“Have you heard of the Mother God?”

It is more than likely that you or someone you know on campus has been asked this question. Thanks to our neighbors at World Mission Society Church of God, Wesleyan’s student body is slowly—albeit mostly unwillingly—becoming aware of the Mother God. 

World Mission Society Church of God (WMSCOG) sits at 24 Old Church St., between Congregation Adath Israel and Doolittle Funeral Service.

Externally, the church appears similar to many older Christian churches near Main Street, with impressive stonework and intricate window designs. WMSCOG distinguishes itself from Main Street’s other congregations through its covered windows, clearly wiped of their original stained glass, and the glowing, modern sign out front, featuring a logo remarkably similar to the EPCOT ball. On Saturdays, a few hundred devoted members double-park one another to attend worship services and develop their connection to the Mother God. 

The church first came to our attention through an all-campus email from Dean of Students Rick Culliton, advising students not to engage with the proselytization efforts of a local religious community. The email described the members’ actions as “harass[ment] or inappropriately persistent” and warned students that they “target people who are alone.” Culliton also encouraged students not to attend services at their church alone and to reach out to Public Safety or University Protestant Chaplain Tracy Mehr-Muska for confidential support if they have had uncomfortable interactions with church members. The email did not explicitly reference the church, but an understanding of students’ experiences makes it clear that the email was about members of WMSCOG.

Although the members’ efforts on campus appear evangelistic, WMSCOG is not an evangelical church. Evangelical groups would likely reject the notion that this group is Christian, given their divergence from the mainline faith and their worship of figures other than the Trinity. WMSCOG follows the Christian Bible, and all biblical links on the church’s central website lead to a New International Version translation, a biblical translation often used by Evangelical groups. Despite this overlap and the organization’s commitment to the Bible, WMSCOG distinguishes itself from evangelical groups through belief in Christ Ahnsahnghong and God the Mother.

The church was established in South Korea in 1964 by Ahn Sahng-hong, whom the Church posthumously identified as the second coming of Jesus Christ, renaming him “Christ Ahnsahnghong.” He is believed to be the Second Coming predicted in Hebrews 9:28: “He will appear a second time, not to bear sin, but to bring salvation to those who are waiting for him.” He separated WMSCOG from other Christian churches through belief and practice, highlighting specific bible verses to justify his changes to mainline Evangelical traditions. This includes Saturday worship, the annual celebration of the New Covenant Passover, and a recognition of the Mother God. Today, WMSCOG has 7,500 churches worldwide across 175 countries, boasting over 3 million members. Middletown is home to just one of these congregations. 

We visited WMSCOG for a Saturday service in March to better understand these on-campus confrontations. We arrived early for the 2:30 p.m. service, expecting to be greeted with an open door and members milling around outside, as is common before many mainline Christian services. Instead, the front doors were shut and we were unable to see any activity inside the church, as all of the windows had been covered other than a glass breezeway connecting two buildings separate from the sanctuary. 

Eventually, a man exited one of the side buildings and greeted us warmly but was clearly confused by our visit. He asked us through a thick accent why we had come to the church. We explained that members of our campus had been approached by people in the church community, and we were hoping to learn more about WMSCOG’s style of worship. The man took us inside the front doors and we were immediately captured on a live video feed recording all the people who entered and exited the building. The man went to get Lena (whose name has been changed in this article to protect her privacy), a young woman who seemed to be a spokesperson for the church. She informed us that we would not be able to attend the service, as we had not yet attended a bible study and therefore would not understand their practices. We did not set foot in the sanctuary but could see the ongoing service from the vestibule. Men sat on one side of the pews and women sat on the other, their heads covered by small lace scarves. Lena told us that we could come back that same day at 4:30 p.m. after services to attend a Bible study, so at 4:25 p.m. we stood on the church’s doorstep to try again. 

This time, another man met us outside the church and led us inside a different building to meet for bible study. He brought us into a large multi-purpose auditorium with a main stage and a few long tables filling the space. Men dressed in business suits for services congregated around the tables, socializing and studying the Bible. Lena met us again and introduced us to Michael (whose name has also been changed to respect his privacy), another member of the church who also seemed to serve as a spokesperson. 

Michael and Lena led us around the building, searching for an open Bible study room. We walked up and down stairs, through hallways, and past countless windowless rooms with sliders marking them occupied. After passing through the building, Lena and Michael let us know we would have to do Bible study back in the auditorium as there were no rooms open. We returned to the auditorium and sat at the center of a long table as men continued their own Bible study around us. 

Michael sat across from us, positioning a Bible between himself and one of us while Lena sat next to the other, adhering to a clear gender divide. In a neatly choreographed presentation, Michael and Lena flipped to synchronized Bible verses and had us take turns reading aloud. They both claimed to be merely enthusiastic members not employed by the church, but the smooth routine of their presentation suggested that they had experience welcoming new potential members.

