Breaking Free: A Decade of Discovery After Escaping a Doomsday Church

For the first 27 years of her life, Bek Condello lived under the constant shadow of the apocalypse. Raised inside the Geelong Revival Centre (GRC)—a strict Pentecostal doomsday church established in 1972—she was taught that normal life could end at any moment with the return of God to Earth.

"I just grew up with this mortal fear of God returning to the Earth at any point, and if I hadn't prayed properly this morning, I might burn in hell for all of eternity," she recalled of her upbringing inside the closed group, which some former members have characterized as a cult.

Born into Isolation

The GRC placed heavy emphasis on baptism and speaking in tongues. "I was born into [the church]," Condello said. "My parents joined in their early 20s. My mum was only 19." She describes the environment as highly insulated. "It was very closed off to the outside world."

"So anyone, even if you told me you were Christian, you were going to burn in hell because you weren't coming to our very specific church."

Condello's childhood was defined by isolation and fear. Homeschooled until she was 10, she was forbidden from making friends outside the church community. Physical discipline was normalized under the guise of scriptural justification, she said. "The more you hit a child … the more you were kind of guaranteeing their place in heaven," she said, adding that her father took steps to hide the noise of physical punishment. "I talk … about how my dad used to go around and shut all the windows in the house so that the neighbours wouldn't hear me screaming when he hit me."

She reflected on the toll this took, stating, "I can't imagine being a mum and hearing your children being hit and not having some kind of like emotional response to that."

Her daily routine was rigidly controlled. "I had to pray twice a day, half an hour in the morning, half an hour at night, and … it was expected that I would just eventually become a young wife and mother," she said.

The Path to Marriage and Escape

Dating outside the church was strictly prohibited, leading many young girls to marry the first boy they ever dated. Seeking a way out of her parents' control, Condello devised a desperate plan to get expelled. "I decided that my parents were never going to just let me leave," she explained. "So I decided to write a letter and make up a lie that I'd slept with someone." She figured the admission would get her cast out. "I thought if I tell them I've had sex with someone, I'm going to get kicked out of the cult for at least two years. That was the expulsion for sinning."

Instead, a relationship developed with the man who would become her husband. However, church rules governed every step of the courtship. "He had to ask his dad and his pastor, and my dad and my pastor first, before anyone could even ask me what I wanted," Condello said. While marriage was not her true desire, it offered a semblance of independence from her parents. But the transition was fraught. "I was just so monumentally unprepared for sex, but I felt this pressure … it's our wedding night, we have to sleep together, and we tried to have sex, and it just felt so painfully impossible," she recalled.

A Meltdown and a Final Break

The catalyst for Condello's departure came at age 27, when her then-husband questioned church leadership about abuse allegations within the organization. Condello had previously shared with him that she believed she was abused as a child, but begged him not to raise the matter. "This was probably one of the worst times in my life," she said. "He basically said to me, 'I want to take what happened to you as a kid to the pastors and use that as evidence that the church is flawed,' and I was like, 'absolutely not.'"

Her husband confronted the pastors regardless. "I had a full meltdown, the ground just like opened up underneath me … I felt so exposed, so betrayed, so upset," Condello said. The church subsequently investigated her allegations without ever speaking to her, concluding she was lying—a determination her husband then also began to question.

"I called bullshit on the whole thing because I'd been told my entire life that these pastors heard directly from God and God knew everything, but I know I'm telling the truth," Condello said. This realization shattered her belief in the church's divine authority, giving her the strength to walk away forever. "I was like, 'OK, I'm not going back.'"

Allegations of abuse within the GRC eventually sparked a Victorian government inquiry into religious coercion, a proceeding to which Condello made a submission. GRC leader Brian Griggs has previously denied allegations of coercive control, maintaining that members are entirely free to choose whether to follow the church's teachings. This publication does not accuse current or former church members of perpetrating any abuse or failing to report any abuse.

Building a New Life

Leaving the GRC meant total excommunication. Condello has not heard from her family inside the church since deciding to leave. "I wrote my mum a letter a couple of months later, and I explained to her what had happened, and I'm fairly sure she either wouldn't have read the letter, or she would have just handed it straight to one of the pastors," she said. "She wouldn't have wanted to put her own soul at risk."

"I think it's sad for multiple reasons. I think she's missing out, not just on my life, but she's also missing out on her life. I don't think she will ever leave."

Now, more than a decade later, Condello has built a rich, expansive life, having visited 23 countries over the past year. In her book, Can You Handle a Girl Like Me?, she details her journey of self-discovery through her thirties. "I got to create this life that isn't really bound by anyone else's expectations or idea," she said.

"I have this life that is incredibly full. I feel really loved. I have so many anchors all around the world."

"I have places where I belong. I have people who have shown up for me as family and parents in a way that my own family and parents never did or could."

"I feel blessed."