Arise Church is a New Zealand
Pentecostal
Pentecostalism or classical Pentecostalism is a Protestant Charismatic Christian movement church. It is a
multi-campus church, with eleven locations throughout New Zealand.
History
Origins and expansion
Originally named City Church Wellington, it was founded in 2002 with seven people in a small dance and drama studio in
Wellington
Wellington ( mi, Te Whanganui-a-Tara or ) is the capital city of New Zealand. It is located at the south-western tip of the North Island, between Cook Strait and the Remutaka Range. Wellington is the second-largest city in New Zealand by me ...
. John and Gillian Cameron were the lead pastors of Arise Church.
Arise Church has since expanded to include campuses in ten physical locations across New Zealand including
Wellington
Wellington ( mi, Te Whanganui-a-Tara or ) is the capital city of New Zealand. It is located at the south-western tip of the North Island, between Cook Strait and the Remutaka Range. Wellington is the second-largest city in New Zealand by me ...
,
Hamilton Hamilton may refer to:
People
* Hamilton (name), a common British surname and occasional given name, usually of Scottish origin, including a list of persons with the surname
** The Duke of Hamilton, the premier peer of Scotland
** Lord Hamilt ...
,
Whangarei,
Kapiti Kapiti or Kāpiti may refer to:
*Kapiti Island, an island a short distance off the New Zealand coast north of Wellington
*Kapiti Coast District, the local government district which includes much of the Kapiti Coast
*Kapiti Coast Airport, an airport ...
,
Palmerston North
Palmerston North (; mi, Te Papa-i-Oea, known colloquially as Palmy) is a city in the North Island of New Zealand and the seat of the Manawatū-Whanganui region. Located in the eastern Manawatu Plains, the city is near the north bank of the ...
,
Christchurch
Christchurch ( ; mi, Ōtautahi) is the largest city in the South Island of New Zealand and the seat of the Canterbury Region. Christchurch lies on the South Island's east coast, just north of Banks Peninsula on Pegasus Bay. The Avon River / ...
,
Selwyn,
Dunedin
Dunedin ( ; mi, Ōtepoti) is the second-largest city in the South Island of New Zealand (after Christchurch), and the principal city of the Otago region. Its name comes from , the Scottish Gaelic name for Edinburgh, the capital of Scotland. Th ...
,
Masterton
Masterton ( mi, Whakaoriori), a large town in the Greater Wellington Region of New Zealand, operates as the seat of the Masterton District (a territorial authority or local-government district). It is the largest town in the Wairarapa, a r ...
,
Porirua
Porirua, ( mi, Pari-ā-Rua) a city in the Wellington Region of the North Island of New Zealand, is one of the four cities that constitute the Wellington metropolitan area. The name 'Porirua' is a corruption of 'Pari-rua', meaning "the tide swee ...
, with services based in the Wellington campus also being streamed online.
According to
Paul Morris, Professor of Religious Studies at
Victoria University, Arise is part of a "religious revival" in New Zealand's youth culture.
Radio New Zealand
Radio New Zealand ( mi, Te Reo Irirangi o Aotearoa), commonly known as Radio NZ or simply RNZ, is a New Zealand public-service radio broadcaster and Crown entity that was established under the Radio New Zealand Act 1995. It operates news and c ...
's youth channel, ''The Wireless,'' compared Arise to Australia's
Hillsong Church
Hillsong Church, commonly known as Hillsong, is a global Evangelical charismatic movement, charismatic Christian megachurch based in Australia.
The original church was established in 1983 as Hills Christian Life Centre, in Baulkham Hills, New ...
,
and other papers have described Arise as having, "a big youth following".
The Church responded to the
2011 Christchurch earthquake
A major earthquake occurred in Christchurch on Tuesday 22 February 2011 at 12:51 p.m. local time (23:51 UTC, 21 February). The () earthquake struck the entire of the Canterbury region in the South Island, centred south-east ...
with immediate shipments of shelf-stable food to the devastated city.
Conferences
Arise Conference began as a camp in Wellington in 2004 and turned into a conference as the size of the church continued to grow.
In 2013 it was announced that from 2014, Arise Conference would take over running the Get Smart Youth Conference from LIFE Church Auckland. From 2014 Arise conference ran as 3 conferences in simultaneously, with a Kids Conference and Get Smart Youth Conference running alongside the Arise Conference. In 2017, Arise Conference was held in 2 venues. In 2019, Arise Conference held a conference in a second city, Christchurch.
