Zero Clarity: Dealing with the Arise Church Board
The Arise Church Board continues to answer my questions... by not answering my questions
Hi,
This is the post about the Arise Board that I mentioned in my newsletter with Louis Theroux.
As I’ve mentioned before, getting anything out of the Arise Board appears to be impossible.
Their hot take since the beginning of all this has been to give zero hot takes.
Any questions are met with a “We can’t comment while the external review is taking place.”
I understand this to a point, but when I got a leaked internal Arise FAQ last weekend — which was being distributed to Arise Church leaders — I wanted clarity on who’d sent it.
That seemed fair, as it contained some fairly important revelations, including the point that John Cameron planned to simply return to his position at Arise after the review had taken place:
“When the results of the review are provided, their intention is to return to lead the church through the learning and change process.”
Was this message Board sanctioned, or had someone gone rogue?
With that in mind — I fired off an email to the Board. Clarity on this seemed important.
I’ve decided to publish the back and forth, so you can see how this plays out.
David.
Sun, May 1 — 7:34am
From: David Farrier
To: The Arise Board
Hi there,
I understand the below FAQ was sent to Small Group Leaders at Arise Church.
Can you please:
1) Confirm this was sent by Arise
2) Confirm who sent it
3) Confirm specifically that John Cameron intends to return to his position as per this statement: “When the results of the review are provided, their intention is to return to lead the church through the learning and change process.”
4) Can you provide clarity on what you mean by this:
“ARISE has never signed non-disclosure agreements.”
followed by:
“It is extremely common, and almost always advised by legal counsel, that these agreements include a confidentiality and non-disparagement clause.”
Are you arguing here that any non disclosure agreements signed were part of the employment dispute paperwork? Please clarify what your point is here.
5) Why has this been included in the FAQ:
“Has ARISE paid interns out? Interns have never been paid out to not speak ill of the congregation”
and any comment about paying staff out been left out?
Thank you,
Best,
David.
[Attachment: Arise Church FAQ]
Monday, May 2 — 8:44am
From: David Farrier
To: Arise Church Board
Just bumping this up as I sent it on a Sunday.
David
Monday, May 2 — 12:15pm
From: Arise Church Board
To: David Farrier
Hi David,
I will respond by the end of the day.
-Graeme R. Kirkwood
Monday, May 2 — 12:16pm
From: David Farrier
To: Arise Church Board
Many thanks Graeme.
David
Monday, May 2 — 5:08 PM
From: Arise Church Board
To: David Farrier
Hi David,
I apologise for the delay. The Board has noted incorrect and misleading information in your article and is working to respond. I expect to have a reply by the end of the day tomorrow. I will let you know if there are any changes to this.
- Graeme R. Kirkwood
Tuesday, May 3 — 5:11pm
From: The Arise Board
To: David Farrier
Hi David,
Thank you for your patience.
As you are aware, due to legal and privacy obligations, the Board is unable to comment on specific allegations or individual employment circumstances, while the independent processes are taking place.
However, any statement that implies that John Cameron is in control of the independent processes underway or the Board is incorrect. Further, any statement that implies the Board has predetermined the outcome of those independent processes is wrong. We thought it important to bring these errors to your attention.
We continue to await the findings of the independent processes. The Board will be making regular updates via the Arise website.
- Graeme R. Kirkwood, Arise Board Chairperson
That’s how it played out.
Three days to get the reply I am used to by now:
“The Board is unable to comment on specific allegations or individual employment circumstances, while the independent processes are taking place.”
All my questions were ignored.
This leaves me in the murky world of assumptions. Right now, I assume the Board approved that internal FAQ. But I don’t know. They might be seething at it. Like so much of this megachurch, its internal workings remain a complete mystery.
The cherry on top is that that Arise Board Chairperson Graeme Kirkwood told me I had “errors”:
“Any statement that implies that John Cameron is in control of the independent processes underway or the Board is incorrect. Further, any statement that implies the Board has predetermined the outcome of those independent processes is wrong.”
I’ve never said John is in control of independent processes, or that the Board has predetermined the outcome of those independent processes.
I don’t know what they’re on about. I replied with this: “What are you even referencing in your last email? It genuinely makes zero sense.”
What a doozie.
David.
PS: You can read the rest of my Arise Church coverage here. Trigger warning — it’s all fairly awful.
PPS: The latest episode of In The Shift is out — where two former megachurch members continue their conversation about how broken the megachurch system is.
It's like, yes, Kirkwood's response is evidence of something. But it's so hard to triangulate exactly what it is:
* Some kind of psychic dysfunction in the baseless accusation of 'error'
* Some kind of in-group/out-group hostility or persecution complex
* Some kind of smoke-screening for John Cameron himself
* Some kind of political double-speak where even simple questions cannot receive simple answers
* Some kind of Kafkaesque legalese whereby "non-disclosure" and "confidentiality" are simultaneously synonyms and antonyms
* Some kind of non-Christ-like dishonesty as the sender of an email is not protected information subject to an external review: because it if was Kirkwood is saying that it is in the board's own interest to send anonymous memos to their own church (and, while possible, this would borderline on nutcase-like territory)
"If you can't dazzle them with brilliance, baffle them with bullshit". The old saying seems to fit the MO here. Imagine being a vulnerable newbie or lower tier leader trapped in this circle of crap.