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Potter's House Christian Fellowship

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For the Potter's house church pastored by T.D. Jakes, see this article.

The Potter's House Christian Fellowship (also known as the Potter's House Christian Church or simply The Potter's House) was founded by Pastor Wayman O Mitchell at Prescott, Arizona in 1970. They have created hundreds of churches, under The Potter's House banner, throughout many nations. The first Australian church was established in the city of Perth in 1978. Their theology is best characterised as Pentecostal.

Current church statistics

As of January 2006, the Potter's House Christian Fellowship and its affiliated ministries (including The Door, Victory Chapel, Christian Fellowship Ministries and The Light House) claim approximately 1,365 churches world-wide, with 392 in the United States, 60 in Australia, and the remainder internationally.

The mother church in Prescott, Arizona is headed by Wayman Mitchell. Some of the fellowship churches have over 1,000 attendees and the Prescott Mother Church itself has over 800. There are also newer churches with very few attendees. Expansion into new regions increases the number of smaller churches and thus brings the average across all churches down to about 80 attendees per service .

Church activity

The Potters House Christian Fellowship consists of members who identify themselves as being "Born Again" Christians. The church has an evangelistic program involving open air preaching, personal 'witnessing', rock/rap concerts, Christian movies, skits and dramas. These events are used to evangelise to non-Christians. While the Potter's House welcomes those from other churches, it does not actively participate in proselytising, but rather in conversion of non-believers.

Church history

The Potter's House stems from the Jesus People Movement that swept through America in the early 70's. Wayman Mitchell originally began his network of churches under the affiliation of the International Church of the Foursquare Gospel and continued this affiliation until a disagreement with church leaders on ordination requirements for new ministers . Mitchell believed that a new pastor should be trained through 'discipleship' (mentoring) rather than by higher education, such as Bible colleges By the mid-1980s Mitchell had a following of well over a hundred newly established churches, pastored by men who had been trained under him and sent out without further formal education. Reluctantly in 1985 Mitchell gave up his official affiliation with the International Church of the Foursquare Gospel and took up a practice under Christian Fellowship Ministries (C.F.M.), the church he had established in Prescott. When Mitchell left the International Church of the Foursquare Gospel, most of his newer churches went with him, and name The Potter's House was adopted.

Church doctrine

Potter's House Christian Fellowship is a fundamentalist Pentecostal church. They believe in the inerrancy of the Bible, with a particular focus on training and making disciples (mentoring), along with an emphasis on building relationships in the church. There are specific standards for ministry and the fellowship believes in teaching by discipleship. Much of the official Potters House doctrine stems from The Foundations of Pentecostal Theology written by two Foursquare ministers, and published by L. I. F. E. Bible College.

The church claims to hold to the following doctrine: they believe in the historicity of the gospel narratives and an orthodox understanding of Jesus, hold 'truth over relationship', believe in 'submission unto headship', hold a pro-life stance to abortion, emphasise 'Biblical moral standards in holiness', and believe in proclaiming their message to those who are 'spiritually lost' and 'in danger of going to hell'. However, the church does not participate in what they call "counterfeit themes", such as the Toronto Blessing or the Pensacola Outpouring. This could suggest that the church is not greatly influenced by mainstream Charismatic teaching, and thus could identify itself as Pentecostal, but not Charismatic.

Origins of the church name

The name comes from the Old Testament of the Bible:

Jeremiah 18:2 Arise, and go down to the potter's house, and there I will cause thee to hear my words. (King James Version)

Because of its biblical origin, the name "The Potter's House" is often used by other independent church groups besides those affiliated with Christian Fellowship Ministries. Particularly well known is The Potter's House, Dallas, Texas, a largely African-American megachurch founded and led by T. D. Jakes and unrelated to the churches founded by Wayman Mitchell.

Church conferences

Conferences are a major part of the church's practice and administration. Most countries hold them once or twice per year and they consist of up to 17 sermons by various fellowship pastors]and evangelists.

