The 22-year-old was held for four months in a dorm, with other young men

Oct 25, 2012 15:02 GMT  ·  By
Man claims members of the Word Of Faith Fellowship Church abused and imprisoned him for being gay
   Man claims members of the Word Of Faith Fellowship Church abused and imprisoned him for being gay

22-year-old Michael Lowry from North Carolina claims to have been held hostage for four months by church members, after coming out.

He describes how leaders of the Word of Faith Fellowship Church in Rutherford County have held him from Aug. 1 to Nov. 19, 2011, in a dorm.

During this time, he was constantly abused, by church members trying to exorcise the gay demon out of him.

“They hit my head with fist(s), and I was out on the floor...held my hands and feet down, and were pushing on my chest,” he explained.

In February, he filed a complaint against Word of Faith Fellowship Church, but Lowry’s former pastor, Jane Whaley, dismissed the allegations as lies.

According to the Charlotte Observer, this is not the first time the church makes headlines. In 2000, former parishioners exposed the church's practices. The member were told where to live, work and how to dress, and their relationships with their spouses were under permanent scrutiny.

Lowry explained that there were many other men “jailed” at the same time he was.

“You weren't allowed to speak to your family. Many of the men had wives and children but they weren't able to communicate with them,” he describes.

Church leaders deny physically abusing the young men, and claim Lowry stayed at their dorm after being thrown out by his parents. They state that he was allowed to leave at any point.

“We don’t want to be hypocrites. If this church is not for you, people leave,” a spokesperson said.

Lowry's parents and two brothers attend Word of Faith sermons on a regular basis. The young man himself wanted to become a minister and was training for it, until the elders' attitude towards him changed for being gay.