They have services Telegraph and Stewart. How helpful are reviews of a church when they're left by their own members? New comments cannot be posted and votes cannot be cast. From the perspective of GP: "if heaven existed, shouldn't you be spending your time telling everyone?". Turns out, in the end, most people come to their senses. Press question mark to learn the rest of the keyboard shortcuts. Turns out, lying was a standard tactic of the group. Yes, I am pretty involved with my church (I cook freshmen dinner, I volunteer at elderly centers when we visit, etc. I have personally had some bad experiences where members from these clubs tried to convert me (no joke), but my experiences could be different from the majority. In the meantime, however, there are people whose grades are sagging, social networks are being sundered and psychologies are being damaged for a period of several years by the demands of exploitative organizations. When I objected and reminded him of his promise, he acted like he'd done nothing wrong, because after all, he was working for god, so nothing he did could be wrong. Welcome to gracepoint Berkeley. That would actually be a sin. Are they a cult? Impact. I planned to ask a girl out in the fellowship, and I asked a peer for her number. Welcome! My daughter is involved with this church, as a leader. Exposing the truth about Gracepoint Church (formerly Berkland Baptist Church) and affiliated ministries. I have been attending this church for two years now (I'm a sophomore), been somewhat involved, and I think I kinda know how things are run. I highly doubt she's hates any of her old friends. I've been a lifelong Christian but what they do is really, really extreme. When you've isolated the individual from his or her old support network and substituted the group, they're psychologically locked to the group and cannot leave. One of my old friends is apparently is in this church and I wanted to find out more about the "cult-like" organization after a mutual friend brought up how she's completely been brainwashed by them. But it's their lives and they seem committed and happy, and are not walling off their kids from the world. One of the biggest differences in the lives of current teenagers and young adults, compared to earlier generations, is that they spend much less time connecting with their peers in person and more time connecting electronically, principally through social media. We have felt some strain in our relationship with her, her husband (also a leader), and our grandaughters. This type of behavior is scummy, to say the least, and to be honest, every religious group seems to exhibit cult-like aspects in some way, but established, non-charismatic, non-evangelical organizations seem to inhabit the lower rungs of the ladder. Here is a review posted by "Grace" on 8/19/2016. He didn't give me the number. Both Unity in Christ at Berkeley and the Southern Baptist Convention check the practices and beliefs of member churches and college fellowships - meaning, if nothing else, that they do provide a layer of accountability and a church like Gracepoint literally could not join if it were a cult. I didn't say that, but they did in fact send her to the local public school. The Credibility of Bitter Gracepoint Leavers, Need for Outside Input to See Things Objectively. The pastor and his wife are a fine couple that lead the congregation and have given up lucrative careers to do so. Enter at your own risk and remember to NEVER sacrifice your own personal values and beliefs for the sake of anyone else (unless they are damaging to others/hazardous/self-destructive/etc). Peer will report you for that thing. The fellowships from Gracepoint are registered members of the ASUC (Berkeley's Student Union) and Unity in Christ, the overarching Christian group overseeing the different Christian college fellowships here. Some students hold onto their self-worth and leave GP, some become followers of God and leave GP, but those who stay pretty much allow GP to guide their lives. This includes "unhealthy addictions" and "sinful acts" which may include: partying, drugs, bad influences of friends, excessive social media use, etc. 66 reviews of Gracepoint Berkeley "I first went to this here when I started going to college. Are You Covering for a Spiritually Abusive Pastor? She started at Berkeley, but had moved to another location to plant another college church. Gracepoint Berkeley is a church located near the University of California, Berkeley campus. Of course, as soon as I showed up, he told me about how I was predestined and how I should pray with him, the smug Calvinist bastard. Unplug from UCBMFET. I want to do these things. So Did Pastor Ed Kang Lie to His Members? Moreover, my friends spend the same amount of time or even more time for consulting, pre-med, fraternity, and computer science organizations on campus. My sometimes "cult" concerns would have been inflamed if she didn't go to a public school. He and his fiancee didn't even interact like couples, so are other married couples. Every group at Berkeley who actively recruits seemed to be on the high end. Most of what Gracepoint preaches is standard Christian stuff, nothing crazy here. She's deleted her Facebook and apparently cut off all relationships with people outside of her church. Although it’s not a cult in that it does not TEACH obviously wrong things, it is still aberrant and harmful in that Gracepoint enforces unbiblical concepts through a hyper-authoritarian culture of fear, guilt, shame and debt, with some twisted teachings interspersed. 67 reviews of Gracepoint Berkeley "I first went to this here when I started going to college. However, nothing over the line. The world is analog. As new students arrive to Berkeley, I must review Gracepoint rather than stand by. They are hardworking, sincere, competent, and godly folks. Yes, they are very intentional in their faith. The site addresses features of cults, but it also applies to Gracepoint Berkeley. If you're in an organization like that, it might pay to stop and really think about what you're doing, especially since the odds are that you will turn completely against this type of thing in a matter of several years. There is not a single post-grad in GP who does not serve the church in some time-consuming way. When it came time for the oldest daughter to go to grammar school, I was interested: church school or public school? Wow, you have completely opened my eyes to this organization. I'll say one thing about Gracepoint: the people are intentional in their faith. This church has reviews on Yelp that you may find instructive. I'll try to be succinct and objective. The majority (something like 60%) of evangelical youth are completely out of organized religion of any sort by the time they hit 25 years of age.