ARISE Church

ARISE Church is a multi campus church with twelve locations in New Zealand.[1]

History

Originally named City Church Wellington, it was founded in 2002 with seven people in a small dance and drama studio in Wellington. John and Gillian Cameron are the lead pastors of ARISE Church.[2][3] ARISE Church has since expanded to include campuses in seven physical locations across New Zealand including Wellington, Hutt Valley(ARISE Centre), Hamilton, Whangarei, Kapiti, Palmerston North, Christchurch, and Dunedin, with services based at the Wellington and Hutt Valley campuses also being streamed online. In May 2019 it was announced that ARISE would be launching their 9th campus in Auckland in 2021, where they began preview services as of February 2021.[4][5]

ARISE Church has also established two conferences across the year. The first is Passionate Women's Conference with usually occurs in April and has close to 2,300 delegates and boasts world renowned speakers like Lisa Bevere, Leanne Mattesius, Perscilla Schrier and many more. The second is ARISE Conference where the whole of ARISE Church gathers together once a year too celebrate and encourage the Church of New Zealand as a whole Body.

According to Paul Morris, Professor of Religious Studies at Victoria University, ARISE is part of a "religious revival" in New Zealand's youth culture.[5] Radio New Zealand's youth channel, The Wireless, compared ARISE to Australia's Hillsong Church,[2] and other papers have described ARISE as having, "a big youth following"[6] The Church responded to the 2011 Christchurch earthquake with immediate shipments of shelf-stable food to the devastated city.[7]

Activities and services

ARISE Wellington now holds services every weekend in the largest indoor venues in the city, worshiping in the Michael Fowler Centre, TSB Bank Arena, and the St. James Theatre with close to 7,000 people meeting across 4 services in the Wellington Region it is the largest in Wellington.[8]

In response to Government COVID-19 pandemic lockdown restrictions, ARISE rapidly began a focus on producing online content in March 2020, and when restrictions eased, this also formed the foundation of the ARISE Locals services - gatherings of up to 100 people, with video led Praise and Worship and a message, with a local MC. This format also lead to the rapid launch of three new "Locals" locations, in Rolleston, Whanganui, and Masterton, which have continued beyond the pandemic restrictions as other campuses have gone back to full services. This new format will empower the rapid expansion of ARISE Services to new locations without the effort a full campus launch requires.

ARISE Centre

The ARISE Centre is a multi-purpose auditorium and function venue built by ARISE Church with a 1,200 seat purpose built auditorium, 500 square metre foyer and café, 400 square metres of auxiliary rooms and 1,200 square metres of office space on level 1.

In 2015, the Church entered the permitting process for construction for the Petone building, which includes both worship and office space.[8][9]

The ARISE Centre is ARISE Church's first purpose built building. It is ARISE's home in the Wellington region with offices on the first floor, facilities for region wide events and a new Hutt Valley ARISE Church service on a Sunday. Built by Armstrong Downes Commercial the ARISE Centre features a largely concrete structure with 45m long steel I-beams that support the roof over the large span of the auditorium. The façade consists of glazed curtain wall that covers two sides of the building and is illuminated as a beacon with LED lighting at night. The white upper level floats above the lower level which features black aluminium joinery. The black lower level gives the building's large facade a human scale.

The ground floor features exposed concrete columns and beams, and the rib and infill floor structure to level 1 is exposed as the ceiling. The lower level has black theming that links with the black aluminium windows. The upper level, the office level, has much more white due to the use of a suspended office ceiling – employed for practicality reasons. This links well with the white aluminium joinery that runs floor to ceiling on this level.

ARISE Conference

ARISE Conference has become the main conference for the church and has risen to become the biggest church event ever. Beginning as a camp in 2004 and then with the ever-increasing size of ARISE Church it became impossible for them too keep it up. So in 2008 ARISE Conference took place continuing for the next 10 years and has become the largest Christian gathering in New Zealand's History.

In 2013 it was announced that from 2014, ARISE Conference would take over running the Get Smart Youth Conference from LIFE Church Auckland and it became the Largest Christian Youth conference. From 2014 ARISE conference ran as 3 conferences in one with a Kids Conference and The Get Smart Youth Conference becoming the two additions. Also in 2017 for the first time ever ARISE Conference was held in 2 venues basically 2 conferences.

2019 marks a significant year for ARISE Conference where it launches into a second city. It was announced at ARISE Conference 2018 that the second city would be Christchurch and it would be the week of Wellington's Conference on with Christchurch beginning on 16th and finishing on the 18th of July 2019.

Owing to the COVID-19 Pandemic, the decision was made to cancel ARISE Conference in both cities in 2020, and to revert to a single conference location in Wellington in 2021, due to take place at TSB Arena in July 2021.

