Go Church Belgium Answers the VRT Pano Documentary (Video)
Go Church Belgium answered every question from VRT Pano in writing, days before the documentary was broadcast. VRT published that answer on its own website, but very few viewers ever read it. This short video sets the documentary’s main claims beside what Go Church Belgium actually said, on money, freedom, young people, therapy, the accusers and the gravest allegation.
Go Church Belgium’s full written response can be found on VRT NWS: https://vrtnws.be/p.lObpXWO0Z
Chapters
- 0:00 Go Church Belgium and the VRT Pano documentary
- 0:37 Where Go Church Belgium’s money goes
- 1:19 Freedom: hobbies, friends and family
- 2:05 Young people and parental consent
- 2:25 Therapy and mental health: the church’s position
- 2:55 Who the accusers in the Pano documentary are
- 4:12 The gravest allegation: the church’s account
- 5:08 Read Go Church Belgium’s full response on VRT NWS
Full transcript
Go Church Belgium and the VRT Pano documentary
Thirty-seven seconds into the VRT Pano documentary on Go Church Belgium, a former member says that giving money to the church is a must. Twenty-five minutes later, VRT’s own narrator says something else: “At Go Church, too, you are apparently not obliged to give.” Both lines are in the same film. Only one of them opened it.
Go Church Belgium answered VRT’s questions in writing, days before the broadcast. VRT published that answer on its own website. Very few people read it. So here is what the documentary alleged, and here is what the church says.
Where Go Church Belgium’s money goes
The documentary suggested that nobody can tell where the money goes. Go Church Belgium’s written answer is plain. Gifts and tithes are voluntary. The money pays the rent and running costs of the halls where the church meets. No percentage goes to Lighthouse in Ghana, and the church does not report its members, its finances or its activities to Ghana.
The church says it is an informal association, not a registered legal entity. Under Belgian law, that means it is not required to file public accounts. It says it keeps proper books. The absence of a published figure is not evidence of a missing one.
Freedom: hobbies, friends and family
Next, control: clothes, friends, hobbies. Again, the church’s answer is specific. Members are not expected to give up their hobbies. They are not expected to cut contact with friends or family outside the church. That applies to adults and to minors. Activities are voluntary. Members decide for themselves which meetings they attend, and members are free to leave Go Church at any time.
The church also wrote that people must be free to ask questions, to disagree with leaders, to make their own decisions, and to leave without threats or harassment. A written policy and a personal experience are not the same thing, so the church has asked for the details, so that it can look into them.
Young people and parental consent
The charge that worried parents most was about young people. The church says it is open to people of all ages, and that it does not target minors. Addresses are asked for pastoral visits, and those visits happen only with permission. When a member is a minor, the parents must give consent.
Therapy and mental health: the church’s position
Some former members spoke about therapy, and about their mental health. These are serious accounts. They are not disputed here.
The church’s position is clear. It gives members no instructions about therapy, and it does not expect anyone to stop treatment. It says it is sorry to hear what former members have described, that it takes their stories seriously, and that it wants the details, with their consent, so that any concerns can be properly investigated.
Who the accusers in the Pano documentary are
The harshest words in the film came from former ministers in Ghana. The programme called six of them former bishops. Only two were. The others were a reverend and three pastors.
Viewers were not told that these men have been in a legal dispute with the church for years. In 2025, a settlement demand of more than $12 million was put to the church. Its lawyers refused it in writing.
Nor were viewers told this. In 2023, a court in Madagascar convicted one of the two former bishops, Lawrence Odonkor, of breach of trust over church funds. He was tried in his absence. Two appeals have since been dismissed. In Ghana, a separate court acquitted him, and the state has appealed. And a civil claim by the church in Madagascar was dismissed.
None of this makes their accusations untrue. But a viewer weighing a charge of greed deserves to know who is making it.
The documentary also leaned on a Ghanaian series called Darkness in a Lighthouse. In October 2022, the High Court in Accra found the publishers of that series in contempt of court, fined them, and ordered an apology. The defamation case itself is still open.
The gravest allegation: the church’s account
The gravest part of the film concerns sexual misconduct by a man in the church. The church does not say that nothing happened.
In its written answer, it says the man was a volunteer. When the church learned of the allegations, he was removed, immediately and permanently. The church spoke with each of the women separately. He was questioned, and he admitted the allegations. All of the women were adults at the time.
The church did not report it to the police. It says the women were encouraged to report, and were promised full support if they did. They asked the church not to report on their behalf, and the church respected that. Counselling was offered.
Reasonable people will disagree about what a church should do when the women involved ask it not to go to the police. But this account is specific. It was given before the broadcast. And it is the opposite of a denial.
Read Go Church Belgium’s full response on VRT NWS
VRT NWS holds itself to three principles: accuracy, impartiality and good faith. The accusations ran for more than forty minutes. The church’s answers got a link at the end. The documentary made its case in forty-six minutes. The answers were there before it aired. Most viewers never saw them.
Go Church Belgium’s response can be found on VRT NWS at https://vrtnws.be/p.lObpXWO0Z. Read it. Then decide for yourself.
Sources shown in the video
- Go Church Belgium’s written response, published by VRT NWS, 21 October 2026
- VRT Pano, 21 October 2026 (quotes at 0:37 and 25:53, translated from Dutch)
- Judgment No. 239-MaS2, Court of First Instance, Antananarivo, 18 April 2023 (certified translation)
- Circuit Court, Accra, 15 September 2023
- High Court, Accra, 25 October 2022, Suit CR/0222/2022
- Letter from the church’s lawyers, 14 July 2025
In het Nederlands
Go Church België beantwoordde alle vragen van VRT Pano schriftelijk, enkele dagen vóór de uitzending. VRT publiceerde dat antwoord op de eigen website, maar weinig kijkers lazen het. In deze video leggen we de belangrijkste beweringen uit de reportage naast het antwoord van Go Church. De volledige reactie van Go Church staat op VRT NWS: https://vrtnws.be/p.lObpXWO0Z
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