CU religious umbrella group ends Resurrection Church membership

The umbrella group that oversees religious organizations at the University of Colorado has revoked the membership of Resurrection Church, a Boulder campus ministry that some former members and their parents have described as having cultlike practices.

Members of CU’s Religious Campus Organizations voted this fall to remove Resurrection Church because it violated the group’s code of ethics, which says that members will respect the dignity and integrity of students on campus and allow students to make their own choices.

Resurrection Church, a nondenominational group that formed in Boulder in 2008, holds regular Sunday services at New Vista High School in Boulder and is an offshoot of a campus ministry at the University of Arizona that faced scrutiny last year.

CU students, alumni and their parents told the Daily Camera this summer that Resurrection Church slowly exerted control over their lives through manipulation and brainwashing.

Though the ministry seemed welcoming at first, eventually the church controlled all aspects of students’ lives, including who they dated and how they spent their time, the critics said. Many church members lived together, which created a culture of surveillance and fear, they said.

Former members called it “spiritual abuse.”

After the Daily Camera published a story describing concerns parents and students had about Resurrection Church, officials from CU’s Religious Campus Organizations group spoke with Conner Dudrey, a CU student and former member of the church.

Initially, Resurrection Church leaders submitted a letter of resignation to Religious Campus Organizations in early October. But the group rejected the resignation letter and voted Oct. 25 to revoke the church’s membership instead.

Resurrection Church is not eligible for membership into Religious Campus Organizations for three years.