We are a group of over one hundred former GFA staff who, in love not bitterness, are concerned about systemic unbiblical practices at the ministry of GFA.
We are not trying to attack the Great Commission or lure anyone away from God’s call. However, these unbiblical practices misrepresent the Lord and harm the ministry’s staff and supporters.
We invite you to read our concerns and evaluate them for yourself, before the Lord and in light of His word.
Our concerns are stated on the “Our Concerns” page, as well as in our original private letter to GFA, and in our appeal to the GFA Board. Please see our Communications History page for further correspondence.
When JD and Chrissy organized the group, they did not coerce or manipulate any of us into joining it. We are all in this group together because each one of us saw problems and abuses on our own and wish to prevent further harm to anyone.
We invite you to read Pastor Bruce’s counsel to JD about his assessment of whether we have handled our concerns in a biblical manner, and Bruce’s in-depth sermon on the topic, “When a Pastor Sins.”
HISTORY OF DIASPORA
After six years serving at GFA, JD and Chrissy left staff in 2011. Though they had wanted to share their reasons for leaving with their staff friends, they knew that saying anything negative would be labeled as bitterness. So they decided only to share with those who asked. None did.
They went on with their lives, and as some of their friends left, they learned it was for similar reasons. Sadly, some were deeply wounded by their treatment by GFA’s leaders, and had difficulty trusting pastors and other Christian leaders after their experiences. JD and Chrissy began to regret not speaking up out of love for their brethren, but they also realized that sharing with friends currently on staff would cause them to be labeled as negative or bitter or spreading false reports. So they continued to pray.
After a couple of years, they felt heavily burdened by the Lord to do something. They discussed their experiences with more former staff whom they considered to have handled their concerns in a mature and godly manner, and they found the problems they had observed to be systemic, institutionalized and widespread. These problems needed to be addressed for the long-term health of the staff and the survival of GFA’s ministry to the unreached.
They decided that, though most everyone had brought up their individual concerns to GFA leadership to no avail, no one had ever brought the matter as a group to the highest authority at GFA—the board. And so several former staff began this process, hopeful of change that would bring GFA leadership to repentance and turn them from false beliefs and unjust practices back toward godliness.
The Smiths and 35 other former staff drafted an initial letter outlining their concerns and sent it out to the US and Canadian boards and to the senior leadership in the US and international offices. To keep in communication about the process, JD formed a private Facebook group called Diaspora, inviting others who held similar concerns but who had not had the chance to participate, to share their stories. This group has now grown to over 100 former staff, from both the US office and also international offices.
As many of us shared our stories with each other, the systemic nature of false teachings and their resulting abuses became clearer to all of us, and so we have continued to pursue the matter with those who have the responsibility to do something about it. We have had several promises to work through the issues from KP, but none of the promised meetings have taken place and no further inquiry has been made of us from the US board. We have concluded that GFA and its US board have no desire to make any necessary changes, and that is why we now feel we must call upon you to look into the matter yourselves.
We sought the counsel of a few key pastors as a check against anything unbiblical in our approach. We have tried our best and continue to try to follow the Word and God’s Spirit in what we do. Contrary to what GFA accused, we had not ever “gone public” with our concerns on the internet or otherwise, except for two inadvertent leaks—one from a parent and another from a concerned pastor.
Now, however, it is time to advise those who give money to the ministry (whether millions or pennies) of GFA’s problems—that they may have the information they need to be good stewards of the money they entrust to GFA for the Lord’s work.