At Kwasizabantu, the hut is now ablaze with flames – even if the parishioners still don’t notice anything about it. Of course, they are not informed either. While in KSB South Africa something like a power struggle is raging, heavy accusations about sexual abuse even of Stegen’s daughters have been made and dubious money transports of millions in Kwasizabantu have been reported to the investigating authorities, in addition to which a KSB resignant describes among other things the internal decay of the mission in the past 19 years in a blog, Erlo Stegen himself and his European (ex-?) admirers now supply each other with malevolence. If the European branch managers Ottmar Voser, Jürg Läderach, Didier Schott, Andre Maghakian, Michel hege, Jan Wilem Mout, Paul Verstraeten, Daniel Schobben, Georg Grau, Klaus Alius claim that they have discussed with the revival guru Erlo Stegen to read out a letter to their congregations about the current events in Kwasizabantu Africa, Stegen calls this claim untrue. But that is not all: Erlo Stegen even calls the content of the letter read out to the congregations a “lie”. Now, of course, it is clear who lied – it must have been the Europeans. For who dares accuse the great preacher of revival of not sticking to the truth? It would be, according to Kwasizabantus, a “grip on God’s eyeball”.
Below both the letter and the replica of Stegen. It is not known whether the letter, which was originally written in KSB circles in France, was read out to the KSB municipalities in exactly the same wording. In any case, Stegen refers to this text:
Dear brothers and sisters,
unfortunately, we must inform you today of the evolution of the mission in South Africa while calling you to prayer. This decision was also shared with the founder of the Erlo Stegen Mission. In the first place, we express to God our gratitude for the good and blessing received through the ministry of the missionary Erlo Stegen. What attracted us at first was the proclamation of the gospel of Jesus Christ, the forgiveness of sins, and the deliverance of the power of that sin. We were accompanied and guided to live in true Christian freedom, in love and in the fear of God. Moreover, this unity and love between the collaborators in Sizabantu had deeply blessed us and made us happy. But today, there is a change of direction at the head of the mission in South Africa. Officially, Erlo Stegen is still the Director, but in fact, it is a new team that operates. And that changed a lot of things. Where before there was freedom, love, forgiveness and sobriety, we often find the opposite now. We ourselves (Georg Grau, Michel Hege, Jürg Läderach, André Maghakian, Othmar Voser) experienced this during our visit to the mission in September 2018.
To this end, we wrote a letter to these collaborators clearly mentioning the facts and calling for a fraternal unity. But until today, after several weeks of waiting and relaunching, we have received no response. Worse, some people shared that these same collaborators accused us of wanting to act against the missionary Erlo Stegen. All these insinuations are only wind, and do not correspond at all to the truth. At the same time, serious accusations are brought to the attention of the public on the internet. We do not endorse the publication of these internal issues on this site. We do not take into account these rumors, yet many questions remain and are unanswered. Therefore, in conscience, and before God, we understand that our duty is not to be silent anymore, but to inform our churches and to call them to pray: – We want to act according to this Word: “But examine all things, remember what is good. ” 1 Thessalonians 5:21 – We believe in Jesus Christ, as Scripture says in John 7:38 “He who believes in me, the rivers of living water will flow from his bosom. ” – We pray to God to intervene and restore brotherly love, reconciliation and unity. – We want to seek peace with all and sanctification without which no one will see the Lord. Hebrews 12:14) We, the undersigned, responsible brothers in Europe, are united, and want to continue in our responsibility to God, to walk on this path of the Gospel, as we have received. We also want to encourage in Jesus’ love to purify and sanctify us more.
One day later, Erlo Stegen’s letter came onto the market – “…all lies!”
15.April 2019
Dear Brethren,
I refer the letter was circulated yesterday, 14.April 2019 adressed tot he congregations. This letter was sent from the following people: Ottmar Voser, Jürg Läderach, Didier Schott, Andre Maghakian, Michel hege, Jan Wilem Mout, Paul Verstraeten, Daniel Schhobben, Georg Grau, Klaus Alius and others.
The following was stated: „This stp we are taking has also been discussed with mission director Erlo Stegen“. The content auf this letter was not discussed with me.
Concerning the letter, I want to make it clear that the claims that are made in the letter are not true. We are continuing in the Lord’s work as we have always done. The things are said are not true, in other words are lies and untruth.
We wish you all the best an God’s blessing.
In His love
Erlo Stegen