The NDA Machine
One template, forty-three churches, and a clause that binds departing staff to silence about "any matter of church discipline."
By Ruth Adeyemi|Aug 20, 2026|11 min
Updated Aug 31, 2026 at 11:30 PM EDT
We received the first copy from a youth pastor in the Midwest. We received the second, unprompted, from a worship director eight hundred miles away. The documents were identical, down to a misplaced semicolon in the fourth clause.
Over five months we collected the same template from forty-three churches. It binds departing staff to silence about "any matter of church discipline, personnel action, or internal investigation," in perpetuity, with no carve-out for reporting crimes.
Where it came from
Already have an account? Sign in
Subscriber investigation
Two ways to read this article
Documents cost money to obtain, authenticate, and defend. Subscriptions pay for the filings, the court records, and the time it takes to read them twice. Apologetics essays stay free for everyone, always.
Create an account
Free
- Three metered articles a month
- Every apologetics essay, always free
- Save stories to your account
Subscribe
$8 / month
- Unlimited access to every investigation
- The full Evidence Desk, unredacted
- You fund the filings and the court records
This article continues at The Crozier Report. Subscribe to keep reading.