Inside Gloriavale
New doco on church and the submissive lives its women lead will ‘shock’ viewers.
This week the controversial church Gloriavale will hit the headlines again, when the latest episode of the documentary series on life inside the South Island Christian community screens. In a special report in today’s
Herald on Sunday we go inside the gates with the film-makers who produced Gloriavale: A
Woman’s Place, which screens on TV2 on Wednesday night.
It focuses on Gloriavale’s “openly submissive” female residents and their role in the community.
Amanda Evans, the show’s director and producer, feels as conflicted as the viewers who flood social media sites with inflammatory comments after her documentaries air.
“I’m agnostic, I’m a feminist, I could easily make judgments about them. Sometimes I think, ‘That’s so cool. Isn’t that lovely?’ Ten minutes later, I think, ‘Oh, I could never live like that. That’s so vile on so many levels’.”
The Christian community’s 500 residents have little contact with the outside world, access to media and the internet is heavily restricted, marriages are arranged informally and if anyone decides to leave they are excommunicated.
Previous instalments of the NZ On Air-funded series have caused a ruckus and Evans believes the latest instalment is likely to do the same.
Much of its screen time is devoted to Dove Love, 22, preparing to wed 17-year-old apprentice builder Watchful Stedfast. When asked about his upcoming nuptials, he says: “She’s willing to submit to me, which I feel is very important for a marriage to last.”
Evans knows statements like this will shock viewers. “They’re a lovely young couple and I just know people are going to get on Twitter and bag them.”
Today we also reveal the church’s finances, as part of a special investigation into the assets, income and donations received by some of the country’s biggest religious organisations.
Secretive Christian community Gloriavale has built up over $40 million in assets — including aircraft for its charter flight service — through a charity that pulls inin millions every year. The Herald on Sunday has examined the reports oof 33 charities linked to eight Christian goups — Gloriavale, Destiny Church, Victory Church, Life NZ, C3 Church, Equippers Church, Arise Church andand City Impact Church. Combined, the religious charities have amassed assets worth more than $214m. Gloriavale, Victory Church and City Impact Church carry theth most valuable books.
Gloriavale’s most recent balance sheet, registered with the Charities Services on January 31, states its Christian Church Community Trust has $41.4m in total assets. Most of that is in land ($10.4m) and buildings ($11.6m) but it also has deer and dairy stocks worth $4.8m and $928,000 in “vehicles and aircraft”.
Gloriavale’s accounts also show a healthy cashflow, with annual returns over the past seven years never seeing income drop below $3.9m.
The most recent return saw a $1m jump in revenue to $6m. A Gloriavale spokesman declined to comment.
Gloriavale, which will this week be the focus of a documentary looking at the roles of women in the community, has an emphasis on earning cash through industry and farming but the documents also show it is a beneficiary of tithing income, with $2.8m gifted from its followers.
Massey University Professor Peter Lineham is an expert in New Zealand’s religious history and activity.
He says Gloriavale is one of a small group of churches doing well financially — but it ’s doing it differently to others. Gloriavale is based on farmland in Haupiri on the West Coast of the South Island and Lineham says it “has done amazing things for a very poor part of the coast”. Part of its success lies in its ability to hang on to the devoted, compared to high turnovers of followers seen in freer, inner-city churches.
But, he says, it is also a very regulated existence.
“It ’s a highly controlled life and manipulated structure with arranged marriages. It ’s the exact opposite of the free-wheeling
commercially run operation that’s trying to build its numbers,” Lineham said.
“Their recruitment is entirely from a very high birth rate. But every single member in the community is in fact working under community orders, for the community. Nobody gets a separate income. All expenditure is controlled by the community.”
Across all eight churches examined, donated cash is by far the biggest revenue stream, with $47.7m piled up on collection plates across the most recent 33 annual returns. Lineham says they all have something in common. “All of these churches hold to what we call the prosperity doctrine — which argues that the sign of God’s love for you will be that you become rich and that you will earn God’s love by the generosity of your gifts to the church.
“This is the striking thing. If you look at ordinary denominations, almost all are struggling with financial issues. Their income is very small compared to their assets — Anglicans and Presbyterians.
“[These other churches have] worked out for religion to succeed in the present world, they can’t be a corner store, but a supermarket. Big, with a multitude of associated businesses. They’re very alert to commercial realities.”
Lineham said other churches, such as the Brian and Hannah Tamaki-headed Destiny, with charity assets of $16.7m, have to be vocal to attract new followers.
Two years ago Destiny Church formally openedened its new “City of God” headquarters arters in Manukau, South Auckland. It has an 864seat auditorium, a school and early childhood centre, a gym, recording studio and function rooms.
Tamaki has attracted controversy for his overt soliciting of cash and his s tweets of the church stage covered in cash, with the caption: “A sweet-smelling fragrance that hat is acceptable to God ( Phil 4:15-19).9). My God shall supply all your need.” d.”
Life and Equippers said they couldn’t comment. Destiny and the other churches did not respond to requests for comment.
The most recent annualnnual returns registered with the Charities Services declares the Presbyterian Church of Aotearoa New Zealand has total assets of $25. 3m and an annual income of $6, 354,237.
The Anglican Church in Aotearoa New Zealand and Polynesia has declared assets of $1.7m and an annual income of $1,997, 265.