How a former cult member set up a nationwide support system for survivors of Shincheonji Church of Jesus

Survivors of a widespread cult known as Shincheonji Church of Jesus have established a support network to help former members return to a normal life.

A 24-year-old former cult member has set up a support network to help other survivors rebuild their lives by processing their trauma in a “therapeutic way”.

Gloria, who didn’t want her surname published, became a member of Shincheonji Church of Jesus after being recruited outside of Melbourne Central Shopping Centre in 2019.

The Sunday Mail this month exposed the way the Adelaide sect of the widespread Shincheonji cult was recruiting young, vulnerable people in the CBD with many losing thousands of dollars and contact with family and friends.

Recruiters lured people by inviting them to a non-denominational Christian Bible study.

Former Adelaide members said the religious sect initially overwhelmed their recruits with the sense of community and love but eventually became controlling and forced followers to isolate themselves from their family and friends, end their romantic relationships and forfeit their careers or study.

Leader of the Shincheonji Church of Jesus Lee Man-hee bows during a press conference at a facility of the church in Gapyeong on March 2, 2020. Picture: POOL / AFP.

Gloria was an active member for four years but decided to leave after observing her religious teachers mistreating their followers – even pressuring a woman to get an abortion.

She said deciding to leave the cult was an emotionally intense experience.

“In Melbourne, Shincheonji members normally live with each other … they don’t take outsiders to be housemates or roommates because they fear a non-member will (have a bad) influence on them,” Gloria said.

“This made the decision to leave so much harder.”

But Gloria was able to overcome her hesitation and leave the group, only to realise she didn’t know how to return to her old life.

“When I left the group, they kicked me out of the housing … and I realised it’s really difficult to come back to a regular life after Shincheonji because they’ve twisted your reality really badly,” she said.

Lee Man-hee, founder of Shincheonji Church of Jesus. Supplied

“They consume all your time; and you’ve given yourself over to them entirely.

“Then when you do leave, it feels like you just woke up from a coma.”

When Gloria left in November 2023 she sent a “bomb message” to all 670 members of the Melbourne Shincheonji group explaining why she left and what was wrong with their doctrine.

While most Shincheonji members blocked her, a few reached out to talk.

This encouraged Gloria to create a group for ex-Shincheonji members.

“I created a group in December 2023 on WhatsApp for Melbourne ex-Shincheonji and we’ve grown to just over 80 people now,” she said.

“Then we branched out to Perth in May, then Brisbane, then Canberra and Adelaide.

“Together we go to monthly events – we do fun things like bowling or dinner – and we talk about our experiences without judging one another, understanding each other and it’s really therapeutic.

“We really need this space because our family and friends can be very critical of us.”

Gloria said the group, which in Adelaide comprises about 20 ex-members, helped her and others return to a normal life.

More than six months since leaving the cult, Gloria has started studying computer science to “keep herself busy” from returning to her Shincheonji lifestyle, as well as trying to connect to new people without a religious basis.

Cult counsellor Tore Klevjer says he has had an increase in Shincheonji clientele. Picture: Supplied

Wollongong-based counsellor and president of Cult Information and Family Support Tore Klevjer has become the primary supporter for ex-Shincheonji members.

The counsellor told The Sunday Mail he had received an increasing number of inquiries in the past 18 months about Shincheonji but his approach for each client was different.

Mr Klevjer said he viewed ex-cult members as “spiritual refugees” who needed information about the impact cults had on members.

“When it comes to cult counselling – information is key,” he said. “They have to get their heads around the manipulation process which was at work to entrap them.

“They have to understand they were coerced into believing someone else’s ideology, and they were progressively stripped of their freedom, their rights, their right to question.”

Afterwards, Mr Klevjer helps them manage the “shame and guilt” of being involved in a cult.

“If people have been part of a cult for an extended period of time, they may have lost touch with how the outside world works entirely,” he said.

“Not only do they lack that understanding but there is also a profound sense of loss over the connections they’ve lost and the time they’ve wasted.

“But we have to take it one step at a time with them and work through developing a plan which can meet their needs.”