It’s a new year and Kip McKean has yet another new battle on his hands. Not only is the ICC still reeling from the recent resignation and “marking” of evangelist Coltin Rohn, a group of former church members have now come forward to sue McKean and his churches.

In an exclusive article on RollingStone.com (dated 31 December 2022), it says:

Defectors from the International Churches of Christ allege indoctrination, isolation, “rigid” teachings, financial demands, and indifference to claims of rape and abuse.

FIVE WOMEN IN California have sued a network of organizations associated with the International Churches of Christ and two of its leaders, claiming they are victims of childhood sexual abuse and a financial pyramid scheme perpetrated by a “cult.” The federal claim, filed Friday night in the Central District of California and obtained by Rolling Stone, comes amid a flood of litigation in the state’s final days of a three-year window that gave adults additional time to sue over childhood sexual abuse.

The plaintiffs allege the ICOC and its affiliated organizations — Hope Worldwide; Mercyworldwild [sic]; and a splinter group known as the International Christian Church along with its Los Angeles headquarters, the City of Angels International Christian Church — “indoctrinated” members into a “rigid” belief system that isolated them from the outside world, then “facilitated and actively concealed” incidents of sexual abuse and trafficking while they were minors. The suit also names church founder Kip McKean and the estate of another leader, the late Charles “Chuck” Lucas, as defendants. Additionally, the women claim, the churches and their leaders created a “system of exploitation that extracts any and all value it can from members,” straining members financially, while silencing any dissenters. 

“Not Your ‘Church Next Door’: ‘Cult’ Ignored Abuse, Ran ‘Pyramid Scheme,’ Lawsuit Claims”, by Andrea Marks (31 December 2022)

I was able to get a hold of the PDF documents for this latest class action lawsuit.

Case No. 22-09467

Download the PDF for case no. 22-09467

Plaintiffs: SALUD GONZALEZ, an individual, DARLEEN DIAZ, an individual, BERNICE PEREZ, an individual, ASHLEY RUIZ, an individual, and ELENA PELTOLA, an individual,

COMPLAINT FOR:

1. SEXUAL ASSAULT OF A MINOR
2. VIOLATION OF PENAL CODE 647.6(A)(1)
3. INTENTIONAL INFLICTION OF EMOTIONAL DISTRESS
4. NEGLIGENT HIRING, SUPERVISION, AND RETENTION
5. NEGLIGENT SUPERVISION OF A MINOR
6. FAILURE TO REPORT SUSPECTED CHILD ABUSE IN VIOLATION OF PENAL CODE SECTION 11165. ET EP. BASED ON VICARIOUS LIABILITY
7. NEGLIGENCE
8. VIOLATION OF FEDERAL RACKETEER INFLUENCED AND CORRUPT ORGANIZATION (“RICO”)
   ACT 18 U.S.C. § 1962(C)
9. SEXUAL BATTERY IN VIOLATION OF CAL. CIV. CODE § 1708.5
10. GENDER VIOLENCE IN VIOLATION OF CAL. CIV. CODE § 52.4

Case No. 2:22-cv-09472

Download the PDF for case no. 2:22-cv-09472

Plaintiffs: ANTHONY M. STOWERS, an individual; and ERIN TOMLINSON, an individual

COMPLAINT FOR: (as above)

Let us be praying for the victims and may justice prevail in Jesus’name.