Summary Of Gloriavale Christian Community By Neville Cooper

Analysis

There is a similar amount of positives and negatives about the Gloriavale Christian Community. Yes, they do show Christian characteristics, however their versions of these characteristics are taken to a certain extreme. For us “outsiders” they try to make it seem like they are a fully Christian based community and dedicate their lives to preaching the word of the Lord. However we have seen the extreme side to the claimed “Christian” community of gullible people. The media has shown us the dark side that Neville Cooper wants to keep silent. We have been shown and notified of the sexual abuse on minors, the physical abuse on “sinners”, the verbal abuse hurled at women and the emotional, physical and mental strain that weighs down

This basically means you can hit your child as long as you only use your hand and nothing else otherwise you are spoiling them by not punishing them. Members and heads of the group try to deny that the sin and evil from the outside world has leaked it's way into the purity of their community. Neville Cooper has also been accused of having disgusting living spaces that the families of 12+ live in. The families live in one room that is cramped and completely packed with no privacy at all which means the young kids are exposed to their parents having sexual relations right in front of them. These accusations have constantly been denied by Cooper himself, yet in documentaries we can see the state of the living spaces. We are quick to judge when it comes to the ways of teaching and living in Gloriavale as we have been brought up and taught completely differently to them. They take the Bible seriously which means they don't have all of these fancy traditions such as regular communion or all taking part in the Lord’s Prayer unlike outside churches do. Their sermons contain lengthy speeches about what is in the Bible and a bunch of long songs that are all about

He places a clear divide between him and the followers. This type of leadership displayed by Cooper leaves little or no room for creativity or individualism. This is easily seen in documentaries and articles about how they live and how they can’t stray off the path that is set out for members as this would lead to them thinking differently, which is the last thing Cooper wants. Due to Cooper's style of leadership, I personally do not believe that it is safe for this church community to be built up on and around one person’s faith as it leads to manipulated, abused and brainwashed individuals. Formers members have talked about how them being brainwashed and controlled made it extremely hard for them to leave and to convince others that what is going on is wrong. For instance, Neville Cooper’s own son, Phil Cooper, left because he was mind controlled about everything he did during his time there, including who he got married to and what he named his children. He decided that he would take his family and leave as he didn’t want to be under the control of his family anymore. He left first but then came back for a ‘night-time’ raid where he collected his sleeping children