Note: Rachel and Amanda are current CSU students whose names have been changed to protect their identities. They wished to remain anonymous due to the sensitive nature of their experience with Grace Christian Church. They look like students. When you were first approached, you assumed they might be asking for directions, or for the time.
Many students quickly learn not to engage with them. Rachel was raised in a Christian home, and when she came to college, she was looking for a church to call her own. Like many of us, she initially avoided the campus ministers from Grace Christian Church. They approached her, and she told them she was already Christian, essentially blowing them off. They are responsible for the students they recruit. They carpool them to Bible study and to church, and they report their recruitment successes to the higher-ups in the organization.
The second semester of her freshman year, Rachel became more invested in finding a church. Early in spring , she was approached by one of these ministers, again outside her residence hall. This time, she agreed to attend their Bible study the following week, and soon after started attending their church services.
Initially, they seemed like any other church group. For her, the red flags started much later. Outside of those church-related meetings, members host parties at their homes on Friday nights. The group does not have a sanctuary. As soon as students arrive, they are welcomed. According to Rachel, they are excessively welcomed. Love bombing is a practice of overt friendliness. According to Rachel, the moment you enter the community, you have 30 instant friends who all want to talk to you, and everyone wants to get to know you.
They compliment everything โ your clothes, your hair, your shoes. The Grace Christian Church ministers have become as infamous as the preachers who stand on the free-speech stump on the Plaza and yell at students, calling us Sodomites and whores.
