The International Network of Churches (INC), formerly Christian Outreach Centre (COC), is an Australian network of

Pentecostal Pentecostalism or classical Pentecostalism is a Protestant Charismatic Christian movement

Queensland ) , nickname = Sunshine State , image_map = Queensland in Australia.svg , map_caption = Location of Queensland in Australia , subdivision_type = Country , subdivision_name = Australia , established_title = Before federation , establishe ...

. It was established in 1974 what is now

Citipointe Church Citipointe Church, formerly Christian Outreach Centre Mansfield, is a Pentecostal Christian church founded in 1974. It is the founding church of the Christian Outreach Centre network, now known as the International Network of Churches. The foun ...

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 ...

. It is committed to biblical

Christianity Christianity is an Abrahamic monotheistic religion based on the life and teachings of Jesus of Nazareth. It is the world's largest and most widespread religion with roughly 2.38 billion followers representing one-third of the global pop ...

, with both the

Apostles' Creed The Apostles' Creed (Latin: ''Symbolum Apostolorum'' or ''Symbolum Apostolicum''), sometimes titled the Apostolic Creed or the Symbol of the Apostles, is a Christian creed or "symbol of faith". The creed most likely originated in 5th-century ...

and Nicene Creed as its foundational beliefs.

Background

Clark Taylor was born in Queensland in 1937 and became a farmer with little formal education. After attending a

Billy Graham William Franklin Graham Jr. (November 7, 1918 – February 21, 2018) was an American evangelist and an ordained Southern Baptist minister who became well known internationally in the late 1940s. He was a prominent evangelical Christi ...

Crusade in Brisbane in 1959, he was " born again", and in 1961 started training in

Methodism Methodism, also called the Methodist movement, is a group of historically related denominations of Protestant Christianity whose origins, doctrine and practice derive from the life and teachings of John Wesley. George Whitefield and John's br ...

. He contracted

cerebral malaria Malaria is a Mosquito-borne disease, mosquito-borne infectious disease that affects humans and other animals. Malaria causes Signs and symptoms, symptoms that typically include fever, fatigue (medical), tiredness, vomiting, and headaches. In se ...

in 1963, but believed himself to be miraculously healed by

God In monotheistic thought, God is usually viewed as the supreme being, creator, and principal object of faith. Swinburne, R.G. "God" in Honderich, Ted. (ed)''The Oxford Companion to Philosophy'', Oxford University Press, 1995. God is typically ...

in 1967, and during a service at

Oxley Oxley may refer to: Places Australia Australian Capital Territory * Oxley, Australian Capital Territory is a suburb of Canberra, Australia Queensland *Oxley, Queensland is a suburb of Brisbane, Australia ** Oxley railway station, Brisba ...

Methodist Church in Brisbane thought he received a message from God telling him to obey

James 5 James 5 is the fifth (and last) chapter of the Epistle of James in the New Testament of the Christian Bible. The author identifies himself as "James, a servant of God and of the Lord Jesus Christ" and the epistle is traditionally attributed to ...

. Later that year he received

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 ...

on the prayers of an

Assembly of God The Assemblies of God (AG), officially the World Assemblies of God Fellowship, is a group of over 144 autonomous self-governing national groupings of churches that together form the world's largest Pentecostal denomination."Assemblies of God". ...

pastor. In January 1968, he became an assistant minister, in charge of St. Paul's Church at

Upper Mount Gravatt Upper Mount Gravatt is a southern suburb in the City of Brisbane, Queensland, Australia. In the , Upper Mount Gravatt had a population of 9,241 people. Geography Upper Mount Gravatt is south of Mount Gravatt. It has increasingly become an im ...

, and undertook various other duties until his resignation from the Methodist ministry in early 1970. After a stint with another pastor, Trevor Chandler (who had assisted

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 ...

in New Zealand and moved to Brisbane in 1972),PDF
/ref> at the Windsor Full Gospel Church, both pastors left to start

Christian Life Centre Christian Life Centre (commonly abbreviated to CLC) is or was a name given to a number of Pentecostal churches in Australia, many of them affiliated with the Australian Christian Churches (formerly Assemblies of God, or AOG) network. ''Hills Chris ...

