The claims Leaving
Does Go Church cut people off when they leave, and what does Bishop Dag Heward-Mills teach about it?
Go Church says it does not: it told VRT in writing that members are free to leave at any time and that it does not expect anyone to end friendships with those who go, an answer VRT did not broadcast. Bishop Dag Heward-Mills teaches the opposite of cutting people off: in 1999 he told his church he would wait for people who drift away and take them back, and in 2011 he told pastors that people who leave “are not fools” and that sometimes the fault is the pastor’s.
What the documentary said
You’re still recording… this is not a cinema but the house of God
Je bent nog steeds aan het opnemen… Dit is geen bioscoop, maar het huis van God.
Paul wordt apart genomen, en enkele dagen later krijgt hij te horen dat hij niet meer welkom is.
Eens ze beslist hebben dat je niet meer welkom bent, is de deur onverbiddelijk dicht.
removed by everyone on social media in under 20 minutes
De dag dat ik eruit ben gestapt, was ik in minder dan twintig minuten tijd door iedereen verwijderd op sociale media.
Watch VRT at this point · VRT NWS Pano39:19 (opens the recording on YouTube at 39:19)
Go Church’s written answer
Leden zijn vrij om Go Church op elk moment te verlaten. We verplichten niemand om te blijven en verwachten ook niet dat leden hun vriendschappen met degenen die vertrekken beëindigen. … We erkennen dat het verlies van vriendschappen pijnlijk kan zijn.
Go Church written reply to VRT, 21 Oct 2026 (published on vrtnws.be). VRT broadcast one sentence of the reply. Read the full reply in Dutch and English.
What the film left out
The man VRT says was told he was no longer welcome was its own undercover journalist. VRT’s narration calls him “onze journalist met verborgen camera”, our journalist with a hidden camera. He was taken aside after taking a photo during a service. Most churches, schools or youth clubs would do the same.
VRT then cut straight from the journalist’s ban to former members describing what happened when they left, so the two play as one story. They are different situations. What each former member went through is her own account.
Go Church’s written answer on leaving was published on VRT’s website and left out of the broadcast. It says members are free to leave at any time, that nobody is expected to end friendships with those who leave, and that losing friendships can be painful.
The record: his own words, across the years
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1999
Accra, Ghana, Sunday sermon
In Accra in 1999, on people who drift away from church.
You know how I treat backsliders today. When I see them: ‘When you finish, come. I’ll be here. When you finish everything, come. I’m here, I’ll be waiting for you, I’ll be ready for you, I will take you back. Finish all your backsliding and come.’
Watch · Accra, Ghana, 199915:20 to 15:33 (opens the recording on YouTube at 15:20)
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1999
Accra, Ghana, Sunday sermon (same sermon, a moment later)
The man who came back.
He’s back in the church. When he came back, everybody was, ‘Hey, how are you? Where have you been? Oh, we really miss you.’ He’s so surprised there’s so much love in the church since he came back.
Watch · Accra, Ghana, 199916:06 to 16:18 (opens the recording on YouTube at 16:06)
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2011
Accra, Ghana, ISI pastors’ conference
To a room of pastors, on what to do when people leave.
It must be your heart’s mission not to lose any of the people that God is putting in your hands. When you sense yourself losing one, losing another, it must wake you up, and it must be a painful thing to you. You cannot dismiss people leaving and just say, ‘Let them go, they are fools.’ They are not fools. There is a reason. … This one left: what happened? What did I do differently? This one left: what I learned. Because sometimes it is your mistake.
Watch · Accra, Ghana, 201143:33 to 45:00 (opens the recording on YouTube at 43:33)
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2000
Accra, Ghana, Sunday service
To his own church in 2000, on not driving anyone away.
Don’t drive away people with your mouth… If you see somebody who is pregnant who does not have a husband… ‘I have no comment to make’… shut your mouth… Leave them. They will recover, they will come back home, they will come back to church, they will do well… Give them an opportunity, and then don’t drive them away… When you finish, come back; we’ll be here… we are waiting for you.
Watch · Accra, Ghana, 200036:30 to 37:36 (opens the recording on YouTube at 36:30)
In his books
Every time someone has left me, it has made me more prayerful and more spiritual. It has made me search myself and see whether I am in the will of God and whether I am doing the right thing.
This is what happens when people leave churches. They are running away from our bad and inconsiderate leadership.
I have seen ministers trembling with hatred for church members who departed with a string of accusations. Don’t forget that Satan wants to fill your heart with bitterness.
The scripture
…doth not leave the ninety and nine in the wilderness, and go after that which is lost, until he find it?
Jesus told this parable to people who complained that He welcomed sinners. The shepherd goes after the one who wandered. “I’ll be waiting for you… I will take you back” is the same posture.
But when he was yet a great way off, his father saw him, and had compassion, and ran, and fell on his neck, and kissed him.
The father in the parable of the prodigal son runs to the son who left. The 1999 sermon describes a church doing the same for a man who came back.
The verdict
The first person VRT showed being shut out was a journalist with a hidden camera. For ordinary members, his teaching since 1999 has been the same: leaving is a loss to grieve, the pastor should search himself, and the door stays open.
Questions people ask
Why was VRT’s undercover journalist told he was no longer welcome?
VRT itself says he was filming with a hidden camera, and that he was taken aside after taking a photo during a service, which is not allowed. Days later he was told he was no longer welcome.
Are former members unfriended when they leave Go Church?
A former member told VRT she was removed by everyone on social media within twenty minutes of leaving. That is her account. Go Church says it does not expect members to end friendships with people who leave, and that it recognises losing friendships can be painful.