Fears radical City Builders Church is targeting Victorian politics

A how-to-become-straight handbook allegedly linked to members of a controversial Victorian church group offers prayers to heal “sexual brokenness”.

Every Friday Hannah ­Lonnee would weep as she drove herself to a small house tucked away in Traralgon.

The property doesn’t look like much from the outside, but to her it was a place of torture.

Inside those walls she claimed she was subjected to months of gay conversion “therapy” referred to her by members of a radical small-town church she refers to as a “cult”.

Senior members of the church say they have nothing to do with the controversial program and the church itself had nothing to do with her “therapy”. However, members of the church are generally intolerant of same-sex relationships.

“I would be subjected to hours of exorcism-like prayer to ‘pray the gay away’ and ‘remove the jezebel in me’,” Ms ­Lonnee said.

During one session in late 2011 Ms Lonnee said she took part in a religious ritual to cleanse her of being gang-raped when she was aged just 14.

Worst still was being told by a church figure the depraved attack may have been God’s will to turn her straight — a claim the church denies.

“I was told that maybe it was God’s way of telling me I was on the wrong path because I was attracted to women,” Ms Lonnee said.

Today Ms Lonnee said she counts herself lucky to have survived her alleged treatment by the City Builders Church, based in Sale.

Hannah Lonnee says she was subjected to months of gay conversion “therapy” Picture: David Caird

But she will be forever haunted by her experience in the independent Living Waters Program, an externally-run gay conversion ‘therapy’.

“I grew to hate myself so much that I actually didn’t want to be alive,” she said.

While the City Builders Church said it did not endorse the Living Waters Program, Hannah’s journey began with the church and the anti-gay stance taken by many of its members.

Ms Lonnee likened her beginnings at the church to the start of an abusive relationship. She was 15 and vulnerable when they started “love-bombing” her.

For months she resisted joining the church because she knew she was gay and didn’t think she’d be accepted.

But then she was made a promise and took a leap of faith. “I was told ‘just give it six months and you’ll be free from being same-sex attracted’,” Ms Lonnee said.

Before long she found herself enrolled in an external gay-conversion program completed by another church member. The “how-to-become-straight” handbook exposes the shocking falsehoods fed to gay youths by people in power.

One lesson titled “Hope for Gender Wholeness” included a prayer Ms Lonnee was made to recite. It read: “We confess the many ways in which we are insecure and broken in our gender. We look to you to heal us. Father show us where we are imbalanced in the rhythms of masculine and feminine. Correct our imbalance”.

During her most disturbing session, Ms Lonnee remembers being given eight pieces of black string to symbolise the eight males who raped her as she walked alone after school one night.

She said for every prayer she made, a piece of black string was taken from her and replaced by a piece of red string to symbolise the healing blood of Jesus.

“I just remember thinking, ‘this is really messed up … them making me relive that and praying over it’,” she said.

Hannah with her fiance Kiahn Powell. Picture: David Caird

During her lowest point, Ms Lonnee said she confessed to a senior pastor to having suicidal thoughts. Ms Lonnee said she later tried to take her own life.

Eventually she left the church after realising she had a choice to live a lie or not. In an instant she lost her entire social network as church members cut ties with her. She also spent years partly estranged from her mother, who had also joined the church.

City Builders Church senior pastor Brian Heath told the Herald Sun the church never administered the Living Waters Program or other programs related to sexuality.

He said the program was sought out by Ms Lonnee for “unwanted same-sex attraction” and it was conducted by external facilitators.

“She reported extremely positive outcomes to many of her church friends as a result of this counselling, including the restitution of her emotions, identity and relationships,” Mr Heath said.

“Hannah’s version of events have changed drastically. She is free to live however she feels is right and to go public with this. However, to create a narrative about being forced or coerced into a traumatic gay-conversion experience years later is completely false and baffling to an entire church community.

“Our church is not preoccupied with anyone’s sexual identity — we are focused on the spiritual growth of the individual.”

FEARS RADICAL CHURCH IS TARGETING VICTORIAN POLITICS

Concerns are mounting a contentious church group with followers linked to accusations of historic harmful practices is working to infiltrate Victorian politics, with members encouraged to fill branches of mainstream political parties.

The Herald Sun can reveal that former members of the City Builders Church have undergone alarming gay conversion practices, although the church itself has distanced itself from the claims.

The church now hopes to exert influence on the Nationals and Liberals within the state, but has denied it has an interest in politics.

While their numbers are small for now, Nationals members speaking to the Herald Sun on the condition of anonymity said they were increasingly alarmed on the influence of the church and like-minded groups on their party.

At an upcoming state conference on Saturday, City Builders member Lee Marchant is rumoured to be seeking a nomination as senior vice president.

Other members of the group associated with Mr Marchant are also looking to pass a motion condemning laws banning gay conversion, which seeks to change or suppress a person’s sexual orientation or gender identity. The laws passed state parliament in February but won’t come into effect until early next year.

Lee Marchant is believed to be seeking a senior position in the National Party.

The church is under a cloud over allegations some of its members were linked to a group that engaged in harmful and alarming gay conversion practices.

The church denies it endorses gay conversion therapy. But it has generally taken a stance against same sex marriage and many of its members are believed to be opposed to same sex relationships.

Senior Nationals figures do not consider the religious group is yet in position to have any serious power within their party but are alarmed by their increasing numbers at federal branch meetings. “There’s definitely a push on, ” a senior source said. While the group has not had much success, party insiders believe upper house seats could be targeted.

Whistleblowers have warned the radical church views infiltration of politics, media and other key areas as vital to extending their influence over the country.

City Builders make no secret of its intentions, with its website stating the “church will not only carry the grace to win souls, but to impact and influence every domain of society”. Head pastor Brian Health is also said to be part of an “apostolic team building an alliance of like-minded ministries, churches, individuals and organisations that desire to rediscover and rebuild the Christian foundations that this great nation was built upon.”

Lee Marchant with an 'Its okay to say no' sign.

Hannah Lonnee, a former City Builders Church member and survivor of gay conversion therapy run by independent outfit Living Waters, said the church urged her and others to “infiltrate” political parties.

“I actually went along to a young National Party members meeting. I was told we need to ‘influence’ political parties to assist shaping the future,” she said.

Nationals members have reported increasing numbers of City Builders aligned members signing up for local branches in the Gippsland and east Victorian region.

In one of his sermons published online, Mr Heath declares: “No longer are we going to see ungodly flaky leaders put in political positions to pass ungodly laws. We are going to have people like you, and you and you and whoever puts their hand up and says they’re going to counted.’’