An extravagant musical, called ‘Heaven on Earth’, planned by the International Church in Mansfield Woodhouse near Nottingham was never actually put on.
This week, former members revealed that the musical was the final straw for making them realise they needed to get out.
Churchgoers at International Church were asked to contribute large amounts of money to tell the Biblical story of Adam and Eve with the costumes alone due to cost £300,000.
According to the Times, the congregation were told if they were really Christians, they would donate the money.
One member said: “They said if we didn’t, God would be displeased and none of us wanted to displease God because we loved him”.
Their family lost £100,000.
Many members remortgaged their homes or maxed out their credit cards.
Details of the musical’s dodgy funding was unveiled in BBC’s Inside Out East Midlands show, with three other families speaking since of the ‘cult-like’ atmosphere initiated by the leadership of John Hibbert and Christine Jeffs, daughter of the original founder Jean Spademan.
They had their holidays and bills paid for by the church and also insisted every member attended every Sunday service and dare not miss a cell group.
The play was for many the final straw.
The leaders from the village’s International Church created Eden International Productions Limited to make a promotional video and then a lavish stage production, supposedly involving Kerry Ellis and Hugh Maynard…
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