Pathway and values

In 2017 ARISE Church ventured on a new way of discipleship for current and new members of the church, which was revised in 2020. This entails a 3-week (previously 4-week) pathway program where attendees go through a process of understanding more about the faith, about their role in God's plan and advancing God's church. These four weeks are listed below and they begin on the second Sunday of every month, with the first Sunday holding a Welcome Party for new members to meet local campus leaders.

  • Know God - Know Life: discovering who God is and what it takes to become a part of the journey of faith in Jesus, living life as a Christian, sharing faith, and living with the hope of Jesus.
  • Discover purpose: discovering one's spiritual gifts and becoming a part of the community of ARISE with one's giftings.
  • Make a difference: connection into the life of ARISE Church and developing community through servanthood and establishing the values of the A-Team in one's life.

A-Team Foundation

The serving teams at ARISE have a set of values in which members develop into as they grow. They are Love, Grow, Give, Smile, Excel and Unite.

Beliefs

Theological

ARISE professes to adhere to a form of Christian theology that mostly resembles pentecostalism. They make the following affirmations as the fundamental tenets of their faith:

  • We believe that the Bible is the inspired Word of God
  • We believe in one God, who has revealed Himself in three persons – Father, Son and Holy Spirit
  • We believe in the virgin birth, sinless life, miraculous ministry, substitutional death of Jesus Christ, His resurrection, His ascension into heaven and His second coming to bring everyone to account for their lives
  • We believe in the fall of man and his separation from God through sin
  • We believe in salvation through faith in Christ who died for our sins and was raised for our peace with God and victory in the life He gives. Through His blood we have redemption
  • We believe in water baptism
  • We believe that the baptism in the Holy Spirit is an essential part of the Christian experience, designed to empower for service and witness
  • We believe that our primary vision is to become like Jesus in all that we think, say and do
  • We believe that deliverance from the devil's authority, selfish habits and oppression is provided through the death and resurrection of Jesus Christ
  • We believe in both heaven and hell and that faith in the good news of Christ makes all of the difference[10]

Controversy

ARISE Church has been accused of various attempts to engage in preaching in public schools,[11][12] which some argue contravenes legislation which states that teaching in New Zealand schools must be secular during school hours.[13] A former member of the ARISE Church, Josh Barley[14] has raised concerns about some of the methods they use, particularly in targeting youth, as well as their ideology. His observations are detailed in his blog.[15]

In August 2021, ARISE advocated against a proposed ban on conversion therapy in New Zealand, alleging that it criminalised parents, counselors and pastors seeking to help children and young people dealing with sexuality or gender issues. ARISE does not publicize their views on gender, sexuality or conversion therapy.[16]

References
  1. "ARISE Church: Menu". ARISE Church. ARISE Church New Zealand Charitable Trust. Retrieved 25 May 2021.
  2. "God works in mysterious ways". Radio New Zealand. 11 June 2014. Retrieved 10 August 2015.
  3. Herselman, Germari (16 June 2014). "Conference for women inspires". The Marlborough Express. Retrieved 11 August 2015.
  4. "ARISE Church Auckland". ARISE Church. Retrieved May 15, 2021.
  5. Migone, Paloma (4 July 2012). "Teens tuning in to God's new beat". Stuff.co.nz. Retrieved 10 August 2015.
  6. Jackman, Amy (2 June 2015). "Catholic church considers banning child photography, fearing attention from abusers". Dominion Post. Retrieved 11 August 2015.
  7. Jackman, Amy (3 March 2011). "Church amazed by public kindness". Dominion Post. Retrieved 11 August 2015.
  8. "Church plans major complex in Petone". The Dominion Post (Wellington). 17 January 2015. Retrieved 10 August 2015.
  9. "Church planning new Petone centre". Dominion Post. 12 November 2013. Retrieved 11 August 2015.
  10. "What We Believe at ARISE Church". ARISE Church. Retrieved 2016-05-20.
  11. "Arise Church slammed by parents for 'stealth' preaching at secular Kapiti College". Stuff. Retrieved 2019-06-12.
  12. "Reading, writing, and God at Wellington's Khandallah School". Stuff. Retrieved 2019-06-12.
  13. "Education Act 1964 No 135 (as at 14 May 2019), Public Act 77 Teaching in State primary schools must be secular – New Zealand Legislation". www.legislation.govt.nz. Retrieved 2019-06-12.
  14. "ARISE Church Review - Josh Barley Interview". Religious Instruction in NZ Schools. 2017-03-01. Retrieved 2019-07-01.
  15. "ARISE Church Monitor". ARISE Church Monitor. Archived from the original on 29 January 2020. Retrieved 2019-07-01.
  16. "The ARISE Church position on the 'Conversion Practices Prohibition Legislation Bill'". ARISE Church. 30 August 2021. Archived from the original on 30 August 2021. Retrieved 31 August 2021.
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