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Potter's House Christian Fellowship

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Potter's House Christian Fellowship
Formation1970
TypeChristian Church
Location
Official language several languages
FounderWayman O Mitchell

The Potter's House Christian Fellowship is a Christian Pentecostal church organization founded by Pastor Wayman Mitchell in Prescott, Arizona in 1970. The official organization title is Christian Fellowship Ministries or CFM.

The Potter's House is a Pentecostal fellowship of 2,000 + churches in 112 nations throughout the world with 61 ministering evangelists. The first Potter's House church in Australia was established in Perth, Western Australia in 1978 and since that time have sent dozens of ministry couples to establish 2000+ directly related churches in many countries around the world. The name of the church is a reference to chapter 18 of the book of Jeremiah, from the Bible, verses 1-3.

Cult Practice and Business

The Potters House Christian Fellowship is a shop front for a ponzi scheme. It has every characteristic of a cult. The business side of the Potters House is the main focus of those inside the ponzi scheme. A branch of the Potters House becomes a "Mother Church" after it has set up another shop front. The Launceston branch of the Potters House organised a marriage in order to set up its first branch in Queensland. The couple chosen were coerced into marrying. The male did not want to marry but agreed due to the pressure to comply with orders from the Pastor. The Pastor teaches that he is to be obeyed. Michael White used clever manipulation to present himself as one and the same as obeying God to his members. The couple were then sent out and started a new branch in Queensland. The new branch had to follow the "cookie cut" template which was put in place by Wayman Mitchell who started the organisation in Prescott, Arizona in 1970. It is mandatory for the new branch to pay back to the "Mother Church" in Launceston 10% of all monies they receive. The Launceston "Mother Church" must in turn, pay 10% of its income back to its "Mother Church" in Perth, W.A.

The fact that the Potters House is a cult is well known. They have left a trail of lives ruined by the methods they use to control, coerce members to give beyond their means and ban members from leaving the church they joined. There are websites dedicated to helping victims of the Potters House cult. Members who leave describe their experience inside the Potters House as like being a prisoner. It has been described accurately as a franchise. The "cookie-cutter" template is identical to that of a Mcdonald's with the added advantage of operating on a pyramid scheme that enriches those inside the ponzi scheme. Michael White, pastor of the Launceston Church describes himself as king and the members as workers. As king he is to be obeyed. If members break rank, or defy Michael White or his wife Maria White, the members are ordered to ostracise the guilty person. They are referred to as 'rebels' who have backslidden. This kind of defiance is dealt with severely and ends in the person being thrown out of the fellowship. The members depend exclusively on socialising and interacting with other members. Therefore when a person is thrown out, they find themselves in a state of isolation as they have been forced to cut off ties with family and friends. Many families have been torn apart with the practices used by those in charge of the membership. Women who join without their husband find the demands placed on them by the king, the pastor has destroyed their marriage. This is advantageous for the couple in charge as the wife is forced to pay 10% of any marital settlement she receives from the sale of property.

http://life-after-potters-house.tripod.com/

http://www.culthelp.info/index.php?option=com_content&task=view&id=622&Itemid=8

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=HpAYtFVGiHw

Activity

The Potters House Christian Fellowship/The Door Christian Fellowship consists of members who identify themselves as being born-again Christians. The fellowship has an evangelistic focus involving open-air preaching, personal witnessing, door-to-door promotion, rock/rap concerts, Christian movies, skits and dramas. These events are used to evangelize to non-Christians or unchurched people. While the Potter's House welcomes those from other churches, it does not actively participate in proselytizing Christians from other evangelical groups (sometimes called transfer growth).

History

The Potter's House has its roots in the Jesus People Movement, a Christian revival that occurred in America in the early 1970s. Wayman Mitchell originally began his 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" (religious apprenticeship) in their local church rather than external Bible colleges. By the mid-1980s Mitchell had a following of over a hundred newly established churches, pastored by men who had been trained under him and sent out to minister after a period of discipleship. 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. as at November 2013 there are over 2000 churches affiliated to the CFM fellowship.

Doctrine and practice

Potter's House Christian Fellowship is a Pentecostal church. Followers believe in the inerrancy of the Bible. There are specific standards of personal conduct for those serving in the ministry. The Potter's House has never released an official denomination-wide statement of doctrine, but the de facto doctrine largely adheres to the book "The Foundations of Pentecostal Theology" written by two Foursquare ministers, and published by L. I. F. E. Bible College. Individual fellowships have released statements of faith or beliefe.

