Revival Fellowship
The Revival Fellowship is a Christian Pentecostal denomination based in Australia.
The group is led by Pastor John Kuhlmann, who is based in Adelaide, South Australia.
History
The group was formed as a result of a 1995 schism with the Revival Centres International, which was itself the result of a schism from the Christian Revival Crusade.
In 1958, when the Christian Revival Crusade adopted a constitution, pastors Lloyd Longfield and Noel Hollins withdrew - forming the Revival Centres of Australia. This schism from the Crusade then spread to other states, and overseas. Over this time, the group fragmented into various camps - including, in 1972, the Revival Centres associated with Noel Hollins (based in Geelong), and the Christian Assemblies International (a more Europe centred) 1991 split).
The Revival Fellowship was a large schism from this original group. At a Christmas 1994 church camp Lloyd Longfield instituted a policy providing that sexual defaulters would not find restoration possible. The Adelaide assembly, lead by pastor John Kuhlmann opposed the move - withdrawing from the Revival Centre group with approximately half of the assemblies (30), a third of pastors (35) and probably over half of the membership (3,300 including 120 from Melbourne - the bulk of membership outside of Victoria and Tasmania). Approximately half of the missions work in Papua New Guinea adheres (15,000 strong) with smaller assemblies in Europe and a significant work in Malawi.[1]
Doctrine
The Revival Fellowship teaches the necessity of 'speaking in tongues' and water baptism necessary for salvation[2], and deny salvation by faith alone.
The Revival Fellowship holds to the British-Israel doctrine which is used to support white supremacy in Christian Identity circles, although racist elements of the teaching are officially denied by the group. [3]
Bible numerics[4], pyramidology, and King James Only theology are also taught.
Second Coming Prophecies
Before becoming 'The Revival Fellowship', the same group distributed literature in the 1980s indicating that Armageddon and Jesus Christ's return were imminent - holding events such as the "Survival '82" outreach.
In the June/July 1984 Voice of Revival magazine an article indicated that Jesus would return before 17th September 2001 when he would be 'ruling from Zion'.
As this date approached, the teaching was de-emphasised in both Revival Fellowship and Revival Centres International circles.
Focus of Counter Cult Movement
The Revival Fellowship has come under scrutiny by the counter-cult movement, in a response to a perceived authoritarian focus by this group.[1].
Former members regularly refer to horrific stories from within the group such as an instance in the late 1990s, when a young man in the Woodcroft, Adelaide, assembly gouged his own eyes out (in a possible attempt to comply with the group's teaching on sin).[5]
In Adelaide several support groups exist for former members and two churches (Cornerstone and Clear Vision Fellowship) have been founded by disaffected pastors Tom Manolakis and Ray Ledger respectively.
Notes
- ^ Rev. Rowland Ward, Religious Bodies in Australia (3rd edition), 1995.
- ^ http://www.revivalfellowship.org/Speaking_in_Tongues.asp
- ^ http://www.trf.org.au/Anti_racism_Statement.asp
- ^ http://www.revivalfellowship.org/Bible_Numerics.asp
- ^ http://www.aimoo.com/forum/postview.cfm?id=443300&CategoryID=411155&startcat=1&ThreadID=2751106
External links
- The Revival Fellowship - official website
- Please Consider - an information site that assesses the theological beliefs of the Revival Fellowship and Revival Centres
- RC message boards - discussion forums about the Revival Fellowship and Revival Centres
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