Victor Wierwille, Founder of The Way Ministry, Dies at 68

Victor Paul Wierwille, founder of a controversial religious ministry called The Way International, has died after a brief illness at age 68.

The Way, a biblical research ministry, has been accused by some religious groups of being a cult, and many Christian churches oppose its teaching that Jesus Christ was just the son of God and not part of the Trinity.

Followers also are taught to speak in “tongues,” a seemingly nonsensical series of syllables that Pentecostal Christians believe is God-inspired prayer.

Wierwille, who died Monday, was ordained a minister in the Evangelical and Reformed Church, now part of the United Church of Christ, in 1941, after graduating from Princeton Theological Seminary in Princeton, N.J.

500 Employees

The Way headquarters, located on the farm where Wierwille was born near New Knoxville in west-central Ohio, has a staff of 500 employees and volunteers and recorded $23.4 million income in 1983, the latest year for which figures are available.

Critics claim that The Way “brainwashes” its members and forces them to turn over their material possessions to the church.

Most recent membership figures indicate that more than 100,000 people in 50 countries have taken The Way’s “mind-renewal” classes.

The Way also maintains a 41-acre college campus in Emporia, Kan.; a 200-acre campus outside Rome City, Ind.; a year-round outdoor academy near Tinnie, N.M., and a 140-acre Christian family camp near Gunnison, Colo.

Wierwille was president of The Way from 1942 until 1982.