Arise Church established two annual conferences, Passionate Women's Conference and Arise Conference. Passionate Women's Conference has close to 2,300 delegates and boasts world-renowned speakers like Lisa Bevere, Leanne Mattesius,
Priscilla Shirer
Priscilla Shirer (born December 31, 1974) is an American author, motivational speaker, actress, and Christian media personality, and evangelist. Her father is Dallas mega-church pastor Tony Evans and her brother is musician Anthony Evans. Retri ...
, and many more. The second is Arise Conference where the whole of Arise Church gathers together once a year to celebrate and encourage the Church of New Zealand as a whole body. Previous Arise Conference speakers include
Craig Groeschel
Craig Groeschel (born December 2, 1967) is the founder and senior pastor of Life.Church, an American evangelical multi-site church with locations in 12 U.S. states.
Early life and education
Groeschel grew up in southern Oklahoma, attending Ar ...
, Chris Hodges (
Church of the Highlands
Church of the Highlands is a non-denominational, Christian multi-site megachurch headquartered in Birmingham, Alabama. It was the largest congregation in Alabama and the second largest church in the United States as of 2018 , with an average o ...
), and
Samuel Rodriguez
Samuel Rodriguez Jr. (born September 29, 1969) is an Evangelical American Christian leader born to Puerto Rican parents in the United States. He is a pastor, movie producer, author, civil rights activist and television personality. He is the pres ...
.
Due to the
COVID-19
Coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) is a contagious disease caused by a virus, the severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2 (SARS-CoV-2). The first known case was COVID-19 pandemic in Hubei, identified in Wuhan, China, in December ...
Pandemic, the decision was made to cancel Arise Conference in 2020, and to revert to a single conference location in Wellington in 2021. Due to the continued unpredictable nature of COVID-19, the 2022 Arise Conference was canceled. In 2023 it was also canceled, this time due to ongoing news surrounding the church. The church put out a statement announcing the cancelation and the desire to focus on strentghing the church before continuing with conferences in the future.
2022 internal problems
Internship exploitation allegations
In mid April 2022, several ex-members alleged that Arise Church used unpaid volunteer labour excessively, that interns were made to pay in order to take part in internships, and students were encouraged to donate portions of their
student loans
A student loan is a type of loan designed to help students pay for post-secondary education and the associated fees, such as tuition, books and supplies, and living expenses. It may differ from other types of loans in the fact that the interest r ...
to the church. In response to these allegations, Pastors John and Brent Cameron temporarily resigned from their pastoral duties and Arise's governing board pending an internal review.
In mid-May 2022, independent journalist
David Farrier
David Farrier (born 25 December 1982) is a New Zealand journalist and actor. He has worked in news and documentary, including features on New Zealand television and co-directing the internationally distributed documentary film ''Tickled'' (2016 ...
and
Radio New Zealand
Radio New Zealand ( mi, Te Reo Irirangi o Aotearoa), commonly known as Radio NZ or simply RNZ, is a New Zealand public-service radio broadcaster and Crown entity that was established under the Radio New Zealand Act 1995. It operates news and c ...
reported that former members had alleged that Brent Cameron bullied interns and had stripped naked in front of one. This behaviour had allegedly occurred during Arise church’s annual tour of other New Zealand churches. It was alleged that this member received a confidential payout to ensure their non-disclosure of Cameron's behaviour. Another former staff member claimed that Pastor John Cameron was more concerned with financial donations than the well-being of church members. In response to the allegations, an independent investigation was commissioned. By 16 May, at least 190 people had contacted the team conducting an internal review of Arise Church.
In late May 2022, Arise Church's board confirmed that Pastors John and Gillian along with Brent had formally resigned from the church's leadership in the wake of the exploitation and bullying allegations. In addition,
Radio New Zealand
Radio New Zealand ( mi, Te Reo Irirangi o Aotearoa), commonly known as Radio NZ or simply RNZ, is a New Zealand public-service radio broadcaster and Crown entity that was established under the Radio New Zealand Act 1995. It operates news and c ...
reported that Arise Church had made confidential payouts to interns who had reported allegations of bullying and inappropriate behaviour by both Brent and John.
