Editing Bethel Church, Mansfield Woodhouse (section)

==Connecticut==
As of 1999, one of the three pastors at King's Chapel in Norwich, Connecticut was Sam J. Wibberley,<ref name="tolson">{{cite news   | last =Tolson  | first =Kyn    |author2=Paul Choiniere  | title =  Lives Crippled in God's Name: Ex-members of King's Chapel tell of control, devastation   | work =[[The New London Day]]  | publisher =Shore Publishing  | date =30 May 1999  }}</ref> who also owned a business<!-- that was NOT a tire/tyre business--> called "Sam Wibberley Tire",<ref name="critical">{{cite news  | last =Choiniere  | first = Paul | title =Critical thinking restored after break with church  | work =[[The New London Day]]  | publisher =Shore Publishing  | date =30 May 1999}}</ref> and lived in [[Jewett City, Connecticut]].<ref name="dynamic">{{cite news  | last =Tolson  | first =Kyn  |author2=Paul Choiniere  | title =Dynamic Church Leader Seen As Both Shepherd and Demagogue  | work =[[The New London Day]]  | publisher =Shore Publishing  | date =30 May 1999 }}</ref> Wibberley graduated from [[Albion College]] in 1973.<ref name="dynamic" /> In the 1980s, Wibberley's organisation the [[Dayspring Church of God]] became affiliated with the Bethel Church.<ref name="churchleaders">{{cite news   | last =Tolson  | first =Kyn  |author2=Paul Choiniere  | title =  Church Leaders Strive For Holy Ways: They say anyone is free to leave  | work =[[The New London Day]]  | date =30 May 1999|publisher=Shore Publishing }}</ref> King's Chapel has [[tax exempt status]], which was originally granted to Dayspring Church of God in 1981.<ref name="followers">{{cite news   | last =Tolson  | first =Kyn  |author2=Paul Choiniere  | title =  Former Followers Felt Hard Pressure To Give: They tell of donating thousands, making loans  | work =[[The New London Day]]  | publisher =Shore Publishing  | date =30 May 1999  }}</ref> Wibberley and his wife Cynthia often travel to Bethel Church in England to visit church members there.<ref name="pastorsson">{{cite news   | last =Tolson   | first = Kyn   | title =Pastor's son experienced guilt and violence   | work =[[The New London Day]]  | publisher =Shore Publishing  | date =30 May 1999}}</ref> As of 1999, Wibberley's son Christopher was married and was employed as an [[auto mechanic]].<ref name="pastorsson" /> John V. Monahan Jr. served as a pastor of the church in 1999,<ref name="helost">{{cite news   | last =Choiniere  | first = Paul   | title =He lost his family but not his hope  | work =[[The New London Day]]  | publisher =Shore Publishing  | date = 30 May 1999}}</ref><ref name="couple">{{cite news   | last =Tolson  | first =Kyn    | title =Couple's reconciliation not condoned  | work =[[The New London Day]]  | publisher =Shore Publishing  | date =30 May 1999 }}</ref> along with James Oakley,<ref name="prophet" /> and Kevin F. Hamel served as youth minister.<ref name="critical" /><ref name="teen">{{cite news | last =Choiniere  | first = Paul   | title =As a teen, she felt set up  | work =[[The New London Day]]  | publisher =Shore Publishing  | date =30 May 1999 }}</ref>

Church services include singing accompanied by guitar music.<ref name="prophet">{{cite news  | last =Tolson  | first =Kyn    | title =Prophet wouldn't let her failed relationship die  | work =[[The New London Day]]  | publisher =Shore Publishing  | date =30 May 1999}}</ref> A church member described the preaching in the service as "energized and forceful".<ref name="prophet" /> Church values include cleanliness of one's home, and that an individual's property was seen as shared ownership with other members of the church.<ref name="coupleshome">{{cite news   | last =Tolson  | first = Kyn   | title =Couple's home was not their own  | work =[[The New London Day]]|publisher=Shore Publishing  | date =30 May 1999}}</ref> Church members are often quoted the Bible verse "For as he thinketh in his heart, so is he", Proverbs 23:7.<ref name="wife">{{cite news  | last =Choiniere  | first =Paul  | title =Wife says she was thrown out for impure thoughts   | work =[[The New London Day]]  | publisher =Shore Publishing  | date =30 May 1999 }}</ref> Sinful thoughts are seen by some as being equated with the sin itself.<ref name="wife" />

