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. [1] It is committed to biblical Christianity, with both the Apostles' Creed and Nicene Creed as its foundational beliefs. [2]
Clark Taylor was born in Queensland in 1937 and became a farmer with little formal education. After attending a Billy Graham Crusade in Brisbane in 1959, he was "born again", and in 1961 started training in Methodism. He contracted cerebral malaria in 1963, but believed himself to be miraculously healed by God in 1967, and during a service at Oxley Methodist Church in Brisbane thought he received a message from God telling him to obey James 5. Later that year he received baptism in the Holy Spirit on the prayers of an Assembly of God pastor. In January 1968, he became an assistant minister, in charge of St. Paul's Church at Upper Mount Gravatt, and undertook various other duties until his resignation from the Methodist ministry in early 1970. [3]
After a stint with another pastor, [3] Trevor Chandler (who had assisted Frank Houston [lower-alpha 1] in New Zealand and moved to Brisbane in 1972), [4] at the Windsor Full Gospel Church, both pastors left to start Christian Life Centre Brisbane 1972. [3] At the end of 1972, Taylor resigned from CLC (which later grew into a megachurch [lower-alpha 2] ) and spent 18 months in travelling ministry. [3]
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. [3] Three years later, COC had around 1,000 members and further churches were established across Queensland. [1]
In 1978, the organisation became involved in education, and established three schools, in Brisbane (now Citipointe Christian College), Toowoomba (now Highlands Christian College), and Nambour (Christian Outreach College (Sunshine Coast), later Suncoast Christian College, situated at the nearby town of Woombye [8] ). In 1980, Victory College in Gympie was founded. It is Gympie's leading P-12 Co-educational Christian School, with over 700 students. [9] Christian Heritage College, a tertiary college, was later created as a teachers' college in Brisbane in 1986. It has since expanded into five fields – Business, Education, Liberal Arts/Humanities, Social Sciences and Ministries. [10]
By 1988 the movement had grown within Australia and spread to New Zealand and Solomon Islands. In 2009, Pastor Ashley Schmierer, based in Brighton, England, was elected as International President. [1]
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 as of 2022 [update] . [11] Its status as a charitable institution, 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". [12] In the financial year ending June 2021, it obtained around half of its total gross income (nearly A$27m) from donations and bequests, and nearly 20 per cent (over A$10m) from government grants. [13] It has a large number of business and trading names, relating to its many schools, churches, charities and various businesses. [11]
A megachurch is a church with a very large membership that also offers a variety of educational and social activities. Most megachurches are Protestant, and particularly Evangelical, although the word denotes a type of organization, not a denomination. The Hartford Institute for Religion Research defines a megachurch as any Protestant Christian church that draws 2,000 or more people in a weekend.
Mansfield is a suburb in the City of Brisbane, Queensland, Australia. In the 2021 census, Mansfield had a population of 8,851 people.
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 Sydney-based church, in 1992.
Kedron is a northern suburb in the City of Brisbane, Queensland, Australia. It is home to the Queensland Fire and Emergency Services headquarters. In the 2021 census, Kedron had a population of 9,907 people.
Hillsong Brisbane Campus is an interstate campus of Sydney based Hillsong Church, a Pentecostal Christian church in Australia.
Hillsong Church, commonly known as Hillsong, is a charismatic Christian megachurch and a Christian association of churches based in Australia. The original church was established in Baulkham Hills, New South Wales, as Hills Christian Life Centre by Brian Houston and his wife, Bobbie Houston, in 1983. Hillsong was a member of the Australian Christian Churches – the Australian branch of the US-based Assemblies of God – until 2018, when it separated to form a new denomination. The church is known for its contemporary worship music, with groups such as Hillsong Worship, Hillsong United and Hillsong Young & Free with many musical credits and hits and a series of scandals and criticisms.
The Australian Christian Churches (ACC), formerly Assemblies of God in Australia, is a network of Finished Work Pentecostal churches in Australia affiliated with the World Assemblies of God Fellowship, which is the largest Pentecostal denomination in the world.
Woombye is a rural town and locality in the Sunshine Coast Region, Queensland, Australia. In the 2021 census, the locality of Woombye had a population of 3,944 people.
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 founding campus is located in the Brisbane suburb of Carindale, Queensland, in Australia. The church has multiple locations in south-east Queensland, as well as in New Zealand, Bulgaria and the US.
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 Greater Western Sydney region, Australia.
Christian Life Centre is or was a name given to a number of Pentecostal churches in Australia, many of them affiliated with the Australian Christian Churches 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.
Araluen is a residential locality in Gympie in the Gympie Region, Queensland, Australia. In the 2021 census, Araluen had a population of 649 people.
Southside is a semi-rural locality in the Gympie Region, Queensland, Australia. In the 2021 census, Southside had a population of 6,312 people.
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 Christian Outreach Movement, Citipointe Church.
Australian schools which were formerly referred to as Christian Outreach College (COC) through their affiliation with the Christian Outreach Centre, include:
Highlands Christian College, formerly Christian Outreach College Toowoomba, is an independent, non-denominational Christian, co-educational, P-12, school, located in Kearneys Spring, Toowoomba, in Queensland, Australia. It is administered by Independent Schools Queensland, with an enrolment of 661 students and a teaching staff of 53, as of 2023. The school serves students from Prep to Year 12, but are divided into Primary and Secondary.
AIR Church, formerly Metro Church, located on the Gold Coast, Queensland, Australia, is a Pentecostal church affiliated with Australian Christian Churches.
Pentecostalism in Australia is a large and growing Christian movement. Pentecostalism is a renewal movement within Protestant Christianity that places special emphasis on a direct personal experience of God through baptism with the Holy Spirit. It emerged from 19th century precursors between 1870 and 1910, taking denominational form from c. 1927. From the early 1930s, Pentecostal denominations multiplied, and there are now several dozen, the largest of which relate to one another through conferences and organisations such as the Australian Pentecostal Ministers Fellowship. The Australian Christian Churches, formerly known as the Australian Assemblies of God, is the oldest and longest lasting Pentecostal organisation in Australia. The AOG/ACC is also the largest Pentecostal organisation in Australia with over 300,000 members in 2018. Until 2018, Hillsong Church was one of 10 megachurches in Australia associated with the ACC that have at least 2,000 members weekly. According to the church, over 100,000 people attend services each week at the church or one of its 80 affiliated churches located worldwide.
Christian Heritage College (CHC) is a Christian higher education provider based in the Brisbane suburb of Carindale in Australia. It is governed by the Christian Heritage College Council, which is appointed by the National Executive of the International Network of Churches (INC), the parent company of the 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.