Pathfinding report
In mid July 2022, Radio New Zealand reported that the
Employment Relations Authority
The New Zealand Employment Relations Act 2000 (sometimes known by its acronym, ERA) is a statute of the Parliament of New Zealand. It was substantially amended by the Employment Relations (Validation of Union Registration and Other Matters) ...
(ERA) had imposed a temporary non-publication order on an external review of Arise Church conducted by independent consultancy firm Pathfinding. Both former members and Arise Church's leadership board expressed frustration with the delay in the report's release. Several former church members who spoke to Arise Church made allegations about bullying, unpaid labour, and
homophobia
Homophobia encompasses a range of negative attitude (psychology), attitudes and feelings toward homosexuality or people who are identified or perceived as being lesbian, gay or bisexual. It has been defined as contempt, prejudice, aversion, h ...
. ERA indicated that it would review its temporary non-publication order later in the month.
On 16 August 2022, Farrier and Radio New Zealand obtained a leaked copy of Pathfinding's independent review of Arise Church. Pathfinding's report drew upon 545 submissions by former and current members and included allegations about sexual misconduct, racism, homophobia, body shaming, sexism, pastors forcing their political views on members, distrust of medical treatments, bullying, ageism, exploitation of interns, people being forced to work despite injuries, and financial mismanagement. Pathfinding made 92 recommendations including making a genuine apology for the hurt caused to members, reporting illegal activities to the authorities, paying for former members to receive counselling, engaging a restorative justice facilitator, disavowing
conversion therapy
Conversion therapy is the pseudoscientific practice of attempting to change an individual's sexual orientation, gender identity, or gender expression to align with heterosexual and cisgender norms. In contrast to evidence-based medicine and cli ...
, promoting
Māori
Māori or Maori can refer to:
Relating to the Māori people
* Māori people of New Zealand, or members of that group
* Māori language, the language of the Māori people of New Zealand
* Māori culture
* Cook Islanders, the Māori people of the C ...
church leadership, an independent review of the church finances, and replacing the entire leadership board.
Pathfinding review member Reverend
Frank Ritchie attributed the church's problems to centralised power, honour culture, its business practices, performance culture, and so-called "
toxic positivity
Toxic positivity or positive toxicity is dysfunctional emotional management without the full acknowledgment of negative emotions, particularly anger and sadness.
Definition
It is a "pressure to stay upbeat no matter how dire one's circumstance is" ...
."
According to
Stuff
Stuff, stuffed, and stuffing may refer to:
*Physical matter
*General, unspecific things, or entities
Arts, media, and entertainment
Books
*''Stuff'' (1997), a novel by Joseph Connolly (author), Joseph Connolly
*''Stuff'' (2005), a book by Jere ...
and
TVNZ
, type = Crown entity
, industry = Broadcast television
, num_locations = New Zealand
, location = Auckland, New Zealand
, area_served = Nationally (New Zealand) and some Pacific Island nations such as the Cook Islands, Fiji, and the So ...
, former members Arise had attempted to prevent the report's 92 recommendations from being released publicly, leading to ERA's temporary non-publication order on the document in July 2022. The non-publication order meant that Arise was also unable to release the report. However, the order was subsequently rescinded following the report's leakage by Farrier and Radio New Zealand, a teleconference held on 17 August between John and Gillian Cameron and ERA, and pressure from TVNZ. Arise released the report publicly, after this non-publication order was dropped. In a public statement, Arise church claimed that the report was not an "investigative process" but rather a tool to gather information in order to inform changes to church policies and practices.
Arise put together a Review Advisory Committee to process the Pathfinding Report (and similar reports commissioned by the church), to collate findings and make further recommendations. This committee was made of congregation, staff, and board representatives.
Repercussions
On 18 August 2022, the
Department of Internal Affairs
The Department of Internal Affairs (DIA), or in te reo Māori, is the public service department of New Zealand charged with issuing passports; administering applications for citizenship and lottery grants; enforcing censorship and gambling law ...
's Charities Services division commenced an investigation of Arise Church in response to the issues raised by the Pathfinding report.
On 21 August 2022, two board members Kylie Fletcher and Ben Kendrew apologised to those members who had experienced hurt and promised change. Their apology did not mention Pathfinding's recommendations.
In January 2023, the
Ministry of Business, Innovation and Employment
The Ministry of Business, Innovation and Employment (MBIE; mi, Hīkina Whakatutuki) is the public service department of New Zealand charged with "delivering policy, services, advice and regulation" which contribute to New Zealand's economic p ...
