A Quaker retreat center in Delco was rattled by a far-right Christian group’s stay

Pendle Hill is a 93-year-old retreat center in Delaware County that offers a low-cost, leafy getaway for spiritual pilgrims who align with its famous Quaker mission to be “inclusive, respectful, and supportive of all people.”

Last week, staffers found themselves hosting a group of evangelical Christians that pushed their limits.

On the surface, the 30-person group with the “24/7 National Strategic Prayer Call” came and went without incident. But Pendle Hill executive director Francisco Burgos, who was on a mission trip in Brazil at the time, began hearing concerns from staffers who’d grown nervous shortly after the group arrived last week.

The main source of concern was the group’s far-right political leanings that it posted on social media each day — daily “prayer focuses” that railed against homosexuality, falsely claimed Donald Trump was the rightful U.S. president, and advocated for Christian nationalism in American politics.

Burgos disavowed the group’s beliefs and expressed regret for hosting them due to the pressure it put on his staff.

“We seek to create an environment of inclusion and belonging that is safe, respectful, and restorative, and we recognize this group’s presence has ruptured that environment for our staff and other guests on campus,” Burgos said.

Ioan Peia, a pastor who is one of the group’s leaders, said interactions with the staff were amicable, and he was shocked to hear that they were agitated.

“It was a beautiful place with wonderful people,” he said. “We did not talk politics at all with people there at the center.”

The underlying tensions at Pendle Hill perhaps speak to a political climate in which politics have become entangled in the religious sphere, even as widespread division exists among denominations. Christian nationalism has become an animating force for right-ring politicians, who embrace a message of “spiritual warfare” over issues like LGBTQ rights and abortion access.

“As an openly queer staff member with an understanding of the anti-LBGTQ rhetoric that fuels the far right Christian movement, it’s nearly impossible to feel safe serving those who have done harm to people like me,” said Alison Krieger, who has worked at Pendle Hill since last year.

Even if the group didn’t openly discuss its political leanings in Delaware County, there were signposts.

Burgos said members of the group staying on the bucolic Wallingford campus often blew shofars — a Jewish ritual instrument that has been adopted by evangelical Christians who envision themselves locked in a Biblical battle to save the soul of America. The horns were also used by insurrections during Jan. 6 attack on the Capitol.

Group members also flew the yellow, rattlesnake-emblazoned Gadsden flag whose “don’t tread on me” message was made famous by the Tea Party, according to Krieger. (Burgos said the group was asked to keep political signage out of public spaces at the retreat center and the group complied.)

The 24/7 National Strategic Prayer Call hosts an around-the-clock prayer hotline, and undertakes mission trips as part of what it describes as a “battle to save America” and return the “supremacy of Christ” into the public sphere.

Peia declined to elaborate on the group’s beliefs to The Inquirer, but they are clear in the group’s daily prayers posts online.

The posts routinely promoted false claims that Trump is still the president along with prayers for his restoration to “his rightful office.” A recent post referred to group members as “MAGAdonians” — a pet name Trump coined for his followers on social media. Another recent prayer focus revolved around why the Department of Justice’s indictment against Trump was “seriously flawed.”

Peia is listed as an author on the posts along with coleader Maureen Bravo, who declined to comment. According to her LinkedIn bio, Bravo is affiliated with a prayer network with Liberty Counsel, a group that the Southern Poverty Law Center designated as extremist and says advocates “for anti-LGBT discrimination under the guise of religious liberty.”

During their stay, the group traveled to Harrisburg and met with state Rep. David Zimmerman (R., Earl) in the Capitol building, according to the group’s daily prayer posts. Abby Abildness, an “apostle” with the New Apostolic Reformation movement, a fundamentalist political network of pastors, was part of the Pendle Hill group, and was seen a photo with Zimmerman posted by a LancasterOnline reporter. Abildness did not return a call for comment.

In Philadelphia, the group visited Penn Treaty Park on the anniversary of the 1683 treaty between the Lenni-Lenape Indians and William Penn — whose affinity they share with the Quakers.

“Through William Penn, a different, godly doctrine emerged … one that taught us to deal with indigenous people honorably,” the 24/7 group wrote on its website, after its Penn Treaty visit.

That affinity did not override the distress caused by the group’s other views. Burgos said Pendle Hill will vet groups more seriously before booking with them in the future.

“We don’t have a stringent vetting process for guests — we take people at their word, on faith — but sadly, that may need to change, based on this latest experience,” Burgos said.

Peia was taken aback by Burgos’ comments after what he described as a pleasant retreat.

“We integrated and we worshiped together,” Peia said. “We are the land of the free here, we have the right to speak what you believe … but we did not talk politics with those on site.”

On Saturday, the group traveled to Manhattan to serve a “notice of eviction” to Mammon, a biblical term for wealth, and checked out of Pendle Hill on Sunday, according to the group’s itinerary.