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Potter's House Christian Fellowship
Christian Fellowship Ministries
The Door, Victory Chapel
34°37′50.48″N 112°25′38.33″W / 34.6306889°N 112.4273139°W / 34.6306889; -112.4273139 (Potter's House)
Location	Prescott, Arizona
Country	United States
Denomination	Non-denominational, Pentecostal
Previous denomination	Foursquare Gospel Church
Website	The Potter's House
History
Founded	1970
Founder(s)	Wayman O. Mitchell

The Potter's House Christian Fellowship is a Pentecostal church based in the United States of America. It was established in Prescott, Arizona in 1970 by Wayman Mitchell. Originally a part of the Foursquare church, Mitchell split the church away in 1983 and established an independent fellowship. Since then, the church itself has undergone a number of splits. The church has been criticised in a number of areas including high levels of control, extreme commitment requirements, and the mistreatment of former members. It has been labelled by many ex-members as a cult.

History

In 1969, Wayman Mitchell asked for a ministerial position and was appointed to serve as the minister of the Foursquare church in Prescott, Arizona. Mitchell promoted personal witnessing which saw much church growth, primarily from the youth of the hippie movement and resulted in an overflowing church by the early seventies. Mitchell began to establish new churches which were originally called The Door (and later, these churches were called the Potter's House), first within Arizona and interstate, then overseas. Mitchell discouraged his disciples from attending bible schools due to his own negative experiences in them so the men who he sent out did not receive full ordinations from Foursquare. According to Nathaniel Van Cleave, Mitchell permitted only his own style of primitive and militant evangelism, isolated his disciples from other Foursquare ministers and as a group, they walked out of conference meetings that they disagreed with. Although Mitchell was the state superintendent, he only focused on his own churches, excluding all other Foursquare churches that were under his care. Over time, this caused resentment among the excluded congregations and at least one church left the denomination as a result.

At the 1983 Foursquare convention, a large number of pastors brought complaints against Mitchell to the executive council meeting. Mitchell made no attempt to respond to the complaints. Instead, he and his followers left the conference. A special meeting was later held with Mitchell in an attempt to establish understanding and continued fellowship but this attempt was unsuccessful. Within weeks, Mitchell and the churches which he had planted severed their ties with Foursquare and became an independent fellowship.

In 1990, approximately 100 churches split from the Potter's House. The split was partially due to restrictions which prevented them from maturing and enlarging their expressions of faith.

In 2001, a second split occurred with around 160 churches leaving the fellowship due to disagreements with the direction the fellowship was heading in.

As of 2020 the church has over 2,600 churches worldwide.

Mitchell passed away on September 21, 2020 in Prescott, Arizona.

Doctrine and practice

The Potter's House Christian Fellowship holds Pentecostal beliefs with a strong emphasis on evangelism, church planting, and discipleship. Doctrines include salvation by faith, the infallibility of the bible, faith healing, and the second coming of Jesus Christ.

An intense program of evangelism is promoted with regular outreach events scheduled including, but not limited to, street evangelism, music concerts, movie nights, and revival meetings, with the intention of converting people and increasing church membership.

A major goal of the church is the establishment of new churches, commonly referred to as church planting. This is achieved through the in-house training of pastors who are then sent to start a new church. Local congregations, both new and established, have no say over who leads the church. Pastors in the Potter's House do not receive any formal theological training as this is considered a waste of time and bible college is believed to cause those wanting to become pastors to lose their passion for the church. Instead, the church uses a process called discipleship, a type of on-the-job training where men wanting to become ministers are mentored by their pastor for three years before starting their own church. These new pastors then go on to repeat the process by training their own disciples to start new churches. Women in the church are not encouraged to pursue careers as the church believes their place is in the home supporting their husbands.

Faith healing is another belief held by the church, which holds faith healing meetings and invites the public to attend. According to Kenneth Whelan, people can be healed if they forgive all sins committed against them and become Christians. Meetings generally consist of singing, a request for donations, a sermon, and an altar call, which is a request for people to come to the front and repent. After this, people are called to the front to be prayed for healing.

