The New Church
The New Church (sometimes referred to simply as the Church) is a secretive and patriarchal Christian extremist sect operating somewhere in the UK.
The Church seems to be an extremist sect of evangelical Christianity organized around a charismatic leader known as Father Adam who purports to be "the Voice", a mouthpiece for the will of God. The Church appears to operate from a small, communal farming compound referred to by members as "the nation"; [SD 40] its exact location is currently unknown.
Teachings of the New Church include extreme and reactionary beliefs such as "demonic influence in secular culture is responsible for the glorification of homosexuality", [SD 5] "the ‘sins of the flesh’ originate in demonic temptation", [SD 9] and that transgender people are "unclean" "devils of the secular world" and that anything they touch is likewise unclean. [SD 30] The Church views the outside world as "the wicked unaware".
Public operations
The Church's public operations seem to largely involve protest and public harassment, seemingly focusing on hospitals providing treatment to LGBTQ+ people and abortion services. [SD 40] They occasionally run an addiction camp, advertising in the local paper to bring teenage drug addicts to the farm to participate in some type of "tough love" program where addicts are seemingly forced into withdrawal and are made to help with chores around the property. [SD 41]
As of 2019, the Church is beginning to ramp up its operations and is planning more radical actions. Adam recalls that, before he was taken to the Hall, there was "talk of a search among their ranks for a martyr, talk of fire and brimstone and the kind of education only the blood of the cross can provide". [SD 42]
Internal structure
Structurally, the Church appears to be an incestuous and isolated system of manipulation and control built around Father Adam, his immediate family, and other favored families at the top of the hierarchy. A "violent and oppressive environment" [SD 32] of "systematised cruelty", [SD 38] the Church perpetuates a violent subjugation of women and a deep indoctrination of children. Father Adam appears to have sired a number of children with different women within the Church, which are then raised by the women's husbands without knowledge of their true parentage. [SD 42] Father Adam's position at the head of the Church is apparently handed down along paternal lines; before he was taken to the Hall, Adam, one of his sons, was being groomed from infancy to become the next Voice of God.
Notable members
Notable former and current members include:
Other appearances
An organization called the New Church has also appeared in Running Away From Summer (though seemingly a separate, more mainstream sect than Adam and Edy's).
| Enemies of the Hall | |
|---|---|
| Publicity risks | Katherine Frost, Miranda Woodley-Stone |
| Grandmother's regime | Alexander Twill-Barrington, Constance, Dorothy (aka "Grandmother"), Esther, Frankie, Gladys, Karen, Ruth, Tilly |
| Silver River Solutions | Alistair Smyth-Farrow, Callum, Crispin Smyth-Farrow, Jake, Henrietta Smyth-Farrow |