(MBIE) issued Arise Church's leadership board with an infringement notice for failing to maintain proper wages, time, holiday, and leave records for migrant employees. By 7 March, seven board members including senior pastor Ben Kendrew, John Robertson, Joseph Bundy-Cooke, Alistair Papali'i-Curtin, Anna Pasikale, Alice Camaivuna and Kylie Fletcher were banned from recruiting migrant workers until 16 July as a result of MBIE's investigation.
In mid February 2023, the
Otago University Students' Association
The Otago University Students' Association (OUSA) is the Students' Association of the University of Otago, New Zealand. OUSA was founded in 1890 to advance student interests on campus.
Today, OUSA provides a combination of representation, welf ...
(OUSA) excluded Arise Church from its Orientation Week's Tent City following allegations of racism, sexual assault, homophobia, and labour exploitation in 2022.
Departure of Auckland campus
In May 2019 it was announced that Arise would be launching its 9th campus, in Auckland, in 2021, where they began preview services as of February 2021.
[
In mid-October 2022, Arise Board and Leadership announced the resignation of Auckland campus pastors Ben Carroll and Anna Carroll and the closure of their church campus. The Carroll's rebranded the church as "Passion - AKL" and launched in 2023.
]
Beliefs and theology
Arise professes to adhere to a form of Christian theology
Christian theology is the theology of Christianity, Christian belief and practice. Such study concentrates primarily upon the texts of the Old Testament and of the New Testament, as well as on Christian tradition. Christian theology, theologian ...
that mostly resembles Pentecostalism
Pentecostalism or classical Pentecostalism is a Protestant Charismatic Christian movement . They make the following affirmations as the fundamental tenets of their faith:
* We believe that the Bible
The Bible (from Koine Greek , , 'the books') is a collection of religious texts or scriptures that are held to be sacred in Christianity, Judaism, Samaritanism, and many other religions. The Bible is an anthologya compilation of texts of a ...
is the inspired Word of God
* We believe in one God, who has revealed Himself in three persons – Father
A father is the male parent of a child. Besides the paternal bonds of a father to his children, the father may have a parental, legal, and social relationship with the child that carries with it certain rights and obligations. An adoptive fathe ...
, Son
A son is a male offspring; a boy or a man in relation to his parents. The female counterpart is a daughter. From a biological perspective, a son constitutes a first degree relative.
Social issues
In pre-industrial societies and some current c ...
and Holy Spirit
In Judaism, the Holy Spirit is the divine force, quality, and influence of God over the Universe or over his creatures. In Nicene Christianity, the Holy Spirit or Holy Ghost is the third person of the Trinity. In Islam, the Holy Spirit acts as ...
* We believe in the virgin birth, sinless life, miraculous ministry, substitutional death of Jesus Christ
Jesus, likely from he, יֵשׁוּעַ, translit=Yēšūaʿ, label=Hebrew/Aramaic ( AD 30 or 33), also referred to as Jesus Christ or Jesus of Nazareth (among other names and titles), was a first-century Jewish preacher and religious ...
, His resurrection
Resurrection or anastasis is the concept of coming back to life after death. In a number of religions, a dying-and-rising god is a deity which dies and is resurrected. Reincarnation is a similar process hypothesized by other religions, which ...
, His ascension into heaven and His second coming
The Second Coming (sometimes called the Second Advent or the Parousia) is a Christian (as well as Islamic and Baha'i) belief that Jesus will return again after his ascension to heaven about two thousand years ago. The idea is based on messi ...
to bring everyone to account for their lives
* We believe in the fall of man
The fall of man, the fall of Adam, or simply the Fall, is a term used in Christianity to describe the transition of the first man and woman from a state of innocent obedience to God in Christianity, God to a state of guilty disobedience.
*
*
*
* ...
and his separation from God through sin
* We believe in salvation
Salvation (from Latin: ''salvatio'', from ''salva'', 'safe, saved') is the state of being saved or protected from harm or a dire situation. In religion and theology, ''salvation'' generally refers to the deliverance of the soul from sin and its c ...
through faith in Christ who died for our sins and was raised for our peace with God and victory in the life He gives. Through His blood we have redemption
* We believe in water baptism
Baptism (from grc-x-koine, βάπτισμα, váptisma) is a form of ritual purification—a characteristic of many religions throughout time and geography. In Christianity, it is a Christian sacrament of initiation and adoption, almost inv ...
