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The Potter's House Christian Fellowship (or Potter's House Christian Church, or The Potter's House) is an Australian Pentecostal church. The group was founded in 1978 in Perth, but has since spread to other parts of Australia and to some other countries. They trace their founding back to another Pentecostal group, the Christian Fellowship Ministries, in Prescott, Arizona led by Pastor Wayman Mitchell.
Distinctives
The church sees itself as one that has returned to the original church of the 1st century. In this sense, they see themselves as being a Fundamentalist movement (although without some of the negative connotations this description has).
The Potter's House adheres very strongly to the belief in Biblical inerrancy, and believes that the church members require strong relational ties in order for effective discipleship and discipline.
Like many Pentecostal and Charismatic churches, corporate worship is enthusiastic and ecstatic, with tongue-speaking amongst members common during the meeting. Many members want to see their faith lived out during the week, and their enthusiasm for the faith can be quite evident to outsiders.
A great emphasis has been placed on evangelism and church planting which has led to a multiplication of churches. This, in turn, has meant that the church is becoming well-known amongst the Pentecostal community.
The Name seems to come from the bible in:
Jeremiah 18:2 Arise, and go down to the potter's house, and there I will cause thee to hear my words.
And this phrase below is coined quite frequently.
You oh GOD are the Potter, and I am the Clay, Mould me and Make me oh Lord.
The Potters House Christian Fellowship is also known for its Outreach Concerts, Witnessing, Movies and Drama's. There is at this time just over 100,000 members, who also come under the Potters House name through these ministries - The Door(CFC), Victory Chappell, 'CFM' Christian Fellowship Ministries.
The Doctrine is the Gospel of Jesus Christ, Truth over Relationship, Submission unto Headship, Pro Life, Biblical Moral Standards, Winning the Lost to Christ by continual outreach. This Church has a modest attitude and refuses get caught up in the latest things like: Laughing Spirit and Pensacola type Fads.
When last researched almost all who dislike or protest The Potters House Christian Fellowship, have trouble with submission, and seem quite bitter, and don’t to have True Biblical principles in their lives, and although only a very small minority are quite vocal on the internet.
The majority of experience is that of thankfulness and that the congregation are glad to really know the truth and nearly all tell of a Testimony of how Jesus Christ has touched them and changed them into better people. It seems about 25% of the congregation are ex Drug Users or Alcoholics and all seem to of been set free indeed, some have been serving GOD for over 20 Years.
The Potters House Christian Fellowship is NOT into Getting Religious Folk or Taking other congregations members, but into outreaching those who do not have a church or who have never heard of the Gospel of Jesus Christ. This attitude has caused the church to flourish.
The Potters House Christian Fellowship embraces all Nationalities and Class, They have an extra focus in their outreach towards the lower class of society, and yet the Congregations are of mostly Middle Class, which goes to prove the change in peoples lives that this church's message has. There is strong sense of Team spirit and Comradeship, and Faces that mostly appear to be joyous and smiling.
The Church's teaching on theological training
The Potter's house is generally opposed to formal theological or biblical training for its pastors and members. The following is a quote from official church teaching material regarding this issue:
- There is always an interest in the Fellowship's rejection of Bible schools as a vehicle for church planting. The following are a few reasons for this:
- Bible schools aren't biblical. They are a medieval institution left over from Catholicism, and are used in imitation of the world.
- Bible schools can't do the job of world evangelism. The world population is growing at a rate of seventy million people a year. That means that every day 194,444 people are added to the population, over and above those who die, The cost of training workers by traditional methods is prohibitive. Even if finances were available, the Bible school method is slow and inefficient that the church is not even able to keep pace with the risingpopulation, let alone reach the world.
- The Bible school isolates the man of God from practical experience, which is meant to come through the church, For most students, thee school begins to take the place of church commitment and worship. This leads to bad habits of discipline and isolates them from the very people they are preparing to minister to.
- All attempts to mass produce disciplines will ultimately fail. Men of God must be hand crafted.
- The requirements of Bible schools eliminate many who God would use. The requirements of money, previous education, and age would have stopped Jesus and the twelve disciples.
- The Bible school system puts the church on a standard of "mind" not "heart" rewarding wrong motives, and creating an elitist mentality of really having paid too high a price to reach the poor.
- Bible Schools tend to put those who can't pastor into the role of pastor trainers.
- The system builds into the church a clergy-laity mentality that denies the priesthood of the believer, and others just need to be saved.
- (Missing)
- Bible schools rob the church of dignity it was meant to have in the preparing of workers and reaching a lost world.
- They violate the indigenous principle.
- Bible schools while not evil in themselves are not God's best method.
External links
- Potters House Christian Fellowship
- The Potter's House
- Doctrine, Studies and Articles. Many written by church members.
- The Door CFC
- Pentecostal Theology
- Apologetics Index article (critical)
- News item from Charisma news - over 100 congregations left the movement in 2001
- Excerpt from "churches that abuse" about CFM (critical)
- A Fellowship of Fear By Sean Polay, Cape Cod Times, December 10-13, 1995 (critical)
Common Criticisms
Since CFM was founded in 1978, there have been concerns that the church's strict discipling and adherence to those in authority has led to many leaving the church. There have been two major divisions in the church's history. In 1990, over 100 pastors left the church with Ron Jones, one of the church's longest serving pastors. In 2001, over 100 churches left CFM over the direction of the church.
CFM and Wayman Mitchell were also the subject of a damaging critique in the book Churches that Abuse by Ronald Enroth. The book asserts that CFM, along with associated churches like the Potters House, had put in place a system of control and influence over members that was allowing uncontrolled psychological abuse. Such complaints from ex-members have been reported by sources such as newspapers, Christian magazines and, in the case of Enroth, by a book from a well-known Christian publishing company.