The church promotes belief in the historicity of the Gospel narratives, an orthodox Christian understanding of Jesus and The Trinity, Original sin, a pro-life stance to abortion, and an Evangelical belief in the Great Commission. The church advocates creationism, and rejects evolution, and claims that speaking in tongues is evidence of Baptism in the Holy Spirit. The fellowship also advocates loyalty and obedience to positions of authority in the church, originating with Wayman Mitchell (Senior Pastor of the fellowship) and the Board of Directors, and on an advisory level. The Prescott church council was also formed to ensure similar practice and doctrine were advocated in all churches within the fellowship. However some fellowship churches state the belief in "The Sovereign Autonomous Government Of The Local Church", which both fit together as part of the overall authority structure. The church also teaches that salvation can be lost because of sin. Potter's House also hold strongly to members paying their tithe and that tithing proves the faith of the Christian, provides finances for the operation of the local church and enables the believer to receive God's blessing. One of the Potter's House distinctions in their doctrine and practice is their discipleship program where they exercise a method of shepherding which would resemble elements of the Shepherding Movement. Doctrinally evangelical, pretribulationist, and sola scriptura. They also believe in Premillennial eschatology. Drinking, tobacco, television and movies are prohibited amongst its ministers. The church also believes in divine healing and some of the lead Pastors have frequently done a healing crusade, as well as praying for the sick in their services.

Some official statements of faith the church follows are:

  • That Jesus Christ is the son of the living God, and the only saviour from sin. ( John 3:16, John 14:6, Romans 6:23, Acts 4:12 )
  • That Jesus Christ is the great physician and the healer of the body through the atonement. (Philippians 4:19)
  • That Jesus Christ is the baptiser with the Holy Spirit, today just as he was on the day of Pentecost. (Acts 2:38)
  • That Jesus Christ is the soon coming king, coming back to earth again as the only hope for a dying world.
  • That Jesus Christ is the same, yesterday and today and forever. (Hebrews 13:8)

The church is classified as Pentecostal however the church does not participate in what they call "counterfeit themes", such as the Toronto Blessing or the Pensacola Outpouring. It also doesn't participate in "interdenominational services" (this is where several different denominations periodically have a joint church service together), though individual members are free to do so. The fellowship also is opposed to certain aspects of the Ecumenical Movement such as the attempts to reconcile Protestantism and Roman Catholicism, as it believes that the teachings of the latter are contrary to the Bible.

Bible schools

The Potters House Fellowship does reject some Bible schools and theological university or college world wide, as a vehicle for church planting, and gives several reasons for this in its publication, We Can Take the Land (A Study in Church Planting). Reasons include a belief that not all Christian theological teachings are accurate (in that they are not seen in the context of church planting in the book of Acts), a belief that Bible schools might hinder global evangelism, that some Bible schools isolate students from practical experience, that the requirements of attendance at Bible schools are too strict and that Bible schools violate the indigenous principle.

Origins of the church name

The name comes from an Old Testament verse 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.

Local churches of the Potters House also use other names, including: The Door, Victory Chapel, de deur, Christian Center, Crossroads Chapel, and La Puerta. In non-English speaking countries versions of these names in local languages will also be used.

Criticism and controversy

In the past there have been criticisms of the Potter's House. Concerns have been raised by some media, a few Christian commentators and authors who have focused on previous church activity which they have labelled as having cultic characteristics.

Christian commentators

Ronald Enroth's book from 1992, Churches That Abuse contains an account of alleged abuse within a Potter's House church. His follow-up book in 1994, Recovering From Churches That Abuse, also contained an alleged account of abuse.

Media

In 1989, a father who accused the group of being a "mind-controlling cult", convinced social workers to prevent his 16-year-old daughter (who was in the custody of the state) from attending a Potter's House church. After several months, however, a Juvenile Court commissioner ruled that she could go unless her father or the county could show she was being harmed by the church. The girl's mother, Renee Collin, disagreed with the father, saying she had no objection to her daughter going to the church.

In January 2002, Charisma News, a Christian news magazine dealing mainly with Pentecostal and Charismatic Christianity, reported a major exodus of some 160 churches from the Potter's House Movement in the United States. The reason for the split, according to Charisma News, was "because of unhealthy control, and after (members) leave they are afraid to talk about their experiences." A former pastor interviewed in the Charisma News article, when asked about allegations of abuse, said "There are families who have not spoken for years, brothers who are pastors all the way to the Philippines who were separated by this group and had years of not even speaking, churches that have been deliberately split, children who don't talk to their parents."