* We believe that the baptism in the Holy Spirit
In Christian theology, baptism with the Holy Spirit, also called baptism in the Holy Spirit or baptism in the Holy Ghost, has been interpreted by different Christian denominations and traditions in a variety of ways due to differences in the doctr ...
is an essential part of the Christian
Christians () are people who follow or adhere to Christianity, a monotheistic Abrahamic religion based on the life and teachings of Jesus Christ. The words ''Christ'' and ''Christian'' derive from the Koine Greek title ''Christós'' (Χρι ...
experience, designed to empower for service and witness
* We believe that our primary vision is to become like Jesus in all that we think, say and do
* We believe that deliverance from the devil's authority, selfish habits and oppression is provided through the death and resurrection of Jesus Christ
* We believe in both heaven
Heaven or the heavens, is a common religious cosmological or transcendent supernatural place where beings such as deities, angels, souls, saints, or venerated ancestors are said to originate, be enthroned, or reside. According to the belie ...
and hell
In religion and folklore, hell is a location in the afterlife in which evil souls are subjected to punitive suffering, most often through torture, as eternal punishment after death. Religions with a linear divine history often depict hell ...
and that faith in the good news of Christ makes all of the difference
Activities and views
Arise Wellington now holds services every weekend in the largest indoor venues in the city, worshipping in the Michael Fowler Centre
The Michael Fowler Centre is a concert hall and convention centre in Wellington, New Zealand. It was constructed on reclaimed land next to Civic Square, and is the pre-eminent concert site in central Wellington.
Commissioned in 1975, building be ...
, TSB Bank Arena
The TSB Bank Arena (formerly known as the Queens Wharf Events Centre) is an indoor arena in Wellington.
About
The arena hosts mainly basketball games and is the home arena for the Century City Saints and part-time home arena of the New Zealand ...
, and the St. James Theatre with close to 7,000 people meeting across 4 services in the Wellington Region it is the largest in Wellington.
Arise Centre
The Arise Centre is a multi-purpose auditorium and function venue built by Arise Church with a 1,200-seat purpose-built auditorium, 500 square metre foyer and café, 400 square metres of auxiliary rooms and 1,200 square metres of office space on level 2.
In 2015, the Church entered the permitting process for construction for the Petone
Petone (Māori: ''Pito-one''), a large suburb of Lower Hutt, Wellington, stands at the southern end of the Hutt Valley, on the northern shore of Wellington Harbour. The Māori name means "end of the sand beach".
Europeans first settled in Pe ...
building, which includes both worship and office space.
Pathway and values
In 2017 Arise Church ventured into a new way of discipleship for current and new members of the church, which was revised in 2020. This entails a 3-week (previously 4-week) pathway program where attendees go through a process of understanding more about the faith, about their role in God's plan and advancing God's church. These four weeks are listed below and they begin on the second Sunday of every month, with the first Sunday holding a Welcome Party for new members to meet local campus leaders.
* Know God - Know Life: discovering who God is and what it takes to become a part of the journey of faith in Jesus, living life as a Christian, sharing faith, and living with the hope of Jesus.
* Discover purpose: discovering one's spiritual gifts and becoming a part of the community of Arise with one's giftings.
* Make a difference: connection into the life of Arise Church and developing community through servanthood and establishing the values of the A-Team in one's life.
Evangelism in schools
Arise Church has been accused of various attempts to engage in preaching in public schools, which some argue contravenes legislation which states that teaching in New Zealand schools must be secular during school hours. A former member of the Arise Church, Josh Barley has raised concerns about some of the methods they use, particularly in targeting youth, as well as their ideology. His observations are detailed in his blog.
Conversion therapy
In August 2021, Arise advocated for a proposed ban on conversion therapy
Conversion therapy is the pseudoscientific practice of attempting to change an individual's sexual orientation, gender identity, or gender expression to align with heterosexual and cisgender norms. In contrast to evidence-based medicine and cli ...
in New Zealand but with amendments, alleging that it criminalised parents, counsellors and pastors seeking to help children and young people dealing with sexuality or gender issues.
In September 2021, an article came out accusing Arise of misinterpreting the Bill and causing confusion.
References
External links
Arise Church official website
{{Megachurches
Christian organizations established in 2002
Pentecostal churches in New Zealand
Pentecostal denominations in Oceania
Organisations based in Wellington
Christian denominations in New Zealand