Anglican Catholic Mission Community’s recruitment methods revealed

While the hard line religious cult is shrouded in secrecy, the methods used to recruit new followers are anything but, a former member has revealed.

Cults are preying on vulnerable young people at shopping malls, train stations and university campuses across Australia, a leading cult expert can reveal.

Cult Consulting Australia director Raphael Aron said cults looked for “fertile grooming” areas where they use conversation to lure people in.

“(They) talk to them about the fact that life has lost its meaning, the meaning of love … looking towards a better society and a better world – it can become very seductive and very alluring.”

Mr Aron said he knew of a Christian fundamentalist group that had set up a recruitment base at a Melbourne University to prey on students.

Female members of Anglican Catholic Mission Community arrive at the group’s Atherton cafe. Picture: Brian Cassey

A key part of Mr Aron’s work is cult education and helping families rescue their loved ones from the clutches of extreme religious groups.

He helped a Melbourne woman Madeline Hardess escape the Anglican Catholic Mission Community (ACMC) when she was a member at their Sydney commune in the early 2000s.

Ms Hardess said she and other ACMC missioners would spend weekends recruiting at train stations and by setting up a coffee van at popular Australian beaches.

“They set up some mini buses all kitted out with coffee machines and surfboards,” Ms Hardess said.

“So on the weekends the guys would go and travel to some surfy place and with the cool surf wagon and serve out coffee to surfy people … anywhere where young people were likely to be.

“It was quite targeted. It wasn’t a secret. (They wanted) young people who were fit and healthy and fertile. And really just more vulnerable.”

One Sydney resident said she was approached by ACMC members in Redfern who gave her a pamphlet and “talked about Jesus”.

The ACMC, formerly known as the Jesus People of North Queensland, also connects with outsiders via a number of business ventures.

They have a popular Far North Queensland cafe in Atherton called Village Kahawa where creationism pamphlets are displayed and bookshelves are lined with religious literature.

They also own a mechanic’s workshop called Village Maintenance at their compound near Herberton on the Atherton Tablelands and a gym at Glenwood north of Gympie called Village Gym and Swim.

Anglican Catholic Mission Community members at the Far North Queensland commune. Picture: Brian Cassey

The group details its processes by which it connects with the outside world in court documents filed as part of a Supreme Court civil dispute.

In the documents the group’s leader Asaph Bar-Roka wrote in an affidavit that the purpose of the businesses was to provide a small income that helps members connect with locals.

Another document outlining the group’s way of life refers to the group’s practice of conducting “Jesus and scripture-bombing runs” on the street and in urban centres, “drop in and learn Christ centres”.

“One of our objectives is to instil a hunger for the word of God in the otherwise minded, by provoking serious thought and questioning, and then providing the answer.

“We are sacramental Christians and as well we are streetwise and we have much to give to Adam’s lost sheep.”

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