By John Flint
THE WEST AUSTRALIAN
Sunday, 26 October 2025
Hundreds of members of a secretive religious sect rocked by child sex abuse complaints will descend on a small rural community in WA this month for the first of three conventions.
The Sunday Times can reveal deep angst among many of the worshipping families planning to attend the annual conventions at a farm property 15km south of Williams — with an accused minister to potentially attend two of the four-day gatherings.
The sect — known as “The Truth”, “The Fellowship”, “the Two by Twos”, “Non-denominational Christians”, “The Way” or the “Church with no name” — has been criticised for the way it has dealt with cases of sexual abuse.
Its handling of the mounting cases has caused many members to leave — heartbreaking decisions that have split devout families, spanning several generations.
Many children will join their parents at the forthcoming conventions, with attendees accommodated in tents or staying in their caravans at the farm site for the intense worship meetings where they will hear from local church ministers and others flying in from around the world.
The first convention starts on October 29, the second on November 5, and the third a week later. About 400 members are expected to attend each, though numbers could be lower this year because of the scandals.
The “overseer” of the sect in WA, Steven Thorpe, sought to allay concerns in an email to worshippers last week, explaining the outcome of an investigation into one of its ministers, commonly referred to as “workers”.
He said the church had engaged a law firm to carry out an “independent external investigation” into the worker.
“The conclusion of the investigation is that the allegation involving (the worker) is not substantiated. The investigator has also advised that this is not saying that the victim was not subject to abuse, rather that there was not evidence to substantiate the allegation . . . on the balance of probabilities,” the overseer wrote.
“There have been discussions with all of the Australian overseers, all of the workers here in WA and the directly affected parties.
“Based on the information received and the outcome provided by the investigation; with unity of spirit, we, who in God’s family are given some responsibility, feel that the godly kingdom-minded approach is to allow (the worker) to attend (convention) preparations.”
The overseer said the worker would not attend the third convention and his presence at the first and second had not been finalised.
“Concerning the matter of (the worker) returning to being active in the ministry, there are other factors being considered. These deliberations will continue after the conventions,” he wrote.
In response to questions from The Sunday Times, Mr Thorpe said the church had advised WA Police of the case.
“They advised us that in WA, as the survivor is now an adult, it needs to be reported by them,” he said. “We support the survivor should they wish to report it.
“In the meantime, the minister subject of the allegation has been stood aside from duties while the matter was investigated, in line with Royal Commission recommendations for ministers and other advice received.
“This matter was investigated by an external, independent law firm over a five-month period. Their finding was that the allegation against the accused person was not substantiated.”
Mr Thorpe added the church took allegations of child sexual abuse seriously and complied with all WA legislation and mandatory reporting requirements.
“We do have a code of conduct and a child-safe policy for the church and ministry in WA,” he said.
In the sect, workers have to give up all their possessions before they join the ministry. In pairs of two men or two women (explaining the Two by Twos name), they then move around the State staying in the homes of worshippers, who provide them money and vehicles to get around in.
Ministers are given full trust by the members, and many ex-church congregants say this living arrangement has enabled the close proximity to victims for sexual abuse to occur.
One former member, Jillian Hishon, co-founded a group called The Brave Truth to support victim-survivors in Australia and New Zealand and help prevent further abuse. It started a confidential hotline in 2023 to take calls from sect members who have reported about 200 child sex abuse perpetrators.
“We are working with law enforcement, friends, workers, former members and non-members to address this crisis,” its website states.
Ms Hishon, who is a trained victim advocate, said without more being done the result was the minimising of victims’ accounts.
“It doesn’t create safety, it just creates silence with victims, so that silence gives the leadership a false sense of security that they think enough has been done and it’s just business as usual.
“But the truth is that victims feel unsafe to come forward, are unheard, so they’re not willing to come forward. Their trauma deepens because they can’t speak about it and the perpetrators remain free amongst people.
“It’s not protecting the church. The congregation think there’s no more victims coming forward, so all the perpetrators must have been dealt with … and they’re still attending with their children.”
The leadership has taken some steps to address the scourge of child sex abuse. Cases in Australia came to light after major scandals within the sect in the United States and Canada.
In May, it told worshippers: “We have been listening and learning about the impact of child sexual abuse in people’s lives and the fellowship, and educating ourselves on this difficult issue. We greatly appreciate those who have shared their experiences of abuse with us and we remain very mindful of the long-term impacts of such abuse.”
It followed an apology from the overseers last year.
It included: “We are deeply sorry to those whose trust was shattered and for the pain they feel. We acknowledge the courage of those who have shared their experience, and we acknowledge those whose voices are still silent, unable to speak of the trauma endured.
“There are no excuses for this offending committed within our fellowship. We deeply regret all instances of abuse and any time when more could have been done to hear concerns or help victims. We firmly declare that any form of abuse is utterly unacceptable and inexcusable.”
Ms Hishon said some victims had been abused by multiple perpetrators.
