Evangelical Ministries to New Religions

Christian counter-cult organizations

Evangelical Ministries to New Religions

Abbreviation| EMNR
Formation| 1982
Founder| Gordon Lewis, Walter Martin, James Bjornstad, Ronald Enroth
Type| Christian countercult group
Purpose| Evangelize to members of new religious movements (NRMs)

President

| L.L. (Don) Veinot, Jr
Subsidiaries|

* Watchman Fellowship
* New England Institute of Religious Research
* Midwest Christian Outreach
* Institute for Religious Research
* Apologetics Evangelism - NAMB/SBC
* Apologetics Resource Center
* Apologia
* ARMOR
* Biola University
* Christian Apologetics Program
* BRIDGE
* CANA/Christian Answers for the New Age
* Centers for Apologetics Research
* Christian Perspectives International
* Christian Research and Counsel
* Current Issues in Alternative Medicine
* Evidence Ministries
* Gospel Truth Ministries
* Families Against Cults of Indiana
* Fire Escape Ministries
* Freedom In Truth Outreach
* Haven Ministries
* Discernment Ministries International
* Jesus Christ Saves Ministries
* Life Assurance Ministries
* Mormonism Research Ministry
* Naming the Grace
* Refuge Ministries
* Religious Information Center
* Resource Center for Theological Research
* Rooftop Ministries
* Stormwatch Ministries
* Spiritwatch Ministries
* True Light Educational Ministry
* Word for the Weary

Website| www.emnr.org

Formerly called

| Evangelical Ministries to Cultists

Evangelical Ministries to New Religions (EMNR) is a coalition of Christian countercult organizations. It was founded by Gordon Lewis, James Bjornstad, Ronald Enroth, and Walter Ralston Martin in 1982.[1][2]

## Purpose and activities

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The organization brings together groups and individuals who evangelize to members of new religious movements (NRMs) and seeks legitimacy and accountability for the countercult movement. Gordon Lewis, one of the group's founders, defines a cult as a "religious group which claims authorization by Christ and the Bible, but neglects or distorts the gospel".[3] EMNR aims to consolidate much of the scattered countercult movement and establish a ubiquitous mission strategy for movements they see as non-Christian or threatening to traditional Protestant Christianity.[4]

EMNR holds conferences about pertinent issues, publishes relevant materials, encourages networking between member groups, and makes recommendations of helpful agencies and materials that meet its standards.[4]

## Organization

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James Lopez currently serves as EMNR’s Executive Director.[5] A full list of the organization's current members can be found here.

## History

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### Formation

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The countercult movement has long been divided over its goals and the tactics it should use to achieve those goals, which left the movement lacking cohesiveness. The participants in a 1982 Christian conference on cults and new religious movements voted to form a permanent anticult coalition, which they named Evangelical Ministries to Cultists.[6] This coalition was coordinated by Gordon Lewis, a well-known figure within the countercult community. Other founders include Walter Martin, James Bjornstad, and Ronald Enroth.[2]

The group was designed to carry out the directives established by the 1974 Lausanne Covenant, a Christian manifesto adopted by the International Congress on World Evangelization that explains and promotes active global evangelism.[2][7]

### Name change

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In late 1984, the group's name was officially changed to Evangelical Ministries to New Religions, after the founders realized that the original name was likely to be seen as offensive to members of new religious movements.[2]

### MEDS

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In 1997, EMNR's Committee on Ethics (which at the time consisted of Eric Pement and Craig Branch) drafted the Manual of Ethical and Doctrinal Standards (MEDS). This document spells out the guidelines for EMNR members' expected practices in evangelism. It represents a major step in bringing cohesion to the countercult movement through the clarification of doctrine and goals, the articulation of ethical standards of conduct, and the approval of countercult material.[2]

MEDS also represents an attempt to professionalize EMNR's sector of the countercult movement, a trend in the broader movement as well. Its warnings against falsifying credentials and embellishing pertinent stories demonstrate a desire for legitimacy and respect from serious parties on all sides.[2]

MEDS does not explicitly define the doctrine its members should express, but the Lausanne Covenant and its sibling document the Manila Manifesto of 1989 provide a basis for the expected religious beliefs and values of EMNR's members. These documents call for public faith, fervent evangelism, and firm belief in the absolute authority of the Old and New Testaments.[7]

## Reactions

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Although EMNR is meant to unify groups within the Christian countercult movement, it does not attempt to or claim to include all those that exist. The coalition's structured standards and emphasis on accountability deter some related groups from joining, even though submitting to the EMNR's authority is essentially voluntary. Tensions between groups also contribute to a less than uniform wave to join. On a broader level, there is no consensus within the Christian community as to whether evangelism is even the right approach to take for those opposed to new religious movements.[2]

Some analysts are critical of EMNR’s attitude toward the people it attempts to reach. Douglas Cowan, a sociologist of religion at the University of Waterloo, Ontario, points out the discrepancies between its demands for countercult activists to respect non-Christians and the loaded language with which it sometimes describes non-Christians.[2]

