Potter's House Christian Fellowship
Encyclopedia
The Potter's House Christian Fellowship is a Christian Pentecostal
Pentecostalism
Pentecostalism is a diverse and complex movement within Christianity that places special emphasis on a direct personal experience of God through the baptism in the Holy Spirit, has an eschatological focus, and is an experiential religion. The term Pentecostal is derived from Pentecost, the Greek...

 church organization founded by Pastor
Pastor
The word pastor usually refers to an ordained leader of a Christian congregation. When used as an ecclesiastical styling or title, this role may be abbreviated to "Pr." or often "Ps"....

 Wayman Mitchell
Wayman Mitchell
Wayman Othell Mitchell is the founder of Christian Fellowship Ministries or the Potters House. This organisation is a fellowship of 1,716 independent churches in 110 nations throughout the world. Individual churches of the Potters House also use other names, including: The Door, Victory Chapel,...

 in Prescott, Arizona
Prescott, Arizona
Prescott is a city in Yavapai County, Arizona, USA. It was designated "Arizona's Christmas City" by Arizona Governor Rose Mofford in the late 1980s....

 in 1970. The official organization title is Christian Fellowship Ministries or CFM.

The Potter's House is a fellowship of 1,744 churches in 112 nations throughout the world with 61 ministering evangelists. The first Potter's House church in Australia was established in Perth, Western Australia
Perth, Western Australia
Perth is the capital and largest city of the Australian state of Western Australia and the fourth most populous city in Australia. The Perth metropolitan area has an estimated population of almost 1,700,000....

 in 1978 and since that time have sent dozens of ministry couples to establish 201 directly related churches in many countries around the world. The name of the church is a reference to chapter 18 of the book of Jeremiah, from the Bible
Bible
The Bible refers to any one of the collections of the primary religious texts of Judaism and Christianity. There is no common version of the Bible, as the individual books , their contents and their order vary among denominations...

, verses 1-3.

Church activity

The Potters House Christian Fellowship consists of members who identify themselves as being born again Christians. The church has an evangelistic
Evangelism
Evangelism refers to the practice of relaying information about a particular set of beliefs to others who do not hold those beliefs. The term is often used in reference to Christianity....

 program involving open air preaching, personal witnessing, door to door promotion, rock/rap concerts, Christian movies, skits and dramas. These events are used to evangelize to non-Christians or unchurched
Unchurched
"Unchurched" means, in the broad sense, people who are not connected with a church. In research on religious participation, it refers more specifically to people who do not attend worship services...

 people. While the Potter's House welcomes those from other churches, it does not actively participate in proselytizing Christians from other evangelical groups (sometimes called transfer growth).

Church history

The Potter's House has its roots in the Jesus People Movement
Jesus movement
The Jesus movement was a movement in Christianity beginning on the West Coast of the United States in the late 1960s and early 1970s and spreading primarily through North America and Europe, before dying out by the early 1980s. It was the major Christian element within the hippie counterculture,...

, a Christian revival that occurred in America in the early 1970s. Wayman Mitchell
Wayman Mitchell
Wayman Othell Mitchell is the founder of Christian Fellowship Ministries or the Potters House. This organisation is a fellowship of 1,716 independent churches in 110 nations throughout the world. Individual churches of the Potters House also use other names, including: The Door, Victory Chapel,...

 originally began his churches under the affiliation of the International Church of the Foursquare Gospel
International Church of the Foursquare Gospel
The International Church of the Foursquare Gospel, commonly referred to as the Foursquare Church, is an evangelical Pentecostal Christian denomination. As of 2000 it had a worldwide membership of over 8,000,000, with almost 60,000 churches in 144 countries. In 2006, membership in the United States...

 and continued this affiliation until a disagreement with church leaders on ordination requirements for new ministers. Mitchell believed that a new pastor should be trained through discipleship in their local church rather than external Bible colleges
Seminary
A seminary, theological college, or divinity school is an institution of secondary or post-secondary education for educating students in theology, generally to prepare them for ordination as clergy or for other ministry...

