All Isn’t Well in a Popular Christian Diet Program

Its links to an authoritarian group cause concern.

Christians are into the lean look. That is the message of our culture—with a little help from physical fitness devotees and the makers of designer jeans. The surge of interest in weight reduction has resulted in the development of several Christian diet programs, the most successful being Diet, Discipline, and Discipleship (3D), which bills itself as “a Christian counterpart to national weight-watcher programs.”

Three-D began in 1973 and has grown tremendously under the leadership of Carol Showalter, wife of William Showalter, senior minister of the Parkminster United Presbyterian Church in Rochester, New York. The first 3D group, consisting of 10 women in the Rochester church, expanded to include a program with more than 5,000 churches by the fall of 1981. According to a brochure, 100,000 people have completed a 3D program.

Despite the testimonies of satisfied customers and the upbeat image projected by its publications, all is not well in the world of 3D. Rumblings of discontent are heard throughout the country concerning the overall management of the program and the sharply increased costs of membership. More serious problems have surfaced regarding the negative impact of 3D on some participants and uneasiness over the program’s link to the controversial Community of Jesus on Cape Cod (Mass).

The 3D program consists of three 12-week segments and is designed to help participants “seek God’s will and direction in helping one another in the various areas of their lives where self-discipline is a problem.” Each group, comprised of about 10 members, is sponsored by a local church and is guided by a leadership team of two persons. Each participant agrees to follow the 3D diet plan (Better Homes and Garden’s Eat and Stay Slim), keep a daily record of food input, pray daily for other group members, and make one “caring phone call” each week.

Andy Andrews, pastor of the Foundry United Methodist Church in Houston, is enthusiastic about the program. “I have found it beneficial to become personally involved in the lives of the leaders,” he said. “I evaluate their reports and food sheets each week and write them a personal note” encouraging them.

For many, 3D has been a helpful, caring, life-changing ministry. Because of the structured nature of the program, many people report having formed needed habits of personal devotion, such as prayer and Bible reading. Ruth Brandenberger of the First Presbyterian Church of Babylon, New York, cites friendship as a postive by-product of involvement.

But there are disenchanted customers. Although specific figures are difficult to obtain, dozens of churches have pulled out of the program in recent months, and several more are considering severing ties. In the Portland, Oregon, area, for example, more than 30 accounts (churches) asked to be dropped or have become inactive since last summer. Local leaders in the economically depressed Pacific Northwest cited the “skyrocketing costs” of 3D as the primary reason for quitting. In 1979 the cost to individuals was $15 for a 12-week session. Area leaders were told in June 1981 that the cost of member kits would rise to $25. But it jumped to $40, not $25. “Rising inflation costs” were given as the reason.

More troubling may be the often unrecognized link between some teachings of 3D and the philosophy of the Community of Jesus. Critics claim that the top-level leadership of 3D is not being totally “up front” about its association with the Massachusetts group and the degree to which this relationship affects the entire 3D program.

The Community of Jesus is a nondenominational, charismatic Christian community composed of 200 resident members and hundreds of nonresident members scattered throughout North America. The community uses the liturgy of the Episcopal church, although Bishop John Coburn of the Massachusetts diocese has stated that “they are not a community of the Episcopal diocese of Massachusetts in any way, shape, or form.”

Members of the faculty and student body of both Gordon College and Gordon-Conwell Theological Seminary have noticed some disturbing aspects of the nearby Community of Jesus. They, along with many visitors to the community, view the organization as a highly authoritarian, manipulative, guilt-inducing structure, operating in the context of an oppressive, works-oriented spirituality. Gordon-Conwell students Ann Rodgers and Tom Morton assisted Boston magazine in an investigation of the community. The resulting article described the community’s lifestyle as “authoritarianism cloaked in sanctity.” The community is led by two women, Cay Andersen and Judy Sorensen, each called “Mother” by the residents.

Curtis Hartman, executive editor of Boston magazine, said he continues to receive letters asking for information on the community and 3D ten months after the article was published. The popular TV news program “60 Minutes” considered a piece on the community but abandoned the project when the community refused cooperation, Hartman said.

Another characteristic of the group frequently cited by critics is the divisive impact it has had on families. Resident members have been known to denounce their “idolatrous families” and virtually sever all ties with the past. One Christian parent, Marion Vaccaro of Centerport, New York, was labeled a “controlling mother” by her daughter when she questioned the daughter’s involvement in the community. “She wrote us a vile, accusing, disrespectful letter telling us she never wanted to hear from us again. I send her cards and short notes on birthdays and holidays reminding her that we love her, but she has never answered,” Mrs. Vaccaro said.

