How secretive ‘cult-like’ Shincheonji Church of Jesus from South Korea recruits vulnerable students at unis and drags them away from family and friends

A secret international church community that has been likened to a “brainwashing cult” is expanding its recruitment campaign among Australian university students.

The Shincheonji Church of Jesus (SCJ), founded in South Korea 40 years ago, has been accused of separating vulnerable young people from their families and friends.

SCJ’s tactics have been exposed by former members, who say the organization targets not only college districts but also young converts in shopping malls, train stations, on social media and through dating apps.

The group, founded by 92-year-old Lee Man-Hee, claims to be sincere followers of Christianity but has been accused of brainwashing vulnerable Australian children.

The explosive claims were made by locals at a heated Cambridge City Council briefing on the outskirts of Perth last month.

Jim Spencer, who lives in Roleystone, says his daughter is among dozens of others who spend excessive amounts of time on the nearby SJC property, which masquerades as an educational institution.

“We parents work hard to get our children out. Our children have been stolen from us,” he told the meeting.

‘My daughter is here six days a week, sixteen hours a day, as a volunteer.’

He claimed the group targets young people and international students, luring them through “non-denominational Bible studies.”

A former church teacher has submitted a written report to the council stating that the Shincheonji practices are illegal.

“The church does not have recognized qualifications to be an educational organization,” the filing said.

“There are no certifications that would justify their teachings as publicly recognized. The teachers are not certified, nor was I when I was inside.”

People between the ages of 15 and 25 were most often targeted, many of whom are international students, who are likely to have few friends when they first arrive in Australia.

“There are a lot of (recruiters) everywhere and you don’t know it until you know it yourself,” one former member told the Herald Sun.

“It’s like being brainwashed… Some people have taken years to get out and even longer to heal and get their lives back on track.”

SCJ operates so secretively that those who were recruited but later left often say they were unaware they were being targeted until they attended intensive “Bible study” courses for at least six months.

“Lifestyle, college, job, friends and even family had to be ‘sacrificed’ if it got in the way of the church,” said another former member.

The recruiters approach what they call the new ‘fruit’ in pairs.

A former member said they pretended to be just having a nice chat, possibly asking for directions. This is called ‘love bombing’.

They ask the target group questions about their age, where they live, their religion, whether they study and what their hobbies are.

The last and most important step in the process is obtaining the young person’s phone number.

In Victoria alone, there are over 1,000 SCJ followers, although the Australian government does not recognise the SCJ as a church.

However, it is a recognised charity, registered with the Australian Charities and Not-for-profits Commission, and claims that the organisation was established ‘to advance religion’.

It claims to do this by ‘testifying to and spreading the gospel of heaven, which leads to the salvation promised in the Bible, to all parts of the world, and fulfilling its mission of evangelization to heal all nations’.

SCJ claims that there are over 300,000 followers worldwide, whose members await the ‘Day of Judgment’, when 144,000 believers will become high priests, while the remaining followers will become immortal.

The group’s recruitment tactics have become so worrying that Australian Catholic University Vice-Chancellor Julie Cogin warned students about the SCJ’s “manipulative and coercive” recruitment on her campus.

Tore Klevjer, the chair of Cult Information and Family Support, also sent a letter to all Australian universities warning them about the “insidious cult”.

But he said universities aren’t doing enough to warn students. “Awareness is especially important because the group is lying to them about who they are.

“If they are not aware of it, they think they are joining another innocent group that can pretend to be anything.”

He said parents should ask their children about new friends and warned that they could be taken away from their studies and work.

But one father, whose daughter has been at SCJ for almost three years, said it was as if she was under a “compulsive” spell.

“It’s hard to see, but on the other hand, there’s not much we can do… if we’re hard on her, she could disappear forever and leave us for the church,” he said.

The young woman’s mother reported SCJ to police, but police said no crime had been committed and there was nothing the police could do for her.

Daily Mail Australia has contacted the Shincheonji Church of Jesus for comment.