In November 2010, Australia's Nine Network reported that Potter's House in Tasmania, Australia was performing a theater stage-show involving "scenes of suicide and drug use, and ended with a pastor telling the audience that 'the devil's children' needed to give their lives to God to be saved from Hell." Ads for the show stated that the performance was MA-rated, however it did not state that it was run by Potter's House or had religious content. A pastor of the Potter's House, according to the report, stated that a press release warned audiences of "violence, mayhem, suicide, the occult and of course death."

Response to criticism

In his biography, founder Wayman Mitchell responded to criticism of the group by the journalists, and by researcher Ronald Enroth:

They (the media) are not interested in giving honest accounts. By and large they are pea-brained, illiterate and lazy. They come with pre-conceived ideas and a pre-arranged agenda and look only for a sound bite that will help nail down what they want to say. This is not honest, investigative journalism; it is interpretive reporting, where they interpret everything you say to support their own wicked bias. I have no time for them. They are deceptive as well. They do not identify themselves when they arrive. They come into the Church, as one lady did from the Boston TV station, with hidden cameras and microphones. They hope to pick up one sentence or phrase, and use it entirely out of context to cast you in the worst possible light. If we know who they are, we stop them at the doors. ... It's the same with the book writers. William Enroth, who featured me in 'Churches That Abuse' never even spoke to me. He interviewed somebody out in the Mid-west and put an uncorroborated testimony in his book.

Mitchell also responded to the criticism Potter's House received from Charisma News and the Christian Research Institute:

Even the Christian press is riddled with bias. We've had people contact us from Charisma Magazine and Christian Research Institute but neither outfit would come and sit in our services and talk with our people. We invited them to. I gave Lee Grady from the Charisma Magazine the names and numbers of five of our leaders and said if you don't believe me, talk with any of them ..... but he didn't. He phoned Pastor Warner, but was only interested in a sound bite. That's the sort of dishonesty we have lived with for years.

References

  1. "The Potters House - International Directory". Retrieved 2012-01-02.
  2. "History - The Potters House". Retrieved 2011-07-30.
  3. "Jeremiah 18, The Holy Bible, New King James Version". Retrieved 2011-06-13.
  5. "The Door Netherlands". Retrieved August 2006. {{cite web}}: Check date values in: |accessdate= (help)
  6. http://www.thepottershouse.org/local/about-us/belief-statement.aspx
  7. http://www.pottershouse.org.gt/about-potters-house/statement-of-faith/
  8. ^ "CFM Worldwide - Creedal Statements". Retrieved 27 December 2012. {{cite web}}: Unknown parameter |deadurl= ignored (|url-status= suggested) (help)
  9. Perth CFM statement of faith
  10. A brief bio on the Potter's House – See "Organization/Ministry" section
  11. CFM official statement of faith
  12. World CFM page on tithes and offerings
  13. Small newspaper article on Potter's House healing crusade
  14. Yale newspaper story Potter's House healing crusade.
  15. Simpkins, Ron (1984). We Can Take the Land (A Study in Church Planting). Prescott: Potters Press. pp. 275–276. ISBN 0-918389-00-3.
  16. "King James Version: Jeremiah 18:2". Godrules.net. Retrieved 2007-12-16.
  17. "The 25 Most Influential Evangelicals in America", Time Magazine, no. 07 February 2005, Time, 7 February 2005
  18. "History - The Potters House Christian Fellowship". Retrieved 2011-03-24.
  19. "Christian Fellowship Ministries (CFM) (aka: Potter's House, The Door, Victory Chapel)". Retrieved 2007-04-25.
  20. "Potter House (aka Victory Chapel, leader Paul Campo)". Retrieved 2007-04-25.
  21. Ryan Crehan (1998-12-08). "A CULT IN PRESCOTT?". The Word.
  22. Enroth, Ronald (1992). Churches That Abuse. Zondervan Publishing House. ISBN 0-310-53290-6.
  23. Enroth, Ronald (1994). Recovering From Churches That Abuse. Zondervan Publishing House. ISBN 0-310-39870-3.
  24. Carol Lachnit (1989-12-18). "Religious belief, court divide father, daughter: Ruling allows teen-ager under county custody to go to Orange church". The Orange County Register.
  25. Charisma News, January 2002
  26. ^ Nick Pearson; Shaun Davies (5 November 2010). "Rape, abortion in church 'Haunted House'". Nine News / NineMSN.
  27. ^ Ian Wilson (1996). In Pursuit of Destiny - Biography of Wayman Mitchell. p. 53. ISBN 0-9699777-1-9. Cite error: The named reference "PursuitOfDestiny" was defined multiple times with different content (see the help page).

External links

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