Former ARC Pastor Exposes ‘Unbiblical’ Movement

Guest Bios Show Transcript The Association of Related Churches, or ARC, is arguably the biggest church planting organization in North America. It’s also one of the most embattled . . . with scandals involving ARC pastors hitting the news with shocking regularity. In this episode of The Roys Report podcast, former ARC pastor Jeff Thompson explains why. In 2012, Jeff says he was enamored with ARC’s model of “launching large”—of starting a church with a big capital investment, top-notch worship team, and professional marketing. But when that effort flopped, Jeff began to question the biblical basis of ARC’s methods. He says the movement glorifies success as measured in attendance and budgets—but it minimizes sin, especially among its pastors. ARC also embraces a “Moses” model of ministry, which, as Jeff explains, is extremely problematic. In this model, the pastor is revered as a prophet who receives the church’s vision directly from God. This essentially allows the pastor to operate without accountability, Jeff says. Plus, most overseers in ARC churches are not local church members. Instead, they’re ARC pastors from out of town—who only see what a pastor wants them to see, he adds. There’s much more in this extremely important and timely podcast. EDITORIAL NOTE: *This podcast has been modified to remove a source we have discovered is not credible. In the podcast, Jeff mentions that ARC churches were required to pay ARC 2% of their income during the time his church belonged to the church planting network. This is consistent with screenshots of ARC's website from six months ago, which were just obtained by The Roys Report. But it directly contradicts what  ARC President Greg Surratt told Julie in an interview last October. He said any giving by ARC churches to ARC is completely voluntary.   An excerpt of the transcript of Julie's interview with Greg Surratt is included side-by-side with the screenshot from ARC's website in the PDF below:   This Week’s Guest Jeff Thompson Jeff Thompson is the primary teaching pastor at Gospel City Church in the suburbs of Greater Vancouver, British Columbia, Canada. He and his wife, Charlene, have six children and describe their life as, "A good kind of crazy." After planting New Hope Church around 10 years ago, Jeff led his church to join with another local church last year in order to pursue (among other things) a biblical New Testament model of leadership, based upon a plurality of elders/pastors. Show Transcript SPEAKERS JULIE ROYS, JEFF THOMPSON JULIE ROYS 00:00 It’s arguably the biggest church planting organization in North America and is responsible for some of the largest and fastest growing churches in the United States. But as my guest today will argue, the Association of Related Churches is not operating on biblical principles. And it’s no wonder so many of its churches and pastors are embroiled in scandal. Welcome to The Roys Report, a podcast dedicated to reporting the truth and restoring the church. I’m Julie Roys. And joining me today is Jeff Thompson, co-pastor of Gospel City Church in Vancouver, Canada. He’s also a former pastor with the Association of Related Churches, also known as ARC. In 2012, Jeff says he was enamored with ARC’s model of launching large, of starting a church with a big capital investment, top notch worship team and professional marketing. But when that effort flopped, Jeff began to question ARC’s methods. He also began questioning the ARC culture that seemed to glorify success but dismiss pastors’ moral failures. Today, Jeff believes ARC is an unbiblical church movement. And in this podcast, he’ll give you an inside look to this incredibly influential and powerful organization. But first, I’d like to thank the sponsors of this podcast, Judson University and Marquardt of Barrington Judson University is a top ranked Christian University providing a caring community and an excellent college experience. Plus, the school offers more