MISOGYNISTIC CONTENT

A Valley Springs Church Instagram post from March 31, 2022 revealed misogynistic sermon notes. The post was deleted on April 20, 2022, forty minutes after the problematic content was exposed on Reddit.

Before it was deleted the post had 18 likes. The Valley Springs Church Instagram account had 394 followers on the day the post was deleted. This image in the post was of a laptop computer, an ESV Bible open to Matthew 16, a bowl of cereal or granola, an Oregon State University water bottle, and a page of handwritten notes. At the time of the post Mike Luczkiw was the lead pastor of Valley Springs Church (Corvallis, Oregon).

The instagram comment/caption from Valley Spring Church stated:

@oregonstate students Week 1 is almost done and Friday is almost here!!! Best way to start off any morning… God’s presence, coffee and yummy breakfast!

Zooming in to the notes revealed the following handwritten text:

Consequences of Sin

• Singleness for women

• Men are supposed to lead and not succumb to their wives’ momentary emotion.

• no pay that justifies the work

• Men have to lead, and sometimes that means breaking things down to lead and rebuild.

  • This can cause more emotions for those they are leading.

• Wives have to hear their husbands and allow for growth and leadership

  • Emotion aside

  • Business v. Personal

  • Cannot halt direction for momentary emotion

Sermon notes zoom-in

WHY DOES THIS MATTER?

This matters because an overwhelming number of women leaving The Network claim to have experienced a pattern of misogyny and authoritarian behavior from male leaders during their time in Network churches. Though we do not have the sermon or training from which these notes were derived, it is clear that the notes are communicating that men are to dismiss or dominate women, that women's emotions are dangerous and ruin the plans of men, and that emotions are an unimportant byproduct of men "breaking things down" in order to "lead and rebuild."

This Instagram post is important because it is in the same spirit of control and misogyny many women claim to have experienced within The Network, and which Network leaders deny. Because pastors within The Network do not make their teachings available for public scrutiny, this post represents a rare instance of public evidence for domineering Network teachings.

SEE ALSO:

• Misogyny and Control of Women within The Network
  • Former members claim Network leaders fostered a culture of institutional misogyny and allege authoritarian behavior against women
• Tony Ranvestel's teaching: "Removal of Women from Leadership, River Vineyard Church Team Vision Meeting August 2008"
• Foundation Church's "Act Like Men Retreat 2016" documents