Christian Life Centre (commonly abbreviated to CLC) is or was a name given to a number of
, many of them affiliated with the
Australian Christian Churches
The Australian Christian Churches (ACC), formerly Assemblies of God in Australia, is a network of Pentecostal churches in Australia affiliated with the World Assemblies of God Fellowship, which is the largest Pentecostal denomination in the w ...
(formerly Assemblies of God, or AOG) network. ''Hills Christian Life Centre'', which has since changed its name to
Hillsong Church, was one of these, and spawned other churches in Australia and around the globe.
Australia
Queensland
Christian Life Centre Brisbane was founded in
Brisbane
Brisbane ( ) is the capital and most populous city of the Australian state of Queensland, and the third-most populous city in Australia and Oceania, with a population of approximately 2.6 million. Brisbane lies at the centre of the South ...
in 1972 by
Trevor Chandler and
Clark Taylor. The latter left at the end of the year,
but this CLC grew into one of the first
mega church
A megachurch is a church with an unusually large membership that also offers a variety of educational and social activities, usually Protestant or Evangelical. The Hartford Institute for Religion Research defines a megachurch as any Protestant C ...
es in Brisbane under Chandler, and later into a national and international organisation.
[ Chandler later rejected the teachings of the earlier ]Pentacostal
Pentecostalism or classical Pentecostalism is a Protestant Charismatic Christian movement ist movements, and in 2000 Brian Andrew took over as leader. However he fell out with the CLC International denomination, and the Brisbane CLC flagship mother church left that movement and joined the AOG network, which was larger. In 2007, the church merged with Metro Church Brisbane, under Paul Geerling, and from that point the CLC movement slowed its growth.[ (Metro Church Brisbane changed its name to iSEE Church in April 2012, and is still run by Geerling and his wife Jo. It has six locations in Australia as well as one each in ]Mumbai
Mumbai (, ; also known as Bombay — List of renamed Indian cities and states#Maharashtra, the official name until 1995) is the capital city of the Indian States and union territories of India, state of Maharashtra and the ''de facto'' fin ...
and Hong Kong
Hong Kong ( (US) or (UK); , ), officially the Hong Kong Special Administrative Region of the People's Republic of China (abbr. Hong Kong SAR or HKSAR), is a city and special administrative region of China on the eastern Pearl River Delta i ...
.)
New South Wales
Hillsong origins
The Sydney Christian Life Centre, described by scholar Sam Hey as "a neo-Pentecostal megachurch", was founded in 1977[ by New Zealander ]Frank Houston
William Francis "Frank" Houston (22 April 1922 – 8 November 2004) was a Pentecostal Christian pastor in the Assemblies of God in New Zealand and Australia. Frank Houston founded Sydney Christian Life Centre, which would eventually come under ...
,[PDF]
/ref> "considered the father of Sydney's Pentecostal churches". He built the church at 188 Young St, Waterloo. The church joined AOG in the 1980s,[PDF]
/ref> and over time Houston became the most senior AOG person in New South Wales
)
, nickname =
, image_map = New South Wales in Australia.svg
, map_caption = Location of New South Wales in AustraliaCoordinates:
, subdivision_type = Country
, subdivision_name = Australia
, established_title = Before federation
, es ...
.[ In his later life he faced multiple allegations of ]child sexual abuse
Child sexual abuse (CSA), also called child molestation, is a form of child abuse in which an adult or older adolescent uses a child for sexual stimulation. Forms of child sexual abuse include engaging in sexual activities with a child (whet ...
. The Sydney CLC founded a college under David Johnston in 1983, located at Arncliffe and known as the International Institute for Creative Ministries (IICM); however, in 1989 Johnston parted ways with the IICM and founded the Wesleyan college which became Wesley Institute
Excelsia College, formerly Wesley Institute, is a tertiary education provider in Sydney, Australia, offering undergraduate and postgraduate degrees in counselling, creative and performing arts, education, social work and business.
History
The ...
, today Excelsia College.
The Hills Christian Life Centre
Hillsong Church, commonly known as Hillsong, is a global charismatic Christian megachurch based in Australia.
The original church was established in 1983 as Hills Christian Life Centre, in Baulkham Hills, New South Wales, by Brian Houston and ...
