Planetshakers Church is an

evangelical Christian Evangelicalism (), also called evangelical Christianity or evangelical Protestantism, is a worldwide interdenominational movement within Protestant Christianity that affirms the centrality of being " born again", in which an individual exper ...

Pentecostal

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 ...

adult and youth movement based in

Melbourne Melbourne ( ; Boonwurrung/Woiwurrung: ''Narrm'' or ''Naarm'') is the capital and most populous city of the Australian state of Victoria, and the second-most populous city in both Australia and Oceania. Its name generally refers to a met ...

, Australia, with several church campuses around the world. The church is also known for its

contemporary worship music Contemporary worship music (CWM), also known as praise and worship music, is a defined genre of Christian music used in contemporary worship. It has developed over the past 60 years and is stylistically similar to pop music. The songs are fr ...

, with its bands

Planetshakers Planetshakers is a contemporary worship music band, a central part of Planetshakers Church in Melbourne, Australia. With over 30 albums, the band toured annually to the US, UK, Europe, South Africa, Asia, South America, Australia and New Zealan ...

and

Planetboom Planetboom or Boom is the contemporary worship music band, youth ministry of Planetshakers Church in Melbourne, Australia. They have released their first album, ''Jesus Over Everything'', on 22 March 2019 by Venture3Media. History Youth minist ...

, and its record label Planetshakers Ministries International, whose songs have been translated and reinterpreted in many evangelical churches of the world.

History

The church was formed as an Australian Christian Conference and band in 1997 from within Paradise Community Church, now known as

Influencers Church Influencers Church, formerly Paradise Community Church, is a Pentecostal church affiliated to the Assemblies of God, with congregations in the state of South Australia, Australia, and in the southern United States. It was founded in Adelaide in ...

, in

Adelaide Adelaide ( ) is the capital city of South Australia, the state's largest city and the fifth-most populous city in Australia. "Adelaide" may refer to either Greater Adelaide (including the Adelaide Hills) or the Adelaide city centre. The dem ...

South Australia South Australia (commonly abbreviated as SA) is a state in the southern central part of Australia. It covers some of the most arid parts of the country. With a total land area of , it is the fourth-largest of Australia's states and territories ...

. The church started when the band and ministry moved to Melbourne in 2004, and was then called Melbourne City Church.

Description

Planetshakers Church is an evangelical

Pentacostal Pentecostalism or classical Pentecostalism is a Protestant Charismatic Christian movement

Church affiliated with

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 ...

(

Assemblies 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". ...

), and one of the fastest-growing churches in Australia. It has multiple church campuses in Melbourne and others around the world, including in

Cape Town Cape Town ( af, Kaapstad; , xh, iKapa) is one of South Africa's three capital cities, serving as the seat of the Parliament of South Africa. It is the legislative capital of the country, the oldest city in the country, and the second largest ...

, South Africa; and

Singapore Singapore (), officially the Republic of Singapore, is a sovereign island country and city-state in maritime Southeast Asia. It lies about one degree of latitude () north of the equator, off the southern tip of the Malay Peninsula, borde ...

. with campuses being planted in Sydney and Papua New Guinea in 2022. the main Melbourne church's senior pastors are Russell and Samantha Evans, and they have more than 21,000 members. Russell Evans is the son of longtime pastor Andrew Evans.

Ministry branches

Planetshakers band

Created as part of the first Planetshakers conference,

is a

band with over 30 internationally acclaimed albums.

Planetboom

Planetboom is the youth ministry branch of Planetshakers Church, primarily targeting high school students, ministering to teenagers via channels like school programs, youth camps and Friday meetups. They created

band and released first four singles in 2018. In the 2019 they released their first album entitled '' Jesus Over Everything''.

Michael Guglielmucci cancer scandal

It was reported in 2008 that Michael Guglielmucci,

pastor A pastor (abbreviated as "Pr" or "Ptr" , or "Ps" ) is the leader of a Christian congregation who also gives advice and counsel to people from the community or congregation. In Lutheranism, Catholicism, Eastern Orthodoxy, Oriental Orthodoxy and ...

of the church and former bass player in the Planetshakers band, had fraudulently claimed he was dying of cancer. He wrote "Healer", a song of encouragement for believers who were suffering from cancer, for the album ''Saviour of the World'', which was released in June 2007. Guglielmucci performed the song regularly over a two-year period, often with an oxygen tube attached to his nose, and during this time received money from supporters who believed his illness was real. Guglielmucci later explained his actions as being a result of a long-term

pornography addiction Pornography addiction is the controversial application of an addiction model to the use of pornography. Pornography may be part of compulsive sexual behavior with negative consequences to one's physical, mental, social, or financial well-being. W ...

. The track had also been added to the Hillsong album ''

This Is Our God ''This Is Our God'' is the seventeenth album in the live praise and worship series of contemporary worship music by Hillsong Church. It was recorded live at the Acer Arena on 9 March 2008 by Reuben Morgan, Joel Houston, Darlene Zschech, and t ...

'', but later removed from the album. Representatives of churches with which Guglielmucci had affiliations told the press they were totally unaware of this situation. In an email sent to Hillsong members, the church's general manager, George Aghajanian, said the news was even a shock to Guglielmucci's own family and that the suspended pastor was seeking professional help. Guglielmucci was stripped of all credentials by the

, who promised that all money donated by listeners inspired by the song would be returned or donated to charity and Guglielmucci's bank accounts would be audited to determine the amount of funds raised. Michael is the son of Danny Guglielmucci, co-founder of Edge Church International, located in the southern Adelaide suburb of

Reynella Reynella is a metropolitan suburb of Adelaide, South Australia. It is located 20 km south of the Central Business District of Adelaide in the north of the City of Onkaparinga. It is bordered to the east by Main South Road, to the south ...

, also a Pentecostal church and a member of the

(formerly Assemblies of God in Australia) network.

References

External links

* {{Coord, -37.8293277, 144.9553196, region:AU_type:landmark, display=title Planetshakers Church Evangelical megachurches in Australia Australian Christian Churches Pentecostal churches in Melbourne Christian organizations established in 1997