• Wellspring Church shuns: This church shuns due to fear, pride, and a distorted view of God, shaped by its inherited Oneness framework, combined with long-standing patterns of control within the leadership.

• Families are Divided: This church shuns former members, including family, under terms like “disfellowshipping” or “cutting off,” using social and spiritual pressure to isolate those who leave or disagree.

• Because pressure feels like choice: Because in a high-control environment, engineered compliance feels voluntary, creating the illusion that shunning is a personal choice rather than an expectation.

 

Many have left Wellspring Church over the years for a variety of reasons. Some reject its teaching. Others object to the level of control the church seeks to exercise over members’ lives. Some will not comply with the expectation to shun or reduce contact with family members. Some cannot endure being pressured into restricting their family relationships. Others depart quietly for reasons unknown.

 

Regardless of the cause, those who leave are often labeled by leadership and influential members as “deceived” or “harboring a root of bitterness.” This language signals to remaining members that the individual should be avoided, reinforcing the practice of shunning. As a result, families within Wellspring Church are often fractured when loved ones choose to leave.

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Why does Wellspring Church shun?

 

In the view of WellspringQ, the pattern of shunning does not arise from one simple cause, nor does it come entirely from malice. Many dynamics took root within the leadership shaped by Norman James, and these dynamics often appear in communities where people genuinely desire to honor God but have been shaped by a narrow or incomplete view of His character.

 

Much of the shunning seems to grow out a fear of being misled or judged, and a kind of protective pride, believing they must guard what they have been taught. But it is also true that some of the actions and decisions made by the leaders of Wellspring Church, both those in official positions and those with informal influence, both past and present, were not accidental or benign. They carried elements of intentional control, exclusion, and at times even malice, causing lasting harm.

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A significant part of this pattern flows from a misunderstanding of God’s nature - shaped in part by the Oneness framework they inherited. That framework, combined with Norman James’ unique baptismal formula, places Wellspring Church theologically outside of a scriptural and historic Christian understanding of the Trinity, of baptism, of what it means to be born again and thus a part of God's kingdom. This separates their community from the wider Christian church. Many in the community sense this intuitively, and therefore believe that anyone who leaves Wellspring Church is abandoning God’s kingdom or rejecting the “true” understanding of what it means to be born again.

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This framework, shaped by Oneness teaching and Norman James’ own distinct doctrines, can make God seem solitary, distant, and primarily demanding, rather than relational, gracious, and triune. But the Triune God is relational within His very being - Father, Son, and Holy Spirit eternally loving, giving, and delighting in one another. Because He is relational within Himself, He is relational toward us.

 

God extends patience, mercy, and compassion even to those who do not yet walk in full understanding or agreement with His perfect will. This includes the dear people at Wellspring Church, whom God loves deeply and continues to pursue with kindness. As God has loved us, so we are called to love one another - with the same patience, mercy, and gracious openness that flows from His own heart.

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When fear, pride, and a limited view of God’s nature mix with patterns of control, even sincere believers can feel compelled to withdraw rather than draw near. Yet the heart of the Triune God remains open, welcoming, and overflowing with grace - toward all of us.​

 

 

How does Wellspring Church shun?​​

 

The Amish community is known for the practice of shunning. In the Jehovah's Witness, this punishment is known as being disfellowshipped. Scientology calls it disconnection. Wellspring Church does not like to use the term 'shunning' because it associates them with the cults. Rather than use the word 'shunning' they prefer the terms "disfellowshipping" or "cutting someone off". The underlying behavior is identical.

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Many people have suffered due to the practice of shunning at Wellspring Church. Many families have been torn apart. People who leave Wellspring Church are invariably blamed by the leadership for the separation. Many divorces, supported by the leadership, have occurred as the result of one party leaving the church, while another remained “faithful” to the church. 

 

Grandparents are not allowed to see grandchildren; parents are not allowed to see children. Brothers, sisters, aunts, uncles, cousins, are left outside the lives of those who still remain inside. It's hard to even communicate how it feels to be cut off by people that you love. People just miss seeing their family - it's difficult to never see your brother or your daughter or your father. It's not supposed to be that way.

Almost every family that continues to attend has been touched, in some way, by the severe practice of shunning. The shunning of former members is encouraged, most often by the use of select verses taken out of context. These verses, that speak of "not associating" with "sinning members" or "factious men" are used to support cutting off people that are not in sin.

 

Many of those who are shunned are not people living in open sin, but simply individuals who disagree with the practice of shunning itself, or who hold a different view on some point of doctrine or practice. In reality, open sin is rarely the reason someone is shunned. The most common reason is simply that a person has stopped attending Wellspring Church.

 

For this, they have lost their community, their friends, and sometimes even their family. The assumption becomes: ‘They broke their commitment to the church, so we must cut them off.’​ In this way, shunning becomes a tool used by leadership to silence dissent, to remove the influence of those who ask questions, and to test the loyalty of those who remain - including the families of the people being shunned.

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Why does Wellspring Church claim they do not shun?

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Members will often say, "We do not shun" or “No one forces me to shun.” On the surface, that may feel true to them. But one of the characteristics of high-control religious environments is that coercion rarely looks like force. Instead, the doctrine, teaching, and behavior of the community create a powerful blueprint for what is expected.

 

People learn how they are supposed to act because they hear broad policies from the pulpit, receive personal guidance in private meetings, and observe how influential members behave. Over time, the combination of teaching, social pressure, and fear of spiritual consequences shapes the mind so deeply that compliance feels voluntary, even when it is being powerfully engineered.

 

Members who remain too close to ex-member family are often viewed with suspicion, especially when the former member has expressed criticism or concerns about the church. To reassure themselves that they are not under undue influence, many members tell themselves, “This was my choice.” But in high-control religious settings, the only “choices” available are the ones permitted by the environment.

 

What feels like personal decision-making is often a bounded choice - the illusion of freedom while only one option is actually acceptable. In such a system, the appearance of autonomy masks the reality that alternative responses are discouraged, punished, or simply unthinkable.

 

Ultimately, shunning is not an expression of faith in the God revealed in Jesus Christ - it is an expression of control. It grows out of power, pride, and a sense of spiritual superiority. Shunning is fueled by fear and by allegiance to a distorted image of God - a god who loves conditionally, demands endlessly, and reflects not the gracious heart of Christ but the imprint of Wellspring’s founder.​​

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To this day, Wellspring Church has not publicly acknowledged the long-standing pattern of shunning friends and family members - including believers who follow Jesus Christ. Nor has there been any meaningful admission of the pain caused by members distancing themselves while, at the same time, denying that such shunning ever occurred. The lived experiences and first-hand testimonies of many people, spanning decades, remain unaddressed.

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Honest recognition of these realities would open a pathway toward truth and restoration - both within the community and in its relationship to the wider Christian church. It is not a matter of debate or negotiation; it requires a willingness to lay down defenses and let the truth speak for itself. Until these realities are faced with clarity, humility, and a spirit willing to yield to what is right, the same patterns will continue unchecked, and others may be harmed in the future.

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