## References

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1. ^ Bozeman, John. "Conference Updates." Nova Religio: The Journal of Alternative and Emergent Religions 8, no. 1 (2004): 103–7. p. 106.
2. ^ a b c d e f g h Cowan, Douglas E. Bearing False Witness? An Introduction to the Christian Countercult Westport, CT: Praeger, 2003. [page needed] ISBN 978-0275974596
3. ^ Rhodes, Ron. The Challenge of the Cults and New Religions: The Essential Guide to Their History, Their Doctrine, and Our Response. Grand Rapids, MI: Zondervan, 2001. This quote is part of an excerpt form Gordon Lewis's book Confronting the Cults.
4. ^ a b "EMNR - Our Purpose". 2008-12-09. Archived from the original on 2008-12-09. Retrieved 2022-08-05.
5. ^ "Executive Director – EMNR". Retrieved 2022-08-05.
6. ^ Aho, Barbara, "New Age Ties of the Apologetics Industries", Watch Unto Prayer [watch.pair.com], archived from the original on 2013-01-22, retrieved 2008-11-25
7. ^ a b "The Lausanne Covenant". Lausanne Movement. 1974-08-01. Retrieved 2022-08-05.

## External links

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* Official website
* MEDS Document
* YouTube channel

* v
* t
* e

Opposition to new religious movements

Concepts|

* Anti-cult movement
* Christian countercult movement
* Cult
* Deprogramming
* Doomsday cult
* Freedom of religion
* Heresy
* Heterodox teaching
* Mind control
* New religious movement

Secular groups|

* APA Task Force on Deceptive and Indirect Methods of Persuasion and Control
* Center for Religious Studies in the name of Hieromartyr Irenaeus of Lyons
* Cult Awareness Network
* Cult Information Centre
* Cultists Anonymous
* International Cultic Studies Association
* The Family Survival Trust
* Fight Against Coercive Tactics Network
* National Network of Lawyers Against Spiritual Sales
* People's Organised Workshop on Ersatz Religion

Secular individuals|

* Jean-Marie Abgrall
* John Gordon Clark
* Steve Eichel
* Martin Faiers
* Leon Festinger
* Carol Giambalvo
* Steven Hassan
* Ian Haworth
* Galen Kelly
* Stephen A. Kent
* Masaki Kito
* Janja Lalich
* Michael Langone
* Saul V. Levine
* Casey McCann
* Jesse S. Miller
* Sayuri Ogawa
* Ted Patrick
* Tsutsumi Sakamoto
* Rick Ross
* Chris Shelton
* Margaret Singer
* Eito Suzuki
* Alain Vivien
* Cyril Vosper
* Louis Jolyon West
* Lawrence Wollersheim

Religious groups|

* Christian Apologetics and Research Ministry
* Christian Research Institute
* Dialog Center International
* Dialogue Ireland
* Evangelical Ministries to New Religions
* Institute for Religious Research
* Personal Freedom Outreach
* Midwest Christian Outreach
* New England Institute of Religious Research
* Reachout Trust
* Spiritual Counterfeits Project
* Watchman Fellowship
* Wellspring Retreat and Resource Center

Religious individuals|

* Johannes Aagaard
* Graham Baldwin
* Robert M. Bowman Jr.
* Harold Busséll
* Gérard Dagon
* Maurice Davis
* Alexander Dvorkin
* Ronald Enroth
* Mike Garde
* Robin Garbose
* Norman Geisler
* Jan Groenveld
* Hank Hanegraaff
* Reinhart Hummel
* Roger Ikor
* Bob Larson
* Paul R. Martin
* Walter Ralston Martin
* Robert Passantino

Governmental organizations|

* 610 Office
* European Federation of Centres of Research and Information on Sectarianism
* Centre contre les manipulations mentales
* Union nationale des associations de défense des familles et de l'individu
* MIVILUDES
* Parliamentary Commission on Cults in France

Individuals in government|

* Nicolas About
* Serge Blisko
* Georges Fenech
* Ford Greene
* Stephen Mutch
* Catherine Picard
* Kenneth Robinson
* Paul Rose
* Tom Sackville
* Nick Xenophon

Historical events|

* About–Picard law
* Anti-Mormonism
* Assassination of Shinzo Abe
* Governmental lists of cults and sects
* Mass suicide of Heaven's Gate
* Jason Scott case
* Arrest of Apollo Quiboloy
* Persecution of Baháʼís
* Persecution of Falun Gong
* Persecution of Jehovah's Witnesses
* The Prohibited and Unlawful Societies and Associations Act
* Tokyo subway sarin attack
* Waco siege

Publications|

* All Gods Children (book)
* Another Gospel
* Bounded Choice
* Brainwashing: The Science of Thought Control
* Captive Hearts, Captive Minds
* The Challenge of the Cults and New Religions
* Churches That Abuse
* Combating Cult Mind Control
* Cults: Faith, Healing and Coercion
* Cults in Our Midst
* Cults of Unreason
* Deadly Cults
* The Incendiaries
* The Kingdom of the Cults
* The Making of a Moonie
* Misunderstanding Cults
* The New Vigilantes: Deprogrammers, Anti-Cultists, and the New Religions
* On the Edge: Political Cults Right and Left
* Recovery from Cults
* Snapping: America's Epidemic of Sudden Personality Change
* Strange Gods: The Great American Cult Scare
* Thought Reform and the Psychology of Totalism
* Twisted Scriptures
* When Prophecy Fails
* The Wrong Way Home
* Zealot: A Book About Cults

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