. By the mid-1980s Mitchell had a following of over a hundred newly established churches, pastored by men who had been trained under him and sent out to minister after a period of discipleship. In 1985, Mitchell gave up his official affiliation with the International Church of the Foursquare Gospel and took up a practice under Christian Fellowship Ministries (C.F.M.), the church he had established in Prescott.

Church doctrine and practice

Potter's House Christian Fellowship is a Pentecostal church. Followers believe in the inerrancy
Biblical inerrancy
Biblical inerrancy is the doctrinal position that the Bible is accurate and totally free of error, that "Scripture in the original manuscripts does not affirm anything that is contrary to fact." Some equate inerrancy with infallibility; others do not.Conservative Christians generally believe that...

 of the Bible, with a particular focus on training and discipleship, along with an emphasis on building relationships in the church. There are specific standards of personal conduct for those serving in the ministry
Christian ministry
In Christianity, ministry is an activity carried out by Christians to express or spread their faith. 2003's Encyclopedia of Christianity defines it as "carrying forth Christ's mission in the world", indicating that it is "conferred on each Christian in baptism." It is performed by all Christians...

. Much of the official Potters House doctrine
Doctrine
Doctrine is a codification of beliefs or a body of teachings or instructions, taught principles or positions, as the body of teachings in a branch of knowledge or belief system...

 adheres to the book "The Foundations of Pentecostal Theology" written by two Foursquare ministers, and published by L. I. F. E. Bible College.

The church promotes belief in the historicity of the Gospel
Gospel
A gospel is an account, often written, that describes the life of Jesus of Nazareth. In a more general sense the term "gospel" may refer to the good news message of the New Testament. It is primarily used in reference to the four canonical gospels of Matthew, Mark, Luke, and John...

 narratives, an orthodox Christian
Christian
A Christian is a person who adheres to Christianity, an Abrahamic, monotheistic religion based on the life and teachings of Jesus of Nazareth as recorded in the Canonical gospels and the letters of the New Testament...

 understanding of Jesus
Jesus
Jesus of Nazareth , commonly referred to as Jesus Christ or simply as Jesus or Christ, is the central figure of Christianity...

 and The Trinity, Original sin
Original sin
Original sin is, according to a Christian theological doctrine, humanity's state of sin resulting from the Fall of Man. This condition has been characterized in many ways, ranging from something as insignificant as a slight deficiency, or a tendency toward sin yet without collective guilt, referred...

, a pro-life
Pro-life
Opposition to the legalization of abortion is centered around the pro-life, or anti-abortion, movement, a social and political movement opposing elective abortion on moral grounds and supporting its legal prohibition or restriction...

 stance to abortion
Abortion
Abortion is defined as the termination of pregnancy by the removal or expulsion from the uterus of a fetus or embryo prior to viability. An abortion can occur spontaneously, in which case it is usually called a miscarriage, or it can be purposely induced...

, and an Evangelical belief in the Great Commission
Great Commission
The Great Commission, in Christian tradition, is the instruction of the resurrected Jesus Christ to his disciples, that they spread his teachings to all the nations of the world. It has become a tenet in Christian theology emphasizing missionary work, evangelism, and baptism...

. The church advocates creationism
Creationism
Creationism is the religious beliefthat humanity, life, the Earth, and the universe are the creation of a supernatural being, most often referring to the Abrahamic god. As science developed from the 18th century onwards, various views developed which aimed to reconcile science with the Genesis...

, and rejects evolution
Evolution
Evolution is any change across successive generations in the heritable characteristics of biological populations. Evolutionary processes give rise to diversity at every level of biological organisation, including species, individual organisms and molecules such as DNA and proteins.Life on Earth...

, and claims that speaking in tongues is evidence of Baptism in the Holy Spirit. The fellowship also advocates loyalty and obedience to positions of authority in the church, originating with Wayman Mitchell
Wayman Mitchell
Wayman Othell Mitchell is the founder of Christian Fellowship Ministries or the Potters House. This organisation is a fellowship of 1,716 independent churches in 110 nations throughout the world. Individual churches of the Potters House also use other names, including: The Door, Victory Chapel,...

