In a matter of weeks, more than 300 submissions poured in. There were stories about pastors grooming teen girls and making sexual comments, church leaders minimizing mental health issues like suicidal thoughts and depression, women being sexually assaulted and going to spiritual leaders for help, only to be told “it takes two to tango.” Most of the posts were about experiences or people connected to CFC. The creator of the account remembered when she received the first submission from the anonymous “CFC survivor.” She said, “I remember looking at that thinking, ‘Oh, my God, this is where this page is going to go.’ It was actually one of those moments I was just staring crying.”Ĭourtesy of the next few weeks, the account creator and a few volunteers - all of whom asked to be unnamed to preserve the anonymous nature of the forum - read through the submissions and started posting them as text blocks. The church, well known among Asian Christians in the Chicago area, particularly Korean Americans, also attracts students from all over the country - and the world. “CFC” referred to Covenant Fellowship Church, a predominantly Asian American church on the campus of the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign (UIUC). It read: “I was physically, sexually, mentally, and spiritually abused at CFC. Two days after that, a new kind of post - one much more personal - appeared on the feed. The account had about 20 followers at the time.Įight days in, the account creator announced in a post that she had created a Google form for stories from survivors. Initially, the account’s posts, addressed to no one in particular, were general notes about sexual and spiritual abuse, trauma and the lack of transparency among leadership in churches. On May 2, 2021, a new Instagram account by the name of appeared on the popular social media platform. To stay up to date on the stories that matter.Įditor’s note: This story contains descriptions of sexual assault and abuse.
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