Community Chapel
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Community Chapel, a Oneness Pentecostal church in Washington, gained notoriety in the mid 1980's when Pastor Donald Barnett announced a new revelation of 'spiritual connections'. According to Barnett, a new level of spiritual awakening could be achieved by means of dancing with another member of the congregation in wildly emotional worship services and establishing a 'spiritual bond' with that person. As was inevitable, this evolved quickly into strongly sexually-charged 'worship services', where church members engaged in clingy, seductive dancing with people other than their spouses. Adultery and divorce soon became the norm at the church, as people dumped their spouses to move in full time with their 'spiritual connections'. Any spouse who exhibited jealousy over the adultery or became distressed about the family breakdown was said to be exhibiting demonic influence designed to prevent the work of the Holy Spirit.
The church gained national attention in March of 1986, when Janet Cole, a 37-year-old member of Community Chapel, drowned her 5-year-old daughter in a bathtub. Janet, who taught women's classes on submission at the church, had become distressed over a spiritual connection that her husband had established. Told that she was manifesting demons, Janet became very upset. She began to believe that her daughter Brittany was also demon-possessed. Due to the church's teaching that children who die automatically go to Heaven, Janet decided to kill her daughter to ensure that Brittany would not go to hell. At the funeral, Janet's husband Rick gave a speech in which he stated that he had been wrestling with demons in his wife for seven months and that he was happy that Brittany was safely in Heaven. "I will never have to watch her be tempted with the world. I will never have to watch her backslide," he said.
Although Community Chapel disclaimed any connection between the murder and their teachings, this was not an isolated event. Only four months earlier, church member Kelly Scott shot herself in the head. Like Janet Cole, she had become depressed about her husbands involvement with his spiritual connection. When her husband became ill and the other woman moved into their home to help care for him, Kelly sought counselling from the church. And, like Janet, she was told that she was full of demons that were trying to keep her husband from reaching his spiritual potential. Unable to rid herself of the jealousy and accept her husband's involvement with another woman in her own home, Kelly committed suicide.
Amid rampant adultery, divorce, and abuse, many people began to leave Community Chapel. Those who left carried stories almost as disturbing as those above. A young woman named Cami King who had attended the Christian school administered by Community Chapel described how the students became increasingly distressed as their parents carried on open adulterous affairs right in their homes. The situation worsened when students were encouraged by the school staff to establish their own 'spiritual connections'. Students who refused to dance with teachers and other students were accused of resisting the Holy Spirit. Many students who did participate reportedly established 'spiritual connections' with teachers.
Community Chapel eventually collapsed amid scandals involving numerous adulterous affairs carried on by the pastor. Several lawsuits were filed by women claiming that the pastor had sexually assaulted them as a form of "spiritual counselling". The church eventually closed and the large campus now serves as a police training center.
Former members of this church have established several websites and support groups. To see information on some of these, click on the links below:
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