 (Senior Pastor of the fellowship) and the Board of Directors, and on an advisory level. The Prescott church council was also formed to ensure similar practice and doctrine were advocated in all churches within the fellowship. However some fellowship churches state the belief in "The Sovereign Autonomous Government Of The Local Church", which both fit together as part of the overall authority structure. The church also teaches that salvation can be lost because of sin. Potter's House also hold strongly to members paying their tithe
Tithe
A tithe is a one-tenth part of something, paid as a contribution to a religious organization or compulsory tax to government. Today, tithes are normally voluntary and paid in cash, cheques, or stocks, whereas historically tithes were required and paid in kind, such as agricultural products...

 and that tithing proves the faith of the christian, provides finances for the operation of the local church and enables the believer to receive God's blessing. One of the Potter's House distinctions in their doctrine and practice is their discipleship program where they exercise a method of shepherding which would resemble elements of the Shepherding Movement
Shepherding Movement
The Shepherding Movement was an influential and controversial movement within some British and American charismatic churches, emerging in the 1970s and early 1980s...

. Doctrinally evangelical
Evangelicalism
Evangelicalism is a Protestant Christian movement which began in Great Britain in the 1730s and gained popularity in the United States during the series of Great Awakenings of the 18th and 19th century.Its key commitments are:...

, pretribulationist, and sola scriptura
Sola scriptura
Sola scriptura is the doctrine that the Bible contains all knowledge necessary for salvation and holiness. Consequently, sola scriptura demands that only those doctrines are to be admitted or confessed that are found directly within or indirectly by using valid logical deduction or valid...

. They also believe in Premillennial eschatology
Eschatology
Eschatology is a part of theology, philosophy, and futurology concerned with what are believed to be the final events in history, or the ultimate destiny of humanity, commonly referred to as the end of the world or the World to Come...

. Drinking
Drinking
Drinking is the act of consuming water or a beverage through the mouth. Water is required for many of life’s physiological processes. Both excessive and inadequate water intake are associated with health problems.-Physiology:...

 and tobacco
Tobacco
Tobacco is an agricultural product processed from the leaves of plants in the genus Nicotiana. It can be consumed, used as a pesticide and, in the form of nicotine tartrate, used in some medicines...

 are prohibited amongst its ministers. The church also believes in divine healing and some of the lead Pastors have frequently done a healing crusade
Healing crusade
Healing crusade is a type of revival meeting, a gathering of Christian worshipers who meet for the purpose of healing of the sick , usually in a large make-shift tent erected specifically for the revival meeting....

, as well as praying for the sick in their services.

Some official statements of faith the church follows are:
  • That Jesus Christ is the son of the living God, and the only saviour from sin.
  • That Jesus Christ is the great physician and the healer of the body through the atonement.
  • That Jesus Christ is the baptiser with the Holy Spirit, today just as he was on the day of Pentecost.
  • That Jesus Christ is the soon coming king, coming back to earth again as the only hope for a dying world.
  • That Jesus Christ is the same, yesterday and today and forever. .


The church is classified as Pentecostal however the church does not participate in what they call "counterfeit themes", such as the Toronto Blessing
Toronto Blessing
The Toronto blessing, a term coined by British churches, describes the revival and resulting phenomena that began in January 1994 at the Toronto Airport Vineyard church, now the Toronto Airport Christian Fellowship , a neocharismatic evangelical Christian church located in Toronto, Ontario, Canada...

 or the Pensacola Outpouring. It also doesn't participate in "interdenominational services" (this is where several different denominations periodically have a joint church service together), though individual members are free to do so. The fellowship also is opposed to certain aspects of the Ecumenical Movement such as the attempts to reconcile Protestantism and Roman Catholicism, as it believes that the teachings of the latter are contrary to the Bible.

