Trinity Church (formerly Peniel Pentecostal Church) is a church in

Pilgrims Hatch Pilgrims Hatch is a residential suburb of Brentwood, Essex, in the east of England. There is a borough council ward bearing the name 'Pilgrims Hatch' which covers the Bishops Hall and Flower estates (the urban area north of the A12 road) and a s ...

in England. The church was founded by Michael Reid, who served as pastor of the church until stepping down in 2008, following various controversies. It is currently led by its former assistant pastor, Peter Linnecar.

Doctrine

Peniel Church described itself as an independent Pentecostal Christian church. Over the years, it aligned itself with and subsequently distanced itself from a number of Christian organisations, including the Assemblies of God and the International Communion of Charismatic Churches (ICCC). For a time the church was a member of the

Evangelical Alliance The Evangelical Alliance (EA) is a national evangelical alliance, member of the World Evangelical Alliance. Founded in 1846, the activities of the Evangelical Alliance aim to promote evangelical Christian beliefs in government, media and socie ...

(EA), but disputes between the EA and the leadership of the church resulted in the church leaving the EA. Under the new leadership, it has now been welcomed back into the EA. Due to the patriarchal values of the church, women in the Peniel Church were obliged to dress in clothes that were seen as 'feminine', such as dresses and skirts.

Leadership

The church's founder, Michael Reid, is a former Metropolitan police officer and insurance salesman, and was made a bishop by the International Communion of Charismatic Churches in Benin City,

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in 1995. The Rev Peter Linnecar, Reid's senior pastor, and long-time business partner for more than 25 years, took over Mr Reid's responsibilities at the church during 2008. A group of eight lay-people act as the leadership team, while a further group of trustees has legal responsibility for the church's charitable status.

Controversy

Controversy has surrounded Reid for many years and both he and Peniel Pentecostal Church have been the subject of many critical media articles. In 2001, the church received national publicity when

Martin Bell Martin Bell, (born 31 August 1938) is a British UNICEF (UNICEF UK) Ambassador, a former broadcast war reporter and former independent politician who became the Member of Parliament (MP) for Tatton from 1997 to 2001. He is sometimes known as " ...

stood for Parliament for Brentwood and Ongar constituency following allegations that the church were attempting to infiltrate the local

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. The allegations were investigated by

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who reported that they saw no evidence of

entryism Entryism (also called entrism, enterism, or infiltration) is a political strategy in which an organisation or state encourages its members or supporters to join another, usually larger, organization in an attempt to expand influence and expand the ...

."The oracle of Essex"
''The Guardian'', 15 November 2000 Some former church members have claimed the church is a cult, and relate experiences of poor treatment prior to and on their departure from the organisation. In 2004, all the other churches in the Brentwood and District Evangelical Fellowship (BADEF) resigned in protest against Peniel, leaving it as the only member. The church is no longer a member of the

, having left the group following controversial circumstances in 2005. In February 2008 the Advertising Standards Authority upheld a complaint that a mobile advertisement for Christian Congress of Traditional Values (CCTV), an organisation with ties to Peniel Pentecostal Church, was "likely to cause serious or widespread offence or condone anti-social behaviour". The advertisement bore the slogan "Gay aim: abolish the family", implying that

gay ''Gay'' is a term that primarily refers to a homosexual person or the trait of being homosexual. The term originally meant 'carefree', 'cheerful', or 'bright and showy'. While scant usage referring to male homosexuality dates to the late 1 ...

people were against the institution of the family and family values. Peniel Church had more lately been publicised as 'Michael Reid Ministries', although the church retained the Peniel name for its college, school and choir. The college was closed in 2009.

Crisis

The church was temporarily thrown into crisis when it came to light that Reid had been having an affair with a member of the choir. On 5 April 2008, Michael Reid tendered his resignation from the church board and stepped down from pastoral duties. At an industrial tribunal where Reid was claiming unfair dismissal it emerged that there was a second woman who also claimed to have had a relationship of "many years" with Reid, which involved a "possible abuse of his position. Following these events, CCTV disbanded in August 2008, and Global Gospel Fellowship (GGF) appears to have likewise folded. Reid was arrested on 27 August 2009 on suspicion of historical rape.Metro newspaper article about Reid's arrest
/ref> Further to the exposure of the affair, stories of emotional bullying and manipulation by Reid began to emerge from many members of the congregation. The church appeared to have weathered the storm caused by Reid's extra-marital affairs, but trouble flared up again in 2009 when head pastor Peter Linnecar's appointment of assistant pastors caused controversy and disagreement amongst a large section of the congregation. Approximately 300 people left the church as a result. The church subsequently stated that it is now thriving under the new leadership. The church is now called Trinity Church.

References

External links