Both Wibberley, and his counterpart Hibbert in England, believe that Jean Spademan has the "gift of prophecy".<ref name="churchleaders" /> Members of the King's Chapel community share possessions including money, houses, and cars.<ref name="tolson" /> They work at the church for free, and this is seen as a sign of their faith in the movement.<ref name="tolson" /> One of the church's mottos was "You can't outgive God".<ref name="tolson" /> Members of the organisation live in [[Jewett City]]; church pastors encourage their followers to live there.<ref name="tolson" /> Spademan believed that the Lord thought Jewett City was "the Jewel City", and the chosen city of God.<ref name="critical" />

On 19 December 1987, a member of King's Chapel, 29-year-old Ron Allen, committed suicide shortly after being persuaded by members of the church to sell his house.<ref name="mothertells">{{cite news   | last =Tolson   | first =Kyn   | title =Mother tells of her son's disappointment, last days  | work =[[The New London Day]]  | publisher =Shore Publishing  | date =30 May 1999 }}</ref> "Selling that house was not what Ronald wanted. He said he was brainwashed," said his mother Edith Bolles.<ref name="mothertells" /> "They told him his house was evil because it was materialism. He was submitting himself to materialism, and he needed to get rid of that materialism. ... And by the same token, they wanted the money," said his sister Caron Wunderlich.<ref name="mothertells" />

In December 1994, church member Martha Davis attempted to commit suicide by ingesting painkillers.<ref name="shefound">{{cite news   | last =Choiniere  | first =Paul    | title =She found rearranged life not worth living  | work =[[The New London Day]]  | publisher =Shore Publishing  | date = 30 May 1999 }}</ref> She had been instructed by church pastor Kevin F. Hamel that "the Lord had informed prophet Jean Spademan" that a couple and their three daughters had to move into Davis's apartment to live with her and her son.<ref name="shefound" /> Davis cared for the daughters for years, but felt she was neglecting her own son.<ref name="shefound" /> "I can't tell you how devastated I was. It was such a heartbreak for me. But I was told it was God's perfect will. We were told over and over we have to surrender to Him," she said.<ref name="shefound" /> Her son moved to England in 1994, and when Davis asked for time off from caring for the couple's daughters, Pastor Sam J. Wibberley instead instructed her to apologise to the girls.<ref name="shefound" /> She requested that her son return from England, but Pastor John Hibbert said he would stay there because her attempt to kill herself "had ruined much of what they had accomplished with him".<ref name="shefound" />

Sallie Bowen, a church member with her husband from 1980 to 1998, told ''[[The New London Day]]'' that the organisation's pastors and leader Syro held a large amount of influence over their followers.<ref name="afollower">{{cite news   | last =Choiniere  | first =Paul | title =A Follower's Confession  | work =[[The New London Day]]  | publisher =Shore Publishing  | date =30 May 1999 }}</ref> Bowen said that Sam Wibberley instructed her "the Lord had told Syro I wanted to have an affair with Syro's granddaughter's husband".<ref name="afollower" /> Bowen denied these thoughts, but Wibberley insisted: "You’re trying to fool us, but you can’t fool God."<ref name="afollower" /> Bowen ended up telling her husband about the incident after being told to do so by Wibberley: "It hurt him. They hurt people’s marriages. They cause divisions. We had been married several years at that point. I loved him. I never had any inclination not to be faithful to my husband. But here they are making me confess that I did," said Bowen.<ref name="afollower" />