Destiny Church (New Zealand)
| Destiny Church | |
|---|---|
| Classification | Pentecostalism |
| Theology | Prosperity theology |
| Region | New Zealand |
| Founder | Brian Tamaki, Hannah Tamaki |
| Origin | 1998 Auckland, New Zealand |
Destiny Church is a Pentecostal fundamentalistChristian movement, headquartered in Auckland, New Zealand. The church advocates strict adherence to biblical morality, and is notable for its position against homosexuality, its patriarchal views and for its calls for a return to biblical conservative family values and morals. It also teaches prosperity theology.
The Destiny Church movement was founded in 1998 from 20 members of Lake City Church in Rotorua, initially calling itself City Church Auckland. It is led by Brian Tamaki, a charismatic orator whose actions and rhetoric have attracted criticism from the New Zealand media and other public figures. The church sponsored a nationwide rally against civil unions, issued a DVD asserting that the Government was "evil", ordained Tamaki as Bishop over all local Destiny churches, and held a gathering of 700 men who swore a "covenant" oath of allegiance, obedience, and deference to Tamaki. Destiny Church had a close relationship with New Birth Missionary Baptist Church in Atlanta, USA, the church of Bishop Eddie Long. In his autobiography Tamaki described meeting Long, "my spiritual father", in 2002.
Lake City Church started with a membership of 20 people which within two years had grown to 300, and adopted the name "Destiny Church". At its peak in 2003, Destiny Church had a network of 19 churches throughout New Zealand, with a total membership in excess of 5,000. By June 2012 it had 11 remaining churches, with fewer than 3000 regular attendees. Churches have closed in Porirua, Wanganui and Dunedin.
The church provides not only religious guidance but also a range of social services including budget advice, support for drug addicts and provision of food and housing. The church also operates a composite school (catering for both primary and secondary students) which uses the Cambridge system.
Church services have a Pentecostal worship style, and sermons have a strongly conservative, literalist interpretation of Biblical teachings. Its membership is drawn mainly from lower socio-economic sections of New Zealand society and is multicultural, although predominantly Māori and Polynesian. Brian Tamaki is himself Māori, and the church has been identified as part of the Māori cultural renaissance of recent years. Peter Lineham has compared Destiny Church to the Ratana movement and linked with historical Christianity in Māoridom.
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