Carson’s sermon would likely hear a preacher praising generous hospitality. Survivors who know the CFC context will recognize something quite different: a full-throated defense of controlling and predatory housing arrangements.
Crisis Response at Christian Fellowship Center
North Country residents and CFC members have legitimate questions: Why have Daniel and Brietta Paladin decided to plant a church in Sinclair’s hometown? Why are so many long-time CFC families selling their houses and moving to Tennessee and Kentucky? Why has Pastor Rick Sinclair’s son-in-law, Ben Hull, resigned his position on the St. Lawrence County Board? CFC leaders don’t appear inclined to provide clear answers to any of these questions.
Summertime Safety
CFC is running several programs aimed at children for Summer 2026, including Vacation Bible School, a soccer clinic, and music theater classes and Shakespeare camp through The Arts Program of Northern New York. Parents considering these programs should listen to the experiences of children who grew up at CFC and ask careful questions.
CFC Continues to Enable Child Abusers
Both Sean Ferguson and Jeremie Keleher attended CFC Madrid, and both men were reportedly counseled by Bill Hull, a long-time CFC leader.
No Room for Mistakes: The Myth of Good Christian Parenting
In many Christian communities, people have often been told their day-to-day decisions—including their choices about marriage, parenting, education, and political beliefs—have eternal stakes, that they either align with “God’s way” or not. In these black-and-white systems prescribed down to the detail, there is little room for mistakes.
Doug Wilson's Daughters
Though Jankovic says she would like to shape girls who are “terrible,” fearsome beacons for the Lord, she presents a fundamentally reductive vision of femininity.
The Importance of Language Surrounding Adult Clergy Sexual Abuse
The sociological concept of “moral entrepreneurs” explains how people with power shape what is considered right or wrong. In religious communities, leaders often act as moral entrepreneurs. To create safer communities, church leaders and congregants must change the way they talk about abuse and the way they respond to it.
Finding Language for Healing: A Survivor-Therapist’s Guide to Getting Started
I didn’t plan on marrying a narcissist or getting caught in a high-control religious system—but I did. For a long time, I didn’t have words for what I was going through.
Rift: A Memoir of Breaking Away from Christian Patriarchy
I was told I was set apart, holy. A child of the covenant, I belonged in the family of God. This was taught to me from infancy, in the words of the baptism, in the water that signified and sealed me into the hands of the everlasting.
Composure at any cost?
In addition to triggering an avalanche of health issues, suppressing negative emotions can also impact our cognitive functioning. One study notes that emotional suppression “impaired incidental memory for information presented during the suppression period.” Essentially, our brain is too busy suppressing emotions to remember details about what happened.
The Journey of Lament
On September 15, 2024, we will gather at the Ives Park gazebo in Potsdam for an interfaith vigil of solidarity to remember the survivors of child abuse in the North Country. Whether you are a survivor of child abuse or a loved one of a survivor, please join us.
9 Questions to Ask about Prophetic Presbytery
CFC encourages people to test the prophetic words against scripture and discuss them with pastors. Asking questions is an important part of this process, and to that end, we suggest that you also ask the following questions.
Confessions from the Inner Circle
You’ve experienced it, but I’m going to say it explicitly. CFC operates with a class system. There’s an inner circle reserved for just a few families. I know this because my family is one of them.
12 Questions You Should Ask Your Pastors
If a pastor argues that reporting child sexual abuse is a matter of personal judgment, the congregation has the biblical duty to ask further questions. It is essential not only to ascertain whether it’s safe to remain at the church but to also ensure that all vulnerable people are protected.
Open the ledgers
It means a reordering of resources and attention, a casting down of the powerful and exalting the lowly, an unflinching attempt to humbly engage something that isn’t crisply & mathematically defined—the unquantifiable wreckage of both individual and collective sin.
When holidays are hard
Once I left CFC, the holiday season felt strangely empty. I wasn’t sure how to celebrate without performing a very specific kind of seasonal joy. Many of the traditions that I used to enjoy with my family now trigger intense grief and physical distress. Holidays like Thanksgiving and Christmas remind us that we are estranged from family and friends who are still at CFC.
My Body Remembers
Leaving a high-control community like CFC inevitably leaves a void. People who we love and respect are still there. Many stay too long because the community feels so strong and the energy so loving, until they see that the cost for that community is to slowly relinquish nearly all individuality and control. So sometimes I grieve. I grieve for the lost relationships, the lost trust, the lost years.
Frequently Asked Questions about the CARE Act
We’ve compiled some answers to the most commonly asked questions about the CARE Act.
Financial Abuse in the Church
Financial abuse takes on additional gravity when it is done in the name of God. Abusive husbands may be drawn to patriarchal religious communities because the gender hierarchy can disguise and enable their financial abuse. Choosing to be a stay-at-home wife or daughter is one thing – being forced to work without pay or to turn down opportunities for education or paid employment is another.