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Trinity Church (formerly Peniel Pentecostal Church) is a church in Pilgrims Hatch in England. The church was founded by Michael Reid, who served as pastor of the church until stepping down in 2008, following various controversies.
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Trinity Church (formerly Peniel Pentecostal Church) is a church in Pilgrims Hatch in England. The church was founded by Michael Reid, who served as pastor of the church until stepping down in 2008, following various controversies.
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 (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.
The church's founder, Michael Reid, was a former Metropolitan police officer and insurance salesman, and was made a bishop by the International Communion of Charismatic Churches in Benin City, Nigeria in 1995. [1] 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 has surrounded Reid for many years and both he and Peniel Pentecostal Church have been the subject of many critical media articles. [2] In 2001, the church received national publicity when Martin Bell stood for Parliament for Brentwood and Ongar constituency following allegations that the church were attempting to infiltrate the local Conservative Party. [3] [4] The allegations were investigated by Conservative Central Office who reported that they saw no evidence of entryism. [5]
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. [5] [6] [7] [8] 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. [9] The church is no longer a member of the Evangelical Alliance, having left the group following controversial circumstances in 2005.[ citation needed ]
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 people were against the institution of the family and family values. [10] [11]
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.
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. [12] 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. [13] 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. [14] 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, now called Trinity Church, subsequently stated that it is now thriving under the new leadership. [15] The church and school were shut down shortly after, and the church building demolished.[ citation needed ]
Evangelicalism, also called evangelical Christianity or evangelical Protestantism, is a worldwide interdenominational movement within Protestant Christianity that emphasizes the centrality of sharing the "good news" of Christianity, being "born again" in which an individual experiences personal conversion, as authoritatively guided by the Bible, God's revelation to humanity. The word evangelical comes from the Greek word for 'good news'.
Pentecostalism or classical Pentecostalism is a Protestant Charismatic Christian movement that emphasizes direct personal experience of God through baptism with the Holy Spirit. The term Pentecostal is derived from Pentecost, an event that commemorates the descent of the Holy Spirit upon the Apostles and other followers of Jesus Christ while they were in Jerusalem celebrating the Feast of Weeks, as described in the Acts of the Apostles.
The World Assemblies of God (AG), officially the World Assemblies of God Fellowship, is an international Pentecostal denomination.
The International Pentecostal Holiness Church (IPHC) or simply Pentecostal Holiness Church (PHC) is an international Holiness-Pentecostal Christian denomination founded in 1911 with the merger of two older denominations. Historically centered in the Southeastern United States, particularly the Carolinas and Georgia, the Pentecostal Holiness Church now has an international presence. In 2000, the church reported a worldwide membership of over one million—over three million including affiliates.
The Jesus Army, also known as the Jesus Fellowship Church and the Bugbrooke Community, was a neocharismatic evangelical Christian movement based in the United Kingdom, part of the British New Church Movement. The name Jesus Army was specifically used for the outreach and street-based evangelism for which they were known.
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P'ent'ay is an originally Amharic–Tigrinya language term for Pentecostal Christians. Today, the term refers to all Evangelical Protestant denominations and organisations in Ethiopian and Eritrean societies. Alternative terms include Ethiopian–Eritrean Evangelicalism or the Ethiopian–Eritrean Evangelical Church. Sometimes the denominations and organizations are known as Wenigēlawī.
The Fourth Great Awakening was a Christian awakening that some scholars – most notably economic historian Robert Fogel – say took place in the United States in the late 1960s and early 1970s, while others look at the era following World War II. The terminology is controversial, with some historians believing the religious changes that took place in the US during these years were not equivalent to those of the first three great awakenings. Thus, the idea of a Fourth Great Awakening itself has not been generally accepted.
Prosperity theology is a religious belief among some Charismatic Christians that financial blessing and physical well-being are always the will of God for them, and that faith, positive speech, and donations to religious causes will increase one's material wealth. Material and especially financial success is seen as a sign of divine favor.
Logos Foundation was an influential and controversial Christian ministry that flourished in Australia in the 1970s and 1980s under the leadership of Howard Carter, originally a Baptist pastor from Auckland, New Zealand. Logos Foundation was initially a trans-denominational charismatic teaching ministry, primarily Protestant but with some ties to Catholic lay groups and individuals.
The Neo-charismaticmovement is a movement within evangelical Protestant Christianity that is composed of a diverse range of independent churches and organizations that emphasize the current availability of gifts of the Holy Spirit, such as speaking in tongues and faith healing. The Neo-charismatic movement is considered to be the "third wave" of the Charismatic Christian tradition which began with Pentecostalism, and was furthered by the Charismatic movement. As a result of the growth of postdenominational and independent charismatic groups, Neo-charismatics are now believed to be more numerous than the first and second wave categories. As of 2002, some 19,000 denominations or groups, with approximately 295 million individual adherents, were identified as Neo-charismatic.
The New Apostolic Reformation (NAR) is a theological belief and movement that combines elements of Pentecostalism, evangelicalism and the Seven Mountain Mandate to advocate for spiritual warfare to bring about Christian dominion over all aspects of society, and end or weaken the separation of church and state. NAR leaders often call themselves apostles and prophets. Long a fringe movement of the American Christian right, it has been characterized as "one of the most important shifts in Christianity in modern times." The NAR's prominence and power have increased since the 2016 election of Donald Trump as US president. Theology professor André Gagné, author of a 2024 book on the movement, has characterized it as "inherently political" and said it threatens to "subvert democracy." Many notable American Republican politicians such as Mike Johnson, Doug Mastriano, Marjorie Taylor Greene, and Lauren Boebert and activists such as Charlie Kirk have aligned with it.
The Brentwood and Ongar Independent Conservative Party was founded in 1999 by members of Brentwood and Ongar Conservative Association. This breakaway group alleged that the local Conservative association had been infiltrated by the local Peniel Pentecostal Church in Pilgrims Hatch, with 119 church members joining and some having installed themselves in key posts.
John Anthony Michael Parrish was the Chairman of the Brentwood and Ongar Conservative Association during the split in the local party over the influence of the Peniel Pentecostal Church.
Jesus Camp is a 2006 American documentary film directed by Rachel Grady and Heidi Ewing about a charismatic Christian summer camp, where children spend their summers being taught that they have "prophetic gifts" and can "take back America for Christ". According to the distributor, it "doesn't come with any prepackaged point of view" and attempts to be "an honest and impartial depiction of one faction of the evangelical Christian community".
Michael Stafford Baynes Reid was an English Christian evangelist in Essex. Also known as Bishop Michael Reid, he was the founder of the Peniel Pentecostal Church, and ran high-profile advertisements in the press promoting the church.
Estonia, historically a Lutheran Christian nation, is today one of the least religious countries in the world in terms of declared attitudes, with only 14 percent of the population declaring religion to be an important part of their daily life. This is thought to largely be a result of the Soviet occupation of Estonia in 1940, prior to which Estonia had a large Christian majority.
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.
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