Bible schools

The Potters House Fellowship rejects Bible schools as a vehicle for church planting
Church planting
Church planting is a process that results in a new Christian church being established. It should be distinguished from church development, where a new service, new worship centre or fresh expression is created that is integrated into an already established congregation...

, and gives several reasons for this in its publication, We Can Take the Land (A Study in Church Planting). Reasons include a belief that Bible schools are not Biblical, a belief that Bible schools are unable to complete the job of world evangelism
Evangelism
Evangelism refers to the practice of relaying information about a particular set of beliefs to others who do not hold those beliefs. The term is often used in reference to Christianity....

, that Bible schools isolates students from practical experience, that the requirements of attendance at Bible schools are too strict and that Bible schools violate the indigenous principle.

Origins of the church name

The name comes from an Old Testament
Old Testament
The Old Testament, of which Christians hold different views, is a Christian term for the religious writings of ancient Israel held sacred and inspired by Christians which overlaps with the 24-book canon of the Masoretic Text of Judaism...

 verse of the Bible:
Jeremiah 18:2 Arise, and go down to the potter's house, and there I will cause thee to hear my words. (King James Version)


Because of its biblical origin, the name "The Potter's House" is often used by other independent church groups besides those affiliated with Christian Fellowship Ministries. Particularly well known is The Potter's House, Dallas
The Potter's House Church, Dallas
The Potter's House is a megachurch in Dallas, Texas, USA founded by Bishop T. D. Jakes.Outreach Magazine ranked it the 10th largest in the USA as of 2008 based on attendance of 17,000.-History:...

, Texas, a largely African-American megachurch
Megachurch
A megachurch is a church having 2,000 or more in average weekend attendance. The Hartford Institute's database lists more than 1,300 such Protestant churches in the United States. According to that data, approximately 50 churches on the list have attendance ranging from 10,000 to 47,000...

 founded and led by T. D. Jakes
T. D. Jakes
Thomas Dexter "T. D." Jakes Sr. is the chief pastor of The Potter's House, a non-denominational American megachurch, with 30,000 members, located in Dallas, Texas.T.D...

.

Local churches of the Potters House also use other names, including: The Door, Victory Chapel, Christian Center, Crossroads Chapel, and La Puerta. In non-English speaking countries versions of these names in local languages will also be used.

Criticism and Controversy

In the past there have been criticisms of the Potter's House. Concerns have been raised by some media, a few Christian commentators and authors who have focussed on previous church activity which they have labelled as having cultic characteristics.

Christian commentators

Ronald Enroth
Ronald Enroth
Ronald M. Enroth is Professor of Sociology at Westmont College, Santa Barbara, California, and a prominent evangelical Christian author of books concerning what he defines as "cults" and "new religious movements"....

's book from 1992, Churches That Abuse
Churches That Abuse
Churches That Abuse, first published in 1991, is a best-selling counterculture apologetic book written by Ronald M. Enroth. The book presents real-life stories of pseudo-Christian churches and organizations deemed spiritually abusive and the effects these groups have had on their members...

contains an alleged account of abuse within a Potter's House church. His follow-up book in 1994, Recovering From Churches That Abuse, also contained an alleged account of abuse.

Media

In 1989, a father who accused the group of being a "mind-controlling cult", convinced social workers to prevent his 16-year-old daughter (who was in the custody of the state) from attending a Potter's House church. After several months, however, a Juvenile Court commissioner ruled that she could go unless her father or the county could show she was being harmed by the church. The girl's mother, Renee Collin, disagreed with the father, saying she had no objection to her daughter going to the church.

In January 2002, Charisma News
Charisma (magazine)
Charisma is a monthly Christian magazine based in Lake Mary, Florida, aimed at Pentecostals and charismatics...

, a Christian news magazine dealing mainly with Pentecostal and Charismatic Christianity
Charismatic Christianity
Charismatic Christianity is a Christian doctrine that maintains that modern-day believers experience miracles, prophecy, speaking in tongues, and other spiritual gifts as described in of the Bible...

