The ones you fuck, and the ones you marry

Arise church and the hypersexualisation of women 

CONTENT WARNING: Mentions of sexual exploitation of minors

*Names have been changed for anonymity

I am a Christian, but I've never really considered myself as part of a ‘megachurch’.  

These huge commercial churches that seem designed to draw people in, chew them up and spit them out with a healthy dose of religious trauma. 

The Destiny's churches, the City Impacts... and the infamous Arise churches of New Zealand. 

Arise Church is a Pentecostal megachurch that has 10,000 members across 10 locations around Aotearoa. It's known for its live music, enthusiastic services, teen members, and unfortunately a lot of abuse allegations.  

In 2022, the church was rocked by a multi-part expose by esteemed journalist David Farrier, who unveiled stories of the abuse, extortion, and sexual assault, with the founder John Cameron being under fire.  

The former leaders, John, Gillian and Brent Cameron stepped down after interns came forward claiming they had to pay $2500 a year to work four days a week for the church's leaders, among other things.  

But after speaking to two former members, it is clear that the wounds of women who have left the church are still fresh.  

*Mary was introduced to Arise by a friend at 11-years-old who took her to a big Ol' ‘recruitment’ service. 

She tells me, "Whoever can bring the most friends gets a prize. My friend won a pair of Nike Airs because she brought three or four friends.” 

Mary describes the church as a "boys club”. 

"All those guys that I went to church with were the most seedy and desperate. They were the ones that were asking you for nudes on Snapchat. These guys weren't following the rules at all." 

"I did kind of get really attached to the idea of sexuality because I probably thought that was what I was good for.” 

*Lucy was 16-years-old and having troubles at home when her friend told her she would find support and community at Arise.  

And what she found was a party.  

Lucy says, "It was very theatrical, it was like attending a concert.” 

"I was having such a fun time and then having like these people saying, 'you're probably having this connection with God right now' and at the time I was like ‘yeah for sure’." 

Unfortunately, these concerts are also how they get young vulnerable people looking for a sense of community, high off adrenaline, dopamine, and human connection to agree to stuff they normally wouldn't.  

Lucy found the experience to be a form of escapism from her home life, so started to go to every Friday youth group and Sunday service.  

She says it was fun for the first few months, before things got weird.  

Both women talk about going from valued members of the Arise community, to being sorted into the two classic categories: The ones you fuck and the ones you marry.  

Lucy started messing around with one of the youth leaders. He was 20, while she was only 16.  

"It was just really awful. We would do things and then he would make me pray afterwards."

"We stopped and then I found out that he had been dating this other girl in the church who was actually his age and they got engaged not long after. He is married and has a baby now, which is wild." 

I reach out to Arise, honestly not expecting to hear anything from them. But right before I am about to give up, general manager Donovan Stevens emails me. He finds the women’s stories “deeply concerning and not reflective of the experiences we would wish for someone to have as a part of our community”. 

Donovan also says the church has introduced a new complaints system that ensures the safety and fair treatment of leaders and members alike, including involving Police and Oranga Tamariki in serious cases involving minors. 

Though it’s a bit too late for Lucy and Mary. 

In 2022, an external investigation by Pathfinder concluded it was “undeniable” there had been “significant hurts” caused to people involved with Arise and “egregious and systemic failures” in governance over many years. 

The report says, “We believe it to be unacceptable that the Board were unaware of key issues within Arise, and did not initiate the necessary mechanisms to ensure they could exercise their governance responsibilities.” 

The report included allegations of “cult-like behaviour”, racism, sexual assault and conversion therapy.  

Lucy left Arise after a women’s conference called Passionate, where sermons are shared about women’s topics including abortion.  

While a speaker spoke against abortion, Lucy sat next to a friend who had recently had one.  

"I could just see her next to me looking so uncomfortable and so distraught and that she felt like the worst person in the world.” 

Lucy claims she was told by her ‘life group leader’ after the sermon that abortion was a sin. And after speaking up to disagree, she was left feeling unwelcome to come back to Arise.  

Mary left the church feeling angry at the time stolen from her. 

"I wish I spent my youth hanging out with my friends on a Friday night, and dressing up in a stupid costume for Halloween and not thinking about whether abortion was bad." 

"I wish I was never a part of it.” 

Last we heard, John Cameron, while not being a pastor at Arise, will always be part of its family as he is one of the co-founders after all. His Instagram bio says he is a “church coach” and “speaker”, with photos showing him speaking at various different churches.  

In total, 545 people completed submissions for the investigation 2 years ago sharing their stories. Lucy and Mary would make 547.  

But after the 2022 scandals, numbers fell across the church’s programmes for young people by 62%.  

Perhaps the next generation of teenagers can find support and community in a place that will treat them for what they are: children.