Church stands

Bible schools, Church planting and discipleship

The Fellowship rejects Bible schools as a vehicle for church planting. The following are a few reasons given for this:

  1. Bible schools are claimed not to be biblical, and are viewed as a medieval institution left over from Catholicism, and are used in imitation of the world.
  2. The church posits that Bible schools are unable to 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 rising population, let alone reach the world.
  3. The Bible school isolates the man of God from practical experience, which is meant to come through the church. For most students, the 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.
  4. All attempts to mass produce disciplines will ultimately fail. Men of God must be hand crafted.
  5. 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.
  6. 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.
  7. Bible Schools tend to put those who can't pastor into the role of pastor trainers.
  8. The system builds into the church a clergy-laity mentality that denies the priesthood of the believer, and others just need to be saved.
  9. Bible schools rob the church of dignity it was meant to have in the preparing of workers and reaching a lost world.
  10. They violate the indigenous principle.
  11. Bible schools while not evil in themselves are not God's best method.

Church culture

Like many Pentecostal or Evangelical churches, members of the Potter's House claim to have undergone religious experiences that have deeply influenced their lives. Members describe how their 'relationship with God' has changed their lives for the better, and that they are truly thankful for this. Almost all members would have their own personal testimony that they feel compelled to share with others. Many people claim to have been cured of drug addiction, alcoholism, and untreatable diseases.

Because the church has its roots in the Jesus Movement of the 1970s, it does not have much of the culture or attitudes of traditional Pentecostal or Evangelical churches from the Bible Belt in the U.S. South. As a result, the church embraces all nationalities and classes and has no overt discrimination against any person based on race. The church also has a special focus upon outreach to the poor and lower classes (also typical of other churches that have their roots in the Jesus Movement).

Like all organisations that share in a common mission and goal, there is a strong sense of camaraderie and fellowship amongst members. Outwardly, many members exhibit joy in their attendance of the church.

Criticism of the church

Among the most vocal critics of the Potter's House is Rick Ross of the Rick A. Ross Institute of New Jersey, USA., which collects articles regarding groups, controversial organizations and movements, but do not define these groups as "cults". Rick has many critics himself about his anti cult practices such as deprogramming, but has made an effort to answer them on his site Cite error: A <ref> tag is missing the closing </ref> (see the help page).

Other 'counter-cult' organisations make similar claims: see Apologetics Index , Center for Freedom of Mind , and MacGregor Ministries for example. Some alleged ex-members and and an alleged ex-Pastor describe the fellowship as abusive and 'un-biblical' in its practices. The Christian Research Institute gives a more measured critique . A variety of newspapers and television stations have reported on the group over the years .

Potter's House advocates dismiss the critics' claims as unfounded. They suggest that critics are non-credible, small in number, and highly vocal. Rick Ross is a controversial figure himself and has attracted criticism. Further, supporters of the Potter's House allege that some critics have ulterior motives and have engaged in deceptive tactics to inflate their apparent numbers on the internet . One group against whom Potter's House makes this allegation is Slam the Door. It's been claimed by Potter's House advocates that the members of this site each assumed several different identitities to inflate their numbers on the site, making it appear that there were more allegations of abuse than there really were. Some critics keep their identities hidden and thus Potter's House defenders claim it is difficult to assess their credibility and the veracity of their claims. Potter's House advocates suggest that the church's militancy and outspokenness, which are not in and of themselves improper, are partially to blame for the negative reactions of those not used to such methods.

Potter's House sermons are accessible online in Australia and the UK

References

  1. Short introduction from Wayman Mitchell's Bio Site
  2. Introduction to The Potter's House, Australia, W.A. website
  3. Statement of Faith on the Christian Fellowship Ministries main website
  4. "Christian Fellowship Ministries Australia". Retrieved August 2006. {{cite web}}: Check date values in: |accessdate= (help); Cite has empty unknown parameters: |accessyear=, |month=, |accessmonthday=, and |coauthors= (help)
  5. Mitchel, Wayman. "An Open Door" A Story of the Restoration of the Local Church". Retrieved Augsust 2006. {{cite web}}: Check date values in: |accessdate= (help); Cite has empty unknown parameters: |accessyear=, |month=, |accessmonthday=, and |coauthors= (help)
  6. Simpkins, Ron (1984). We Can Take the Land (A Study in Church Planting), pp. 275-276. Prescott: Potters Press. ISBN 0918389003
  7. Apologetics Index article on The Potter's House
  8. Center for Freedom of Mind article on The Potter's House
  9. MacGregor Ministries article on The Potter's House
  10. Christian Research Institute article on The Potter's House
  11. Recent examples include this article by ABC News Australia. and this story by KPHO Phoenix
  12. The Potter's Club's critique of Rick Ross
  13. Yahoo Group discussion on allegations of 'puppeteering' by critics

External links

Church Directory

European Links

Australasia Links

American Links

Critics: