The ACCC (The Australian Competition and Consumer Commission) has released its findings on Mercy Ministries and Mercy Ministries Executives have admitted that have engaged in false and misleading conduct. I can understand now why Pastor Bryan Huston could not back on the door fast enough, if he got wind of this early. Hillsong overcame revelations of Pastor Frank Houston’s sexual abuse of young men and boys, but financial misconduct be a number of high profile members might be a bit hard to stomach.
Nah, who am I kidding. They have already been forgiven haven’t they.
Here, take a gander the release itself:
UNDERTAKINGS REMEDY MERCY MINISTRIES MISLEADING CONDUCT
The Australian Competition and Consumer Commission has obtained court enforceable undertakings, which includes payment, from seven former directors of Mercy Ministries Incorporated and/or Mercy Ministries Limited in relation to misrepresentations by those entities.
The undertakings include an apology and a voluntary payment of $1050 to those people affected by the conduct. These are made by former directors Mark Zschech,Peter Irvine, Mark Caldwell, Stephen Crouch, Young Pil (Phil) Sohn, Darlene Zschech and Clark Pearson.
Mercy Ministries is a not-for-profit Christian based charitable organisation which offered a residential counselling program to young women affected by issues such as eating disorders, depression, self harm, unplanned pregnancy, drug and alcohol abuse and the effects of sexual or physical abuse. The program was offered whilst the young women resided in a Mercy Ministries home.
The ACCC was concerned that in a period between January 2005 and June 2008, Mercy Ministries misrepresented in brochures and on its website that its services were provided for free, when the majority of residents were required to assign their Centrelink payments to Mercy Ministries for the duration of their stay.
The ACCC was also concerned that during this period, Mercy Ministries misrepresented that it offered professional support from psychologists, dieticians, general practitioners, social workers and counsellors, when the level of professional support was not available as represented. Mercy Ministries did not employ this range of professionals. It did facilitate access to external professionals upon request from residents.
To address these concerns, as part of the undertaking, the former directors:
- acknowledge that they were persons ultimately responsible for the conduct of
Mercy Ministries, and admit its conduct was false, misleading and deceptive,
and likely to contravene sections 52, 53(aa) and 53(e) of the Trade Practices
Act 1974- signed a joint letter of apology to past residents in the relevant period
- offer a payment of $1050 to each of the past residents in the relevant period, and
- undertake to attend annual trade practices compliance training for three
years.Mercy Ministries operated its program in two homes, one located on the Sunshine Coast in Queensland, and the other in Sydney. Both of these homes have now closed. Mercy Ministries has ceased trading and has advised the ACCC it is in the process of being wound up.
The media release from the ACCC is quite damning, not that this will have any effect on Nancy Alcorn’s true believers, despite that fact that several of the directors named in the court enforceable proceedings were heavily involved in Mercy Ministries on an international level and were close friends and confidantes of Nancy herself. It is also interesting to note that 4 out of the 7 directors have strong ties to Hillsong.
Mark Zschech – High profile Hillsong member, previous director of Mercy Ministries International, current director of Compassion Australia, close friend of Nancy Alcorn.
It was actually while we were at GMA that we heard about Mercy and we asked whether we could go and visit. So we went, and Mark and I met Nancy Alcorn in the foyer and it was as if we had known each other all our lives. Within 12 months Mercy was born in Australia, and we have two homes there now. Actually, Mark is now heading up Mercy International. And we have a home opening in the U.K., and one in New Zealand, and other homes in Australia. It’s very, very exciting.
Darlene Zschech – High Profile Hillsong worship leader and as you see above quite cosy with Nancy.
Peter Irvine – High profile Hillsong Member, director of both Gloria Jeans and Mercy Ministries
Stephen Crouch – Mercy’s accountant and Public Officer of LMI (Leadership Ministries Incorporated)
LMI is a separate entity from Hillsong Church through which the Houstons carry out their national and international ministry and make donations to the Hillsong Foundation and other charities.
So, not just church members but thise in positions of power and influence.
Ruth Pollard, Investigations Editor at the Sydney Morning Herald and the journalist who first reported the stories of three brave Mercy Survivors penned this short article :
FORMER directors of Mercy Ministries yesterday admitted the evangelical Christian organisation had engaged in false, misleading and deceptive conduct by wrongly claiming their residential care programs were free and included support from psychologists, dietitians, general practitioners and counsellors.
The admission is part of an Australian Competition and Consumer Commission ruling, after an 18-month investigation into complaints from former residents who were forced to undergo exorcisms and use prayer to treat serious health problems such as bipolar disorder and anorexia.
Targeting girls and women aged 16 to 28, Mercy Ministries also claimed – on its website and in advertising material distributed in Gloria Jeans cafes around the country – that its program was free, yet a Herald investigation revealed residents had to sign over their Centrelink benefits during their stay.
The ACCC ordered the former directors to pay $1050 to each of the 110 young women who took part in their programs from January 2005 to June last year, the total being $118,154. They have also agreed to attend annual trade practices compliance training for three years.
What is interesting to note is that figure that Ruth quotes – 110 women from 2005 to 2008. Far less than women than Mercy would have led you to believe and far below the thousands of women Mercy claim are saved by their program.
Related posts:
- The Evangelical back scratching network – Gloria Jeans, Compassion and Mercy Ministries Now while Gloria Jeans has pulled their funding and...
- Hillsong’s original press release on Mercy Ministries As I stated in this post, a reader informed me...
- Mercy Ministries opens up on the reasons for organisational change Sean questions the reason for the reformation of Mercy Ministries...
