The Work of

Christ
Covenant
Community
And Their
Troubles
The Work of Christ is a voluntary member of the Sword of the Spirit, an organization that supports and
seeds Covenant Communities throughout the world. Though highly populated by Catholics, the SOS is
not approved by the International Lay Association of the Faithful nor are its leaders or teachings
submitted to the Magesterium of the Catholic Church. The SOS has its own covenant, charter, liturgical
rituals (the Lords Day), interpretation of scripture, roles for men and women and pastoral methodology.
 In 2007 and 2015, Living Bulwark -the official news source of the Sword
of the Spirit- published stories of the origin and life of a member community,
the Work of Christ Covenant Community of East Lansing, Michigan.

Work of Christ (WOC) actually predates the origins of the Word of God
Covenant Community, the once proud flagship of the Sword of the Spirit. WOC
began as a prayer meeting by founders Steven B Clark and Ralph Martin.
According to the Living Bulwark article, Clark and Martin were paid pastoral
staff members of the Newman Center on the E. Lansing campus of Michigan
State University. They were fired from their positions for leading charismatic
prayer meetings that eventually became the Work of Christ Covenant
Community.1

In 1973 the group that would become the Work of Christ Community
made their first covenant. Among their early leaders was Greg Gavriledes, a
strong disciplinarian and gifted organizer. Mr. Gavriledes would advance to
the overall, Senior Coordinator position. Under his leadership the community
would grow quickly. Eight years after their initial commitment, the Work of
Christ numbered over 700 men, women and children! This would be the apex
of the communitys growth before their troubles began. And according to a
document provided by a Freedom of Information request, their troubles began
due to the behavior of Senior Head Coordinator Greg Gavriledes.

In a second, 20152 Living Bulwark story about the WOC there is a

reference to a very rough patch, which the author, Jerry Munk, claims
happened over 30 years ago. He acknowledges that the Sword of the Spirit
played a key role in managing this event after Mr Gavriledes resigned. The
following legal document created some years after the very rough patch
exposes what happened. Work of Christ lost hundreds of its members, an
event from which it never recovered in terms of membership numbers, let
alone the human toll in sexual. spiritual and emotional abuse.

John Flaherty, Grand Island, Nebraska March 12, 2017

1
http://www.swordofthespirit.net/bulwark/may07p7.htm
2
http://www.swordofthespirit.net/bulwark/december2015p7.htm
 zz
zz
qq
qq
zz

qq
qq

qq
zz

zz
zz
zzzzzz
zzzzzz zzzzz
zzzzz zz
zz zzz
zzz
zzzzzzzzz
zzzzzzzz
zzzzzzzzzz
zzzzzzzzz

zz
 zz
zz
bbbbbb
c
z a a a