Closed without closure

The Anabaptist-affiliated Meeting House church pastored by Bruxy Cavey in Ontario has become a rise and fall saga and stands now at the point of closure – without full closure for its members.
In June 2024 attendees were told by the Meeting House Transition Board of Overseers that even though TMH has changed leadership and implemented many new practices and policies, all the regional sites had to shut down for the month of July. Why? Abuse liability insurance had proven impossible for the church to procure since Cavey’s sexual scandals were revealed in late 2021. On August 2, however, the temporary shutdown became more permanent, with “the public-facing ministry” of TMH officially closing August 29.

Separate from the scandals around Cavey, three civil suits have been filed against TMH by victims of sexual abuse that happened over 10 years ago. They are each seeking $5 million in damages for breach of duty of care. The claims say the church as a system “created the risk of sexual assault,” according to The Walrus. The women claim that the church failed to instruct and supervise its employees on matters pertaining to sexual misconduct. While The Walrus reported in August 2024 that one suit may be resolved, the other two suits are still pending.

Unresolved story

On June 6, 2022, Cavey was formally charged with sexual assault by Hamilton Police. On December 22, 2023, he was charged with two new counts of sexual assault unrelated to the first. Cavey then faced three criminal charges of sexual assault. The first charge was stayed in July 2024 because the time before the trial began had stretched out too long, and Section 15 of the Charter of Rights and Freedoms guarantees accused parties the right to a timely trial, which is deemed to be two years.

The last two charges of sexual assault have been withdrawn for other reasons. The Hamilton Spectator reports that Crown Attorney Mark Dean said the case hinged on “the meaning of consent” and whether Cavey had abused his “position of trust, power, or authority.” Having looked at the evidence, he concluded that there was “no reasonable prospect of a conviction.”
The complainant was “disheartened and disappointed” at the decision, reported her lawyer Ivanna Iwasykiw. By contrast, Cavey’s lawyers, Megan Savard and Arash Ghiassi, insisted that Cavey is “innocent of the charges,” and claim the charges put forward were false and devoid of criminal action.

Whether dropping this last set of charges was only a failure of evidence and not the absence of guilt is not clear. Whether Cavey is guilty of the first charge we may never know. If he is innocent of all criminal charges, it is unjust that he has to live with these publicly uncontested accusations. If he is guilty, it is unjust that he is not facing appropriate consequences and that the survivors have no sense of juridical closure. Either way, there is a heavy ambivalence about these decisions.

Resurrected church

On September 1, the same communities that made up The Meeting House were resurrected as “The BIC Church Collective” in partnership with the Be In Christ denomination and Sandbanks Community Church.

Two former MH sites have not joined the collective – Ottawa and High Park. High Park is joining Westside Church in Hamilton, on its way to becoming its own BIC congregation. The Ottawa site, after a time of “communal discernment,” decided to dissolve its fellowship by November 24. In total, TMH will have lost at least nine of the 19 sites it had at its height. For now, TMH remains a charitable entity in Canada, until the remaining membership decides to close the charitable number with CRA.

A pastoral letter from Network Senior Pastor Judith McCartney at the end of August names the time as the “end of an era” in which “all was given us on loan.” She tells members that God says to the Meeting House, “Well done good and faithful servant,” but also exhorts them to “continue to lament and ask God to help us find peace, reconciliation and forgiveness.”

Rise after fall

The new entity that is the former MH community “is not just ‘the Meeting House’ with a few tweaks.” In a letter to their attendees, the Network Leadership Team and Transition Board of Overseers said, “We truly believe that this is an opportunity for us to leave behind many things that no longer serve us well and embrace a fresh start.”

The world of the former Meeting House megachurch has become undone. This deconstruction, however, may offer fresh hope for a reconstruction beyond the church hurt so many have endured. There can be a rise after the rise and fall, even if that means operating as a much humbler enterprise. The goal they pursue? “Healthy, sustainable church communities for the longer term.”