Brian Tamaki's high-profile Destiny Church, which arrived in Dunedin with a bang in 2004, is leaving only three years later almost completely unnoticed. The non-denominational Pentecostal church has sparked controversy with its radical views on issues such as homosexuality. 'Bishop' Tamaki is on record saying he is ready to wage a war on “secular humanism, liberalism, relativism, pluralism” and on a “government gone evil” and the “radical homosexual agenda”. Destiny Church spokeswoman Janine Cardno told the Otago Daily Times yesterday the church's last service in the city would be held on 21 January. She “honestly” had no idea how many people attended the church at Dunedin North Intermediate School. The church's website says there are about 7000 members in New Zealand. The Otago Daily Times reported there were about 60 members of the church in Dunedin in 2004. At a conference in Auckland in October attended by about 4000 people, the decision was made to focus the church in larger centres, she said. The two centres in the South Island would be Christchurch and Nelson. Pastor Gary and Karen Davis, who moved from Rotorua to lead the church in Dunedin, had their house on the market and would join the church in Christchurch. Several parishioners from Dunedin would also make to the move to Christchurch. “It doesn't mean that in future there won't be something in Dunedin,” she said. In February 2005, founder Brian Tamaki visited Dunedin shortly after being ordained as the first bishop of a Pentecostal church in New Zealand. Dunedin church leaders were puzzled by the appointment as bishops are usually associated with traditional churches. Dunedin man John Cotton had friends who attended Destiny Church for about six months. His friend had fallen out with Destiny Church and did not agree with the payments churchgoers had to make, which were up to 10% of parishioners' annual earnings. They felt the services were all a bit over the top. He suggested that Destiny Church had been popular to start with in Dunedin but numbers had been dwindling. Ref: Otago Daily Times (m)
Credit: GayNZ.com News Staff
First published: Friday, 12th January 2007 - 12:00pm