, was founded by Houston's son, Brian Houston
Brian Charles Houston ( ; born 17 February 1954) is a New Zealand-Australian former pastor and evangelist. He was the founder and senior pastor at Hillsong Church, based in Sydney with locations around the world. He was the national president ...
, and his wife Bobbie, at Baulkham Hills
Baulkham Hills is a suburb in the Hills District of Greater Sydney, in the state of New South Wales, Australia. It is 30 kilometres north-west of the Sydney central business district within the local government area of The Hills Shire. Ba ...
, New South Wales, in 1983, as an AOG church.[ (Websit]
here
Frank Houston's Waterloo church merged with the Hills CLC in May 1999,[ after he had been exposed as a ]paedophile
Pedophilia ( alternatively spelt paedophilia) is a psychiatric disorder in which an adult or older adolescent experiences a primary or exclusive sexual attraction to prepubescent children. Although girls typically begin the process of puberty a ...
,[ and the church was renamed Hillsong Church in 2001.][ the city church is called the "Sydney Waterloo" or "Sydney City Campus" of Hillsong Church. The college which had, after the 1989 split, moved back to the Sydney CLC church, eventually grew into ]Hillsong College
Hillsong Church, commonly known as Hillsong, is a global charismatic Christian megachurch based in Australia.
The original church was established in 1983 as Hills Christian Life Centre, in Baulkham Hills, New South Wales, by Brian Houston and ...
, which initially had two Sydney campuses. Hillsong College
Hillsong Church, commonly known as Hillsong, is a global charismatic Christian megachurch based in Australia.
The original church was established in 1983 as Hills Christian Life Centre, in Baulkham Hills, New South Wales, by Brian Houston and ...
retains the official trading name of Sydney Christian Life Centre Pty Ltd.
Others
The Liverpool Christian Life Centre was founded by John and Carol McMartin in 1982, and renamed Inspire Church
Inspire Church, founded as Liverpool Christian Life Centre, is a Pentecostal Christian church affiliated with Australian Christian Churches, the Assemblies of God in Australia. It is located in Hoxton Park, in the City of Liverpool, in the Gr ...
in 2010.
In late 2020 John McMartin stepped down from his role, which was taken up by his son, after being charged with sexual assault of a 19-year-old woman at his home, to which he has pleaded not guilty.
Others include:
* Christian Life Centre, Mona Vale, New South Wales
Mona Vale is a suburb of Sydney, in the state of New South Wales, Australia. It is located 28 kilometres north of the Sydney central business district, in an area known as the Northern Beaches. Formerly the administrative centre of Pittwater Cou ...
In other countries
* Christian Life Centre Auckland
Auckland (pronounced ) ( mi, Tāmaki Makaurau) is a large metropolitan city in the North Island of New Zealand. The most populous urban area in the country and the fifth largest city in Oceania, Auckland has an urban population of about ...
, New Zealand
* Christian Life Centre Oxford, founded in 1996 by Pastor Grady Reid, still pastor, with his wife Cindy
* The London Christian Life Centre
Hillsong Church UK is a charismatic Christian Non-denominational megachurch in the United Kingdom which is a part of Hillsong Church global. Hillsong London, founded as London Christian Life Centre, was the first church planted in the UK by the ...
was planted by Hillsong Church pastors Gerard and Sue Keehan in 1992, becoming Hillsong Church London in 2000, and spawning 11 other branches in the UK, run out of rented premises.
* Kiev Christian Life Centre, now Hillsong Church Kiev
Hillsong Kiev, also known as Hillsong Church Kiev or Hillsong Church Kyiv (formerly Kiev Christian Life Centre) is an offshoot of Hillsong Church in Sydney, Australia, based in Kyiv, Ukraine.
History
Hills Christian Life Centre was founded by ...
CLC today
As of 2010 CLC International had 27 churches in its CLC denomination in Australia, and around 2005 churches overseas, and was being led by Phillip Mutzelburg in Brassal, Queensland.[
]
See also
*Christian Outreach Centre
The International Network of Churches (INC), formerly Christian Outreach Centre (COC), is an Australian network of Pentecostal churches, most of them based in Queensland. It was established in 1974 what is now Citipointe Church in Brisbane. It is ...
, former name of the International Network of Churches, including the Citipointe group
References
{{reflist
Australian Christian Churches