True Crime-Paranormal-Conspiracy Theories Stories Part V #Wattys2023

Gloriavale Christian Community

The Gloriavale Christian Community(also known as the Cooperites) is a small and isolated communitylocated at Haupiri on the West Coast of the South Island in NewZealand. It has an estimated population of over 600. It has operatedon a property owned by a registered charity since 2008.

History

The group was founded in 1969 byNeville Cooper (aka "Hopeful Christian"), anAustralian-born preacher who was invited to New Zealand, havingearlier (as a member of the Voice of Deliverance Evangelist Mission)survived a near fatal 1965 plane crash in south-east Queensland.

Cooper founded what became known as theSpringbank Christian Community near Christchurch, moving to a largerproperty on the West Coast of New Zealand between 1991 and 1995 whenthe community grew too large for its existing home. This newsettlement, located in the Haupiri Valley was named "Gloriavale",and established the existing Gloriavale Christian Community, roughly60 kilometers (37 mi) inland from Greymouth.

Public apology

On 27 May 2022, Gloriavale's leadershipissued a public apology for various sexual and child abuses andlabour exploitations that occurred within their community. Theleadership claimed that much had changed at Glorivale following theresignation of their previous leader and founder in 2018. Theleadership agreed to allow young people to make decisions on whetherto continue living at Gloriavale or moving out once they had matured.To address future sexual offending, the leadership established a"Child Protection Leads team" that answered directlyto Oranga Tamariki (the Ministry of Children). The leadership alsoclaimed to have developed a new child protection policy whichencouraged members to report acts of abuse to the Police, ChildProtection Leads team, and Oranga Tamariki. They also claimed to haverestructured their business operations to allow parents to spend moretime with their children after 3pm.

On 31 May, two senior Gloriavaleleaders Fervent Steadfast and Faithful Pilgrim resigned from theirpositions as senior community leaders following the public apology.Steadfast had previously served as Gloriavale's financial controllerand had been accused of mishandling employment issues within thecommunity. Pilgrim had previously served as the Principal ofGloriavale Christian School until his resignation in 2020 for failingto protect pupils in his care.

Overview

Known by some outsiders as the"Cooperites" after their leader Neville Cooper, the grouprejects this name and members refer to themselves only as Christians.Members of the community live a fundamentalist Christian life inaccordance with their interpretation of the teachings of the NewTestament. The community attempts to uphold the example of the firstChristian church in Jerusalem (Acts 2:41–47) for its principles ofsharing and holding all things in common.

The group teaches that the only trueway to salvation is through faith in Jesus Christ and obedience tothe commands of God. The group's beliefs are set out in What WeBelieve, the doctrinal book written by the group, covering the wayits members should live, what they should believe, and how theyshould behave. The book is not taken to replace the authority of theBible within the group, instead outlining its doctrines withsupporting Bible verses.

The community earns its income fromseveral ventures including dairying, deer and sheep farms. Thecommunity also earns income from the manufacture of gardeningproducts made from sphagnum moss, as well as formerly running scenicand charter flights from Greymouth through their company Air WestCoast.