The church believes that participating in sin can result in physical problems. Homosexuality can cause deafness and idol worship can cause problems with eyesight.

Financial support for the church comes from the collection of tithes from its members (donating 10% of a member's gross income) and each church in turn also pays a tithe. Financial offerings over and above the tithe are also encouraged. According to an investigation by Chris Hayes, the church financial structure is set up in a pyramid structure, with each church sending 5% of its offering back to its Mother church and another 5% back to the head church in Prescott.

Bible believing Church

References

1. ^ Ted Bartimus; Karen M. Bullock (October 2, 1988). "Potter's House: Pearly gates or prison walls?". Arizona Daily Sun. p. 1. Retrieved October 6, 2020.
2. Crehan, Ryan. "A Cult in Prescott?". Prescott College -The Word, republished on the Cult Education Institute website. Archived from the original on April 11, 2015. Retrieved October 3, 2020.
3. ^ Van Cleave, Nathaniel (September 2, 2014). The Vine and the Branches: A History of the International Church of the Foursquare Gospel. Foursquare Media. pp. 150–153. ISBN 978-1621366645. Archived from the original on March 31, 2020. Retrieved March 31, 2020.
4. ^ Reynalds, Jeremy. "Potter's House Group Loses Churches Amid More Charges of Rigid Control". www.charismamag.com. Charisma. Archived from the original on March 1, 2020. Retrieved March 1, 2020.
5. "Christian Fellowship Ministries map". Retrieved September 13, 2019.
6. "Obituary: Wayman Othell Mitchell". dcourier.com. The Daily Courier. Archived from the original on September 27, 2020. Retrieved September 27, 2020.
7. "Our Vision". The Potter's House Christian Fellowship Church. Prescott Potter's House. Archived from the original on September 26, 2020. Retrieved September 26, 2020.
8. "Beliefs". The Potter's House Christian Fellowship Church. Prescott Potter's House. Archived from the original on September 26, 2020. Retrieved September 26, 2020.
9. "Dead pastor's past haunts church". Waikato Times. January 31, 2009. Archived from the original on January 5, 2020. Retrieved September 30, 2020.
10. ^ Eberhard, Monika (April 17, 2004). "Houses of Worship". Austin American Statesman. Retrieved September 30, 2020.
11. "Pastor opens new church". The Times. September 18, 1983. Retrieved October 6, 2020.
12. ^ Gust, Dodie (January 4, 1986). "Church oriented to young people is booming". Arizona Daily Star. p. 5. Retrieved October 8, 2020.
13. ^ Kirby, Sharon (June 22, 1985). "Pastor hopes to spread the simple gospel". Tampa Bay Times. p. 9. Retrieved October 8, 2020.
14. Enroth, Ronald M. (1993). Churches That Abuse. Zondervan. pp. 197–200. ISBN 9780310532927. Retrieved October 1, 2020.
15. ^ Poley, Sean. "Christian Fellowship founder answers to no one". Cape Cod Times, republished on the Cult Education Institute website. Archived from the original on April 23, 2015. Retrieved September 27, 2020.
16. Munroe, Ian. "The holy rollers". The Sunday Age. Retrieved October 6, 2020.
17. Bullock, Karen M. (October 2, 1988). "Current members believe God wants complete commitment". Arizona Daily Sun. p. 15. Retrieved October 6, 2020.
18. Masliah, Alberto (September 15, 2004). "Healing ceremony raises spirits and skepticism". Archived from the original on December 28, 2007. Retrieved August 1, 2007.
19. Berg, Jeff. "Amen-uh to All That". Archived from the original on December 27, 2018. Retrieved August 1, 2007.
20. "Religious leader: Guam's gay community "miserable"". Kuam News. February 2018. Archived from the original on February 15, 2018. Retrieved June 21, 2020.
21. Hayes, Chris. "The Door: A Church or a Cult?". KPHO TV, republished on the Cult Education Institute website. Archived from the original on April 15, 2020. Retrieved September 26, 2020.

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• Pentecostal denominations
• Jesus movement
• Christian organizations established in 1970
• Pentecostal denominations established in the 20th century
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• Evangelical denominations in North America