The Jesus Christians AKA 'The Kidney Cult'

ABOUT THIS EPISODE

The media coverage of the Jesus Christians tends to outweigh their size. Most people who have heard of them recognise the name ‘The Kidney Cult’, derived from an initiative where numerous members have donated one of their kidneys to a stranger. What may be surprising is that the person who first suggested the name ‘The Kidney Cult’ was the Jesus Christians’ founder himself, Dave Mckay.

In Melbourne you might have picked up a book or a comic from a Jesus Christian outside Flinders Street Station, or you could have seen their religious graffiti messages along Sydney’s railway lines. But while they portray themselves as an altruistic Christian community living life by faith and rejecting the money motivation of work, former members have been shunned and demonised, and parents tell heartbreaking stories of losing their relationship with their child after they have joined the Jesus Christians.

If you have been personally affected by involvement in a cult, or would like to support those who have been, you can find support with or donate to Cult Information and Family Support if you’re in Australia (via www.cifs.org.au), and you can find resources outside of Australia with the International Cultic Studies Association (via www.icsahome.com).

EPISODE LINKS

• JC History 1981 - 1996 — Jesus Christians official website, accessed December 2024

• Critics Were Wrong, Say Nullarbor 7 — Sydney Morning Herald, 11 June 1985

• The Fall of America — Jesus Christians publication, 27 July 1990

• Australians find godliness in latrines and sewers of Madras — by Tim McGirk, The Independent, 25 June 1994

• Kidneys for Jesus — IMDB listing for Jon Ronson’s 2003 documentary

• Cult Kidnap Boy — The Jesus Christians’ version of the July 2000 UK scandal, includes links to various media coverage, accessed December 2024

• Comments on Kidneys for Jesus — The Jesus Christians’ response to Jon Ronson’s documentary, accessed December 2024

• Blood sacrifice and Blood sacrifice (part two) — by Jon Ronson, The Guardian, 6 April 2002

• The Baby Book — archived from the Jesus Christians website, originally distributed in the late 1990s

• Boy found safe in cult forest hide-out — by Jeevan Vasagar and Stephen Bates, The Guardian, 28 July 2000

• NSW changes kidney transplant rules — The Age, 28 October 2004

• Legal bid to close book on reluctant detainees' stories — by Rebecca DiGirolamo & Jane Fraser, The Australian, 29 July 2002

• Dave McKay's The Worst of Woomera — online record of Dave & Cherry Mckay’s book, 2002

• Woomera Book — Radio National Breakfast, 12 August 2002

• Subject: Joe's implosion comments — email from David Mckay, 2 November 2010, archived on the Making it Real website

• Kicked Out — by Alan, Making it Real, June 2013

• Why did we leave the Jesus Christians, led by Dave McKay? — by Sue, Making it Real, undated

• The Rise and Fall of the Jesus Christians — by Ross, Making it Real, 2013

• Kenya cult leader Paul Mackenzie on trial for manslaughter — Al Jazeera, 12 August 2024

• Australian Christian group fights claim it was linked to leader of Kenya starvation massacre doomsday cult — by Elle Hardy, The Guardian, 28 November 2023

• The Guardian's Shakahola Article by Elle Hardy | The Good, the Bad, and The Ugly — the Jesus Christians’ commentary on The Guardian article, undated

• ENDTIME MESSAGES - MACKENZIE - 666 VOL 7 SEC A — Jude’s sermon at Paul Mackenzie’s church in 2019, around 20 minutes in

• ‘Satanist’: Melbourne ‘kidney cult’ YouTube sermon sparks defamation battle — by Tom Cowie, The Age, 15 October 2022

• Who Is Using the Kenya “Suicide Fasting” to Slander the Jesus Christians? — by Massimo Introvigne, Bitter Winter, 29 November 2023

• Interview with Dave Mckay — Smashwords, 24 May 2015

• 7NEWS Spotlight investigates the ‘Kidney Cult’: Inside the church that encourages followers to donate their organs — 7News, 19 May 2024

• [2023] VCC 2238 Spencer v McKay — Victorian court judgement in the defamation proceedings, 18 December 2023

• The Kidney Cult — Liam Bartlett, 7 Spotlight, 19 May 2024

• When Spotlight Can't Handle the Spotlight! — A Voice in the Desert YouTube channel, 20 May 2024

• Divine Authority — Jesus Christians official website, 1 January 1998