Brisbane 1972. At the end of 1972, Taylor resigned from CLC (which later grew into a

megachurch 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 ...

) and spent 18 months in travelling ministry.

History

Christian Outreach Centre was founded in 1974 in Brisbane by Pastor Clark Taylor. After 26 people had met in the Taylors’ home on 16 June, the following Sunday, 126 people took holy communion in a rented building, and in October that year the group purchased a Salvation Army property in the southern Brisbane suburb of

Woolloongabba Woolloongabba is a suburb in the City of Brisbane, Queensland, Australia. In the , Woolloongabba had a population of 5,631 people. Geography Woolloongabba is located south of the CBD. It contains the Brisbane Cricket Ground ('the Gabba') and t ...

. Three years later, COC had around 1,000 members and further churches were established across Queensland. In 1978, the organisation became involved in education, and established three schools, in Brisbane (now

Citipointe Christian College Citipointe Christian College, previously known as Christian Outreach College Brisbane (COCB), is a K-12 Christian independent day school located in Carindale, Queensland, Australia. It is allied to the Evangelical founding church of the Christi ...

Toowoomba Toowoomba ( , nicknamed 'The Garden City' and 'T-Bar') is a city in the Toowoomba Region of the Darling Downs, Queensland, Australia. It is west of Queensland's capital city Brisbane by road. The urban population of Toowoomba as of the 2021 ...

(now Highlands Christian College), and

Nambour Nambour is a rural town and locality in the Sunshine Coast Region, Queensland, Australia. In the , the locality of Nambour had a population of 11,187 people. Geography Nambour is north of the state capital, Brisbane. The town lies in the sub ...

(Christian Outreach College (Sunshine Coast), later

Suncoast Christian College Suncoast Christian College, founded as the Suncoast Christian Academy in 1979 and known for some years as Suncoast Christian Outreach College, is a co-educational K–12 college located in Woombye, Sunshine Coast, Queensland. History Suncoa ...

, situated at the nearby town of

Woombye Woombye is a town and locality in the Sunshine Coast Region, Queensland, Australia. In the , Woombye had a population of 3,246 people. Geography Woombye is located on the Sunshine Coast hinterland in Queensland, Australia, approximately no ...

). In 1980, Victory College in Gympie was founded. It is Gympie’s leading P-12 Co-educational Christian School, with over 700 students. Christian Heritage College, a

tertiary college In England and Wales, a tertiary college is a type of further education (FE) college that offers both academic and vocational courses to both youngsters and adults, combining the main functions of an FE college and a sixth form college. Unlike a si ...

, was later created as a

teachers' college A normal school or normal college is an institution created to train teachers by educating them in the norms of pedagogy and curriculum. In the 19th century in the United States, instruction in normal schools was at the high school level, turni ...

in Brisbane in 1986. It has since expanded into five fields – Business, Education, Liberal Arts/Humanities, Social Sciences and Ministries. By 1988 the movement had grown within Australia and spread to New Zealand and

Solomon Islands Solomon Islands is an island country consisting of six major islands and over 900 smaller islands in Oceania, to the east of Papua New Guinea and north-west of Vanuatu. It has a land area of , and a population of approx. 700,000. Its capit ...

. In 2009, Pastor Ashley Schmierer, based in Brighton, England, was elected as International President.

Business names and status

Its registration as an incorporated charitable institution starts in 2000 as Christian Outreach Centre Mansfield and goes through a number of changes of name, with its business name registered as Christian Outreach Centre . Its status as a

charitable institution A charitable organization or charity is an organization whose primary objectives are philanthropy and social well-being (e.g. educational, religious or other activities serving the public interest or common good). The legal definition of a ch ...

, since December 2012, is based on two purposes: "Advancing religion", and "Purposes beneficial to the general public that may reasonably be regarded as analogous to, or within the spirit of, any of the other charitable purposes". In the financial year ending June 2021, it obtained around half of its total gross income (nearly ) from donations and bequests, and nearly 20 per cent (over ) from government grants. It has a large number of business and trading names, relating to its many schools, churches, charities and various businesses.

Footnotes

References

External links

* {{authority control Evangelical parachurch organizations Christian organizations established in 1974 Christian movements Pentecostal churches in Australia 1974 establishments in Australia Pentecostal denominations established in the 20th century