Gloriavale Christian Community is a small Christian group based at Haupiri on the West Coast of the South Island in New Zealand.
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History
The group was founded in 1969 by Neville Cooper, an Australian-born evangelist who was invited to preach in New Zealand. He founded what became known as the Springbank Christian Community near Christchurch in the South Island. When this community grew too big for its property, the members bought land on the West Coast and shifted there over a period from 1991 to 1995. They named their new property in the Haupiri Valley "Gloriavale" and established the Gloriavale Christian Community. This property is about 60 km inland from Greymouth. In 1995 Neville Cooper was jailed for almost a year on sexual abuse charges. He was convicted based on the testimony of his son and of a young woman who had fled the compound. Neville Cooper has changed his name to Hopeful Christian.
Overview
Known by some outsiders as the "Cooperites", the group rejects this name and members refer to themselves only as Christians. Members of the community live a fundamentalist Christian life in accordance with their interpretation of the teachings of the New Testament. The community attempts to uphold the example of the first Christian church in Jerusalem (Acts 2:41-47) for its principles of sharing and holding all things in common. The group teaches that the only true way to salvation is through faith in Jesus Christ and obedience to the commands of God.
The community earns its income from several ventures including dairying and the manufacture of gardening products made from sphagnum moss. They also run deer and sheep farms as well as run charter/scenic flights from Greymouth.
Their Christian Church Community Trust owns and operates a fixed-wing Cessna P210N Centurion aircraft, ZK-VIR, for Air West Coast Ltd. (http://nzcivair.blogspot.co.nz/2015/03/zk-vir-in-town.html). It was noted flying from Canterbury to West Coast on 28 September 2015.
Those who leave the community are shunned and denied contact with family members still remaining at Gloriavale.
One Christian cult-watching group refers to Gloriavale as a "cult, both theologically and sociologically." It says that "Theologically this group is a cult of Christianity, as its theology -- as well as its practices based on that theology -- places it well outside the boundaries of the Christian faith."
Education
The community runs Gloriavale Christian Community School, a private coeducational composite (years 1-13) school with a roll of 127. The school moved to the West Coast in 1990.