The total discussion lasted an hour and a half, as we had explained we had a hard stop at 6 p.m. Lena deferred instruction to Michael, flipping to the correct pages and answering questions only when directly asked. Michael alternated fervent eye contact with each of us as we answered basic comprehension questions after reading verses. He catered his explanations of verses to his understanding of our religious backgrounds, evidently assuming we had come from conservative religious spheres. His presentation hinged on our support of biblical inerrancy—a belief, which is not supported by most mainline Protestant churches, that all of the Old and New Testament scriptures are entirely without error—and the gender binary. 

He set up our belief in God the Mother through analysis of Genesis 1:26-27.

“Then God said, ‘Let us make mankind in our image, in our likeness,’” the verse reads. “So God created mankind in his own image…male and female he created them.”

Michael emphasized God’s self-reference with the word “our” as evidence that God was made up of multiple beings. He further solidified this point by stating that if God created mankind “male and female” “in his own image,” God must be both male and female. Michael expounded on this claim through other verses, emphasizing that a direct reading of this passage proves that there is a male and a female God, or a God and a Mother God. There was no notion that this could reflect God’s rejection of a gender binary.

Michael later moved to discuss the book of Revelation, which warns the world of an impending apocalypse and declares the imminent return of Jesus Christ. Michael had us read aloud Revelation 7:2.

“Then I saw another angel coming up from the east, having the seal of the living God,” the verse reads.

He asked us where the verse said the second coming would appear, and we responded, “The east.” This supported their belief of Ahnsahnghong as the Second Coming, given South Korea’s location in East Asia.

Lena and Michael worked together to construct a perfect collage of verses, positing their religious beliefs as the only possible conclusion from the text. The interaction felt like a review session followed by a quiz, with immediate congratulations when we understood basic concepts. Within an hour, the two had established a warm and welcoming environment despite the rapid nature of their explanation.

Throughout the study, we asked Lena and Michael about their personal backgrounds to get a sense of the makeup of the church community. Despite WMSCOG’s establishment in South Korea, the majority of the Middletown location’s community appeared to be African American and Latino. Michael shared that he had grown up in a multi-religious household; his father was Muslim and his mother was a Jehovah’s Witness. He didn’t identify strongly with either religion but felt called to establish a stronger connection with God in his adult life. His friend brought him to WMSCOG as a first attempt to rekindle his religious connection and he saw it as a sign he was meant to be in this community. 

Despite the positive experiences recounted by members in the Middletown community, WMSCOG is often denounced online for taking over the lives of its members. We asked whether this was the case in Middletown during the Bible study session. Lena and Michael explained that while service attendance is not mandatory and people do not have to stay the entire day on Saturday, but most members choose to because they enjoy spending time in the community. We also asked if the visible gender divide in the church was enforced or merely a function of social dynamics.

“Brothers stick with brothers and sisters stick with sisters,” Lena said.

While it seems that gender separation in worship is a custom across all WMSCOG congregations, it is unclear why there was such a strong split during the bible study and social time of members of the Middletown church.

There are many conflicting narratives online chronicling experiences with WMSCOG. One website, The True WMSCOG offers positive member testimonials claiming that joining the church improved their marriage or gave them purpose. In contrast, Examining the World Mission Society Church of God publishes the stories of former members who explain experiences with abuse and readily refer to the organization as a cult. The website also notes various lawsuits brought against the church by former members, citing abuse and manipulation. 

Lena and Michael did not explain any of the church’s more fringe beliefs that might scare us away as potential new members. This includes mandatory tithing for members (10-15%), the belief that only 144,000 people can go to heaven and the rest will go to hell, and the belief that the Mother God is Zahng Gil-Jah, a woman currently alive in South Korea. The church also has multiple sex trafficking allegations referenced in various online news sources, but these have been investigated and disproven by the Middletown police. One former member explained that what happens in the church is not sex trafficking, but rather marriages arranged by the church.

Our evening with World Mission Society Church of God was a brief window into the worship, beliefs, and social behaviors of a local Middletown community. We approached the situation with strong boundaries, electing to use fake names when introducing ourselves and letting members know we would be picked up by friends at a certain time. Michael and Lena were effusive in delivering the message of the church, but they were respectful of our need to leave and seemed genuinely interested in getting to know us as members of their community. They have not attempted to contact us since our visit, although we did give them an email and a phone number.

Despite this, multiple students have described feeling unsafe or overwhelmed when approached by members of WMSCOG while on campus. Students should continue to heed the warnings of the administration. With this article, we neither condemn nor endorse the WMSCOG, but simply seek to explain and explore the practices of a local group. 

Miles Craven can be reached at mcraven@wesleyan.edu.

Hannah McKiernan can be reached at hmckiernan@wesleyan.edu.