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I don’t think it’s right that they’re only helping girls who were there from 2005 to 2008. Girls there before 2005 went through exactly the same things at Mercy.
If the Mercy directors really wanted to try to make things right, they’d extend the apology and everything to all the girls.
But that said, I think the ACCC have done a great job in all other aspects of it.
I wonder if this would prevent any of the former mercy girls from filing suit against these directors? This would be a great class action suit that Nancy Alcorn cannot ignore. I personally think that Alcorn was just as guilty as the rest of them.
I would advise that anyone wishing to sue these directors contact a lawyer. I don't know if the money is compensation for the money they paid out of their centrelink payments or a figure that the ACCC decided was fair.
The heroes in this story are not Sean only but many of the women themselves such as Naomi Johnson who were courageous enough to come forward with their stories of mistreatment by mercy staff. I would love to see you girls sue the heck of these directors who made your lives misrable!
I concur with the heroes comment. The people who had to be brave were the original complainants they deserve the kudos.
Me – I am not a hero, a persistent, relentless blogger(among a cadre) but not a hero.
Sean guess what. Mercy America responded in todays Nashville Tennessean that they were not involved in the recent agreement in Australia and did not take responsibility for those actions. They also claimed that they relied on reports given to them by the Australian office. The article states that Mercy requires that all homes have to sign a ministry collaboration agreement. This gives Mercy America the right to dismiss any affiiliate that violates its policies. Mercy Australia was not disaffliliated by the homes were closed due to the lack of funding
Dear Crystal,
Nancy, as the head of Mercy Ministries overall, was responsible for what went on in Australia, as well as America. She can not dissasociate from that guilt because she claims the ministry simply isn't responsible. I believe (you'd have to ask Sean to be sure) that the collaboration agreement only came into effect after the scandal in Australia.. The ACCC would have closed Mercy down if it had not imploded and its clear that its the ACCC's presssure , along with that of various anti-mercy survivors and bloggers that closed it. So, don't worry. It's clear to every observer but Smietana that MM is responsible for what went on in Australia (especially since Nancy's own writings very clearly reference RTF).
John,
I agree and have said that Nancy is responsible for what went on in Australia. However, tell me if I am wrong, but from what I understand, Mark and Darlene Zschech left Mercy because of the collaboration agreement preventing them from being independent from Mercy Ministries America. I think all residents who were at Mercy since the home opened should be compensated, not just the ones from 2005-2008.
The way I found about this is I noticed that MM was not on Darlene's links on her webpage. I emailed the contact info on the webpage and was told that they had left Mercy because of a change for the international locations. Could this be the collaboration agreement?
The way that I found out about is that I noticed that MM was not a link on Darlene's web page as it used to be. I filled out the contact us form on the webpage and got a response back stating that they had a disagreement with Mercy about changes that had been made so they left. Putting 2 and 2 together, could it be that they disapproved of the collaboration agreement? That is what I think.
Yes Nancy told us girls at Mercy in Australia that she was glad the Australian MM could get Centrelink funding because in the US they cant because the govt stops them preaching and the money has strings. She knew VERY well that Australia was getting Centrelink AND she would have known about Australia's advertising.
No, Darlene and Mark were fired by Nancy in mid 2007. Nancy then put Peter Irvine in their place.
Hey guys,
Yea, I'm not sure what went on with the collaboration agreement. My memory may be incorrect on that score. I thought it was a post-scandal thing, but I could very well be wrong. I agree with Crystal that all residents should be compensated, not just those from 2005-2008. Unfortunately, I don't think that's likely to happen, which peeves me to no end.
Went on Darlene Zschech's new website and here is her official statement concerning MM.
Statement regarding Mercy Ministires
Hey friends…. I really felt that due to some confusion over the last few months, I needed to write and put a few things on record regarding Mark’s and my involvement in Mercy Ministries.
As of July 2007, Mark and I ceased all involvement with Mercy Ministries. As hard as it was, we knew it was the right choice for us and for our family. Since that time, due to a culmination of decisions completely outside of our control, Mercy Ministries has now unfortunately ceased to exist in Australia. And that is probably what brings us the most personal sadness of all.
We are SO very thankful to all of the girls who did come through the program and we celebrate those who are flourishing in life. We pray for and encourage any girls still overcoming personal challenges to work hard and continue to seek help. We will be ever grateful to a staff who did over and above the call of duty every single day to ensure the girls’ well being. The staff that started with us at Mercy have become lifelong friends and for that we are truly grateful.
More than two years have passed since we stood down from all involvement in Mercy Ministries. During that time we have worked hard to transition well, even in the midst of a less than ideal situation. But again, we see the faithfulness of God extended toward us, just as His faithfulness is toward you.We have learned SO, SO much during this period. I have certainly learned again to SING through a storm. In life, I believe that one of the great ‘growing up’ lessons is about praising our way through any circumstance. Yes it would be amazing if life was just sweet days every day, but life is all about our growth and development, our faith journey, the cementing and fine-tuning of our core beliefs, and learning to trust God through it all.
I personally do not regret a moment of our Mercy journey. Mark and I gave our best in time and resources to pioneer a place in Australia for girls needing a helping hand to overcome their personal challenges. This is still much needed in our nation. We will continue on every day with helping people, praising our God through it all.
Mark and I both feel, however, that it is important to publicly note that we have not been involved with Mercy Ministries in Australia or internationally at all since July 2007, and since then we should not have been represented as ambassadors for Mercy Ministries or in any of their marketing or public relations documents.
Love you,
Darlene Zschech.
My question is why did you not complain that your images were used after you left mm?