Let's Talk About Sects

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Outreach International – Part 2

Nov 20, 2018

01:22:00

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ANECDOTE

Being Moved And Told It Was Divine

Laura was repeatedly moved between cities by Outreach International leaders and challenged for wanting to live near family.
She spent months crying and felt trapped until another pastor finally 'allowed' her to move back to Sydney.

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ANECDOTE

Courtship Controlled By Men's Choice

Young women waited for men to 'write' to them via internal photo books and could not initiate contact.
Men controlled courtship by travel and selection, leaving many women disempowered and waiting.

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ANECDOTE

Weeklong Retreats That Felt Like Bullying

Retreats lasted a week, cost members leave and pay, and condensed intense daily 'challenges' and scrutiny.
Ex-members call these retreats 'the worst' for the concentrated bullying experience.

Get the Snipd Podcast app to discover more snips from this episode

Are You Running Away From Your Relationships in Sydney?

05:39 • 2min

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You Never Say You Can't Go

07:34 • 2min

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I Don't Want to Be a Single Girl

09:45 • 2min

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Is There a Way to Get a Girl to Write to You?

11:41 • 1min

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Is Your Womanly Worth, or It's Not?

13:11 • 2min

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You Don't Have a Choice

How to Explain Your Life, or Not Explain It?

18:31 • 2min

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I Don't Want to Cut It Off, but She's My Bitte Shes My Best Frind

20:17 • 2min

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I'm So Near Thinking I My Friend Died, but No One Cares

22:44 • 2min

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A Girl's Dress Up Party, a Dressed Up Party

24:26 • 2min

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I'm Just 22 and at a Party With a LOT of Old People

How to Deal With a Suicidal Child

30:25 • 2min

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How I Feel When I'm Losing Friends

Is It All Good or Bad?

36:37 • 3min

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Tony Costus - I Was No Man's Idea

39:54 • 1min

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Black and White Thinking

41:19 • 2min

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Is Tony a Delusional Man?

43:08 • 4min

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I'm a Single Mom, I've Got a Better Relationship With You Than My Parents

47:24 • 5min

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Sho's Decision to End a Relationship Was a Sho, Not a Man Chaser

52:07 • 2min

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I Can't Date Outside the Church, I'm Desperate for a Man

53:56 • 2min

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My Mam a Sat There and Didn't Say a Word, Even Though She Knew the Truth

56:03 • 2min

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I'm Never Coming Back, Just Decided to Leave

57:37 • 2min

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I'll Probably Never See You Again

59:22 • 2min

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Crisselda's Brain Washed

01:01:03 • 2min

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You Don't Want to Leave a WY?

01:03:17 • 2min

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The Future of Outreach International

01:05:36 • 2min

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The Gathering or the Harvesting?

01:07:09 • 2min

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Is One Ever on Really Comes Back to Following

01:09:17 • 2min

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Selfless Leadership Is Rare Even Among Christians

01:11:17 • 2min

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Laura, It's Scare Speak Out

01:12:53 • 2min

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We Are the Walking Wounded

Laura left Outreach International when she was 32 years old, having been born into the sect in the late 1970s. Hear her story as she relates the experience of being a young woman in a highly patriarchal and controlling organisation, the difficult decision to leave, the trauma of starting her life from scratch, and the joy that she's found in this new life – a kind that most of us take for granted. You'll also hear from other ex-members about their experiences, and where the sect stands today.

Special Guest: Laura Sullivan.

Full research sources listed here. You can support us on Patreon or Acast+, with a one-off donation, or grab some merch. Sarah Steel's debut book Do As I Say is available on audiobook now.

If you have been personally affected by involvement in a cult, or would like to support those who have been, contact Cult Information and Family Support in Australia, or the International Cultic Studies Association outside of Australia.

If you or someone you know is in crisis or needs support right now, please call Lifeline on 13 11 14 in Australia, or find your local crisis centre via the International Association for Suicide Prevention.

Links:

Billy Graham in Australia, 1959 - Was it Revival? — by Dr. Stuart Piggin, Lucas: An Evangelical History Review, no. 6, Oct 1989
Letters to the Editor — Vision Magazine, No. 9, May-June 1975
Salaries for ministers rapped by church founder — by Rose Simpson, The Ottawa Journal, Wednesday July 25, 1979
Outreach International website
Tony Kostas' personal website
Seek Ye First — by Tony Kostas, Outreach International, 1975
The Ultimate Attainment — by Tony Kostas, Outreach Media, 1983
Building with God — series by Tony Kostas, 1985
Led Into Love — by Tony Kostas, 2016

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