Pinedale Christian Church Single Group Cult Winston Salem North Carolina

I cannot even begin to state that I know what the original anonymous writer experienced during their meetings with Pinedale Singles group.  However, my husband and I can attest to the facts we encountered.  Pinedale Singles is a support group sponsored, lead, and attended by wonderful people!  People who strive to be Christ like, who lead and teach by the Holy Bible, the Word of God.  None of the groups at Pinedale are occult in any sense of the word.  The pastor is by NO means a pimp.  They DO NOT promote promiscuity and they teach only the opposite of her accusations.  They promote strong family relationships like our relationship with God as our loving Father and us as His children.  They teach that divorce, though not the best choice is in some cases the only choice, and as the Bible states, is justified for specific reasons only.  Rather, they required only that my fiance' and I be married (since we were living together prior to marriage) and have marriage councelling (with the pastor) prior to the wedding before becoming members in good standing of the church.  

Pinedale Christian Church's leaders and members have councelled us through love in a righteous manner, like Jesus!  Pastor required marriage councelling sessions prior to our wedding that were filled with instruction straight from the Bible, some wonderfully inspiring, and some we found hard to do, but all was "good Godly councel".  We too, like the others who have written rebuttals, are to this day still members of the church and consider its people our church family, welcome even in our home.  We have never witnessed anything from anyone in or out of the Singles group exhibitting any of the behaviors that this "report" accuses.  We have, however, been in private councel with the pastor.  We have attended the Marriage Retreats that Pinedale sponsors twice a year for the strengthening of married couples in their walk with God.  We do still regularly give to the church, and we have been a part of some of the outreaches to our city, and missions both here and abroad.   

And as others also stated, it like all churches has people who are not perfect who come to the meetings.  But that's the whole idea of a church, to reach out to its community, to tell the Good News of Christ Jesus to all who will listen.  And to show the love of Christ to everyone.  To those who need it most, just as Jesus did when he spent time with the tax collectors and women of ill repute, and even the Pharisees and Sadducees who lead the Jews, priding themselves on their own perfection of the law.  Jesus always spoke with love, even when He was rebuking, teaching, disciplining, or healing.

I agree whole heartedly with the rebuttalist who stated that this accuser should have taken his/her issue to the leaders of the church to have the issue with one particular attendee addressed and corrected.  And if this person felt that the pastor was unapproachable, then there are a multitude of trustworthy elders and deacons who are in position to ensure checks and balances in the leadership and management of the church and all its subsidiary groups. 

We are signing this rebuttal because we are NOT ashamed to be associated with Pinedale, its leaders, or its members.  This church and the Christ like love they share are what keeps its large membership in tact.

I've been a member of Pinedale Singles for 9 years. Pinedale Christian Church is a mainstream Christian Evangelical church. The Singles Group has been lead by one of two ministers in the 9 years I've been there, both were married and definitely NOT pimps. If anything, they make it clear that the purpose is to fellowship with other Christian singles and study the word of God, to learn about our saviour, Jesus Christ. As for members, they are from all different social-economic situations, educational levels, and income levels. The diversity of the group varies with the membership. Some are widows/widowers, divorced, never married, some have been through re-hab programs for drugs & alcohol, some have pschological/emotional problems, but it is Church of God's people who come for healing. If someone does threaten or  take advantage of group members and the church leaders know about it, they will be called aside asked to cease the activity, or told not to come back. It won't be tolerated. It is a very large group of over 100, some coming from other area churches, and some whom never attended church before. Like any large group, there are subgroups of friends (clicks) that develop over time, and since people are people, Not everyone in the group acts Christlike all the time. Some couples have met and married from the group.  But regardless everyone is welcome to come to the classes, Bible Study, and attend the events. I"m sorry you did not feel welcome, and sorry if some members of the group treated you badly.

First of all, your terminology is incorrect. Webster defines a cult as a quasi-religious organization using devious psychological techniques to gain and control adherents. If you believe that the Bible is the word of God, Jesus is his only begotten Son,who died, and on the third day rose from the dead then you know that Pinedales not a cult.
As far as the singles group, I met my husband in the group 13 years ago. As a member we witnessed nothing even remotely close to what the author wrote. In fact, we are still members of the church to this day. Sounds to me the author of the original complaint is an angry and unhappy single! Maybe you should get right with God first, then maybe you'll find the mate God has planned for you.

What did they do, kick you out. Great thing to do, post all these accusations anonymously. How does one join this group....I might be willing to "lie" just to meet women.

First of all, I am truly sorry to hear you had a bad experience at Pinedale. The church has done a lot of wonderful things for many different people and places in the world. One must remember that a church (any church) is subject to the backlash of one or two members bad actions. I don't know who you are talking about but I do know that the beliefs of Pinedale is based on the Bible--nothing added, nothing taken away. I was a youth leader there for over 12 years, and I feel very comfortable with stating that the statements you made are far from the truth, however, I am not stating that prehaps someone didn't misused their leadership role. I would all suggest that when you have a problem such as this within a church or even on the job--you should take it to the leaders of the church or whoever is above this person. The church would want to know and correct the problem quickly. Sorry, that you didn't think of doing that first before placing such comments in an open media and not giving the church the respect to try to address this first. Sincerely, Robin Hurdle

Sounds like a woman scorned to me. With a LARGE helping of sour grapes on the side.