The Community of Jesus, like the 3D leadership, strongly defends what it perceives to be its unique mission and ministry. Honest criticism, even by other concerned Christians, is seen as the work of Satan. Mother Cay has told her followers, “You are wrong if you enter into controversy about this community or its work.”

The exact nature of the relationship between 3D and the Community of Jesus is disputable. Three-D headquarters personnel, during public information sessions, have flatly denied any connection with the community. (Codirectors Carol Showalter and Mary Haig declined an interview with CHRISTIANITY TODAY.) However, the informal ties between the two organizations are obvious:

• The Community of Jesus is frequently mentioned in Carol Showalter’s book, 3D, which tells the story of the founding of 3D. The cloth edition of the book was published by the community’s Rock Harbor Press in Orleans, Massachusetts (Fleming H. Revell purchased the paperback rights in 1980).

• Informational brochures describing the community have been distributed at some 3D meetings.

• William Sorensen, husband of community cofounder Mother Judy Sorenson, signs checks issued by Diet, Discipline, and Discipleship, Incorporated. He is business manager of the Community of Jesus.

• Most top-level 3D leaders, as well as office staff, are either nonresident or resident members of the community. This includes the codirectors of 3D.

• Many 3D materials are printed and mailed at the Cape.

• The codirectors of the community occasionally travel with 3D leadership teams and make appearances at 3D functions, as they did on the West Coast last January.

• Leadership retreats for 3D are often held at the community compound on the Cape.

• The message and methods of the community are evident in the ministry of Pastor Showalter at Rochester’s Parkminster Church, the founding church of 3D. Also, in January, assistant minister Thomas Witter left Rochester for Orleans, Massachusetts, and the Community of Jesus.

• The teaching tapes supplied to 3D leaders feature speakers like Pastor Showalter, Peter Marshall, Jr. (son of the famous Senate chaplain), and Mothers Cay and Judy. In short, virtually all the recorded speakers are associated with the Community of Jesus.

• Finally, and significantly, 3D headquarters officially moved to Orleans in January. Officials of 3D say the change is strictly a business move to improve efficiency of operations.

Some of the more controversial teachings of the community seem to filter down into 3D groups and have the potential for negative spiritual and emotional impact on vulnerable members. A member of a Caledonia, New York, church who was once active in 3D said, “The emphasis was on sin and making you feel guilty, [as if] that’s the way you lose weight.”

Jean Coombs, a Rochester, New York, housewife and former 3D participant, feels that some 3D leaders encourage a kind of self-flagellation and occasionally resort to heavy-handed correction. “I was scared to death to speak up, lest I be corrected and made a fool of publicly. It seemed to me that if you ended up crying, the leaders were delighted, because it showed you were breaking,” she said.

Critics contend such problems stem from the “theology of control,” which characterizes the community leadership and influences 3D. In the 3D leader’s manual, “speaking God’s word” is clearly not limited to the speaking of Scripture. “God’s word” includes whatever the leader feels the Holy Spirit is revealing about sin in the participant’s life.

Another major teaching of the community that is central to 3D is death to self. While dying to self is biblical, it can almost become “crucifying self” in an unbalanced, unscriptural sense in 3D.

Although the leader’s manual cautions against the “tendency to dig for the person’s sin,” former members say that there is a preoccupation with sin, especially attitudinal sins like jealousy, rebellion, willfulness, idolatry, and haughtiness. Former 3D leaders said that whenever they raised uncomfortable questions, they were accused of harboring a “rebellious spirit” or jealousy against those in authority over them.

Harold Bussell, chaplain at Gordon College, is concerned about 3D and its ties with the Community of Jesus. Although Bussell does not believe the community is doctrinally heretical, he is bothered by what he terms their theology of power.” It is in the context of the abuse of power and the manipulation of emotionally vulnerable weight watchers that Christians are beginning to have second thoughts about 3D. Because of the subtle connection between the community and 3D, some fear that large numbers of people could unknowingly be exposed to the “unbalanced” teaching of the community.

Jane Herman, a member of an independent Bible church in a Virginia suburb of Washington, D.C., has used 3D successfully to lose weight. Her group used only the first of the three 12-week sessions, because it emphasized weight reduction and valuable Scripture lessons on self-control. Herman felt the next sessions dealt too much with the emotions and that tapes accompanying those sessions by Cay and Judy were not at all helpful.

Betty Rickard, former 3D area coordinator for the state of Oregon, summed up such feelings. “It was not so much a matter of heresy, but of extremes of control of one person over another and the lack of the basic concept of the work of grace that convinced me to let go of my emotional liaisons with 3D and the Community of Jesus,” Rickard said. She suggests using the “plumb line of the Bible to be sure God is the “Master Builder of any work with which we become involved.” That is good advice for anyone wishing to check out a program called Diet, Discipline, and Discipleship.

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