CRC Churches International

CRC Churches International is a Pentecostal Protestant Christian denomination founded in New Zealand and Australia by Leo Harris.

Converted under the itinerant ministry of South African, Frederick Van Eyck, Harris' father became an Apostolic Church pastor before they both assumed ministry within the Assemblies of God. Harris was influenced by the British-Israel views of Thomas Foster, whose identification of Anglo-Saxon nations with the ten lost tribes of Israel prompted a historicist eschatology. With the subsequent cancellation of his ministry credential and the increasing post-war popularity of his pro-British views throughout parts of Australia and New Zealand, the 'National Revival Crusade' was launched in Adelaide in 1945 (although the movement that then emerged became known as the Christian Revival Crusade before finally taking its current name).

With a stronger focus on classical Pentecostal distinctives such as Baptism in the Holy Spirit, faith healing and deliverance ministry, the CRC grew and sought to establish a new constitution in 1958 which triggered the departure of churches forming the Revival Centres International (who viewed Spirit Baptism with the evidence of speaking in tongues as essential for salvation) Nevertheless, growth continued including a significant influence in Tasmania. Later departures of key Melbourne pastor, Hal Oxley, to form Life Ministry Centre, and Peter Vacca to form the Bethesda movement (both in the 1970s) and then more recent churches affiliating with the Crosslink network based in Canberra, were all unrelated to the declining popularity of the British-Israel teaching which is no longer official CRC doctrine.

International growth (principally in Papua New Guinea and in South-East Asia under Barry Silverback) has seen some 600 churches globally and 120 in Australia under the leadership of Bill Vasilakis with the stated goal of having a presence in every nation by the CRC's centenary in 2045. The CRC reports that it has a presence in some 50 nations.