, reported a major exodus of some 160 churches from the Potter's House Movement in the United States. The reason for the split, according to Charisma News
Charisma (magazine)
Charisma is a monthly Christian magazine based in Lake Mary, Florida, aimed at Pentecostals and charismatics...

, was "because of unhealthy control, and after (members) leave they are afraid to talk about their experiences." A former pastor interviewed in the Charisma News article, when asked about allegations of abuse, said "There are families who have not spoken for years, brothers who are pastors all the way to the Philippines
Philippines
The Philippines , officially known as the Republic of the Philippines , is a country in Southeast Asia in the western Pacific Ocean. To its north across the Luzon Strait lies Taiwan. West across the South China Sea sits Vietnam...

 who were separated by this group and had years of not even speaking, churches that have been deliberately split, children who don't talk to their parents."

In November 2010, Australia's Nine Network
Nine Network
The Nine Network , is an Australian television network with headquarters based in Willoughby, a suburb located on the North Shore of Sydney. For 50 years since television's inception in Australia, between 1956 and 2006, it was the most watched television network in Australia...

, reported that Potter's House in Tasmania, Australia was performing a theater stage-show involving "scenes of suicide and drug use, and ended with a pastor telling the audience that 'the devil's children' needed to give their lives to God to be saved from Hell." Ads for the show stated that the performance was MA-rated, however it did not state that it was run by Potter's House or had religious content. A pastor of the Potter's House, according to the report, stated that a press release warned audiences of "violence, mayhem, suicide, the occult and of course death."

Response to criticism

In his biography, founder Wayman Mitchell
Wayman Mitchell
Wayman Othell Mitchell is the founder of Christian Fellowship Ministries or the Potters House. This organisation is a fellowship of 1,716 independent churches in 110 nations throughout the world. Individual churches of the Potters House also use other names, including: The Door, Victory Chapel,...

 responded to criticism of the group by the journalists, and by researcher Ronald Enroth:
They (the media) are not interested in giving honest accounts. By and large they are pea-brained, illiterate and lazy. They come with pre-conceived ideas and a pre-arranged agenda and look only for a sound bite that will help nail down what they want to say. This is not honest, investigative journalism; it is interpretive reporting, where they interpret everything you say to support their own wicked bias. I have no time for them. They are deceptive as well. They do not identify themselves when they arrive. They come into the Church, as one lady did from the Boston TV station, with hidden cameras and microphones. They hope to pick up one sentence or phrase, and use it entirely out of context to cast you in the worst possible light. If we know who they are, we stop them at the doors. ... It's the same with the book writers. William Enroth, who featured me in 'Churches That Abuse
Churches That Abuse
Churches That Abuse, first published in 1991, is a best-selling counterculture apologetic book written by Ronald M. Enroth. The book presents real-life stories of pseudo-Christian churches and organizations deemed spiritually abusive and the effects these groups have had on their members...

' never even spoke to me. He interviewed somebody out in the Mid-west and put an uncorroborated testimony in his book.


Mitchell also responded to the criticism Potter's House received from Charisma News
Charisma (magazine)
Charisma is a monthly Christian magazine based in Lake Mary, Florida, aimed at Pentecostals and charismatics...

and the Christian Research Institute
Christian Research Institute
The Christian Research Institute is an Evangelical Christian apologetics ministry. It was established in October 1960 in the state of New Jersey by Walter Martin . In 1974 Martin relocated the ministry to San Juan Capistrano, California. The ministry's office was relocated in the 1990s near Rancho...

:
Even the Christian press is riddled with bias. We've had people contact us from Charisma Magazine and Christian Research Institute but neither outfit would come and sit in our services and talk with our people. We invited them to. I gave Lee Grady from the Charisma Magazine the names and numbers of five of our leaders and said if you don't believe me, talk with any of them ..... but he didn't. He phoned Pastor Warner, but was only interested in a sound bite. That's the sort of dishonesty we have lived with for years.

External links



Critics
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