Unholy Secrecy
In late 2024/early 2025, behind closed doors, two separate corporations met and carried on negotiations over the property of another corporation without its approval. The two negotiating parties were the Pacific Coast Japanese Conference (PCJC) and WestGate Community Church. They executed a Memorandum of Agreement and a Commercial Lease agreement, in which PCJC leased to WestGate the entirety of Peninsula Hope Church’s (PHC) property without the pastor and the corporate board of trustees’ knowledge. Further, PHC was stripped of its property ownership rights and relegated to the status of sub-tenant to WestGate. PHC’s access to and use of its own property were at the complete and sole discretion of WestGate. The impact of these actions have been devastating. The result has been much harm and distrust and a fractured church body, all before the PCJC superintendent abruptly fired our pastor.
Interestingly, in 2020, the Free Methodist Church of USA published an article on unholy secrecy. “Studies in psychology suggest that secrecy hurts one’s physical and emotional
health and is most always maintained through deception. They create relational
schisms, seek to control narratives, and threaten the higher obligations of honesty and integrity.”
The publication can be read by clicking here.