Culture
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.
Destiny is in some ways very different from other Pentecostal churches. The latest Destiny stories have focused on its growing links with Ratana, its presence at Waitangi, its Legacy march down Queen Street and the title of bishop which its founder and leader, Brian Tamaki has taken ...We must recall that it is Māori at heart, although not tribal Māori. It trains people in Kapa haka (and performed them all too vehemently at Waitangi); it captures the hearts of many Māori women, perhaps appealing particularly to detribalised Māori. And it has a political agenda which places treaty issues high on the agenda ...
Let there be no doubt, there are some deep tensions running through New Zealand society, troubles underneath the optimism, and fundamentally they are cultural differences. Culture and religion walk hand in hand. The issues facing us today involve a deep debate over values. We should never be confident that we know which side will win. —Peter Lineham, Among the believers
The church's leadership demand strict obedience to its teachings and its rhetoric has alienated other churches that have different approaches to Christianity. In 2003, Tamaki, in what he described as a prophetic utterance, predicted that Destiny would be "ruling the nation" within five years.
Following a unanimous agreement by the 19 other pastors of Destiny Churches throughout New Zealand, Tamaki was ordained as a bishop during a ceremony performed by kaumatua and Destiny Pastor Manuel Renata on 18 June 2005.
On his website "New Zealand: A Nation Under Siege" (bishoptamaki.org.nz) Tamaki declared the government of New Zealand to be "inherently evil", pointing out that some members of Parliament chose not to swear on the Bible, and one (Ashraf Choudhary) swore on the Qur'an, when being sworn in to government. In a June 2005 interview, Tamaki said Destiny was ready to wage war on "secular humanism, liberalism, relativism, pluralism", on "a Government gone evil", on the "modern-day witchcraft" of the media, and on the "radical homosexual agenda".
Media articles using former Destiny Church members as sources have alleged that Tamaki's has an outspoken autocratic style and highlighted the church's frequent appeals for tithe contributions, and its insular culture. The Sunday Star Times highlighted Tamaki's visible wealth and personal luxury, questioning its consistency with the church's tithing system. Church pastors agree to a restraint of trade that applies in the event that they withdraw as pastors.
The church's Brisbane pastor resigned in March 2010 over a difference in doctrine. 25 members of the congregation followed him out of the church, some expressed their support for him to the media, saying that the church was a money-making cult.
In late March 2010, controversy arose over allegations against two adult children of Destiny Church Taranaki Pastors Robyn and Lee Edmonds, it was alleged that their son had indecently assaulted a thirteen year old girl and their daughter had been involved with a sixteen year old boy in foster care. Charges were withdrawn by Police with their son as there was no evidence. The Edmonds resigned from Destiny Church Taranaki leadership.
Read more about this topic: Destiny Church (New Zealand)
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