Gerald Coates Pioneer: A Biography

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Assess the accuracy of Pioneer leadership’s self-assessment of the proportionality and effectiveness of the safeguarding arrangements. Andrew Walker distinguishes Roger and Faith Forster's Ichthus Christian Fellowship from the rest: "perhaps the most significant house church organization that lies outside Restorationism is the Ichthus movement." [4] Jesus goes on to speak about tribulation, apostasy, persecution, betrayal, false christs and falseprophets, lawlessness, false signs and wonders ,great tribulation culminating inthe appearance of the man of sin and the abomination of desolation. THE deputy chair of the Archbishops’ Council’s Finance Committee, Carl Hughes, has resigned from the board of En+, a mining company part-owned by Oleg Deripaska, a Russian oligarch, The Guardian reported last week. Mr Hughes, who is a lay General Synod member for Southwark diocese, had been an independent director on EN+’s board since January 2019, the newspaper reported. Mr Ferreira was born in Trinidad and moved to Bradford as a child, but now lives close to Mr Coates in Great Bookham.

Keith Larby/Alamy Live News One of the windows of Truro Cathedral which were damaged by vandals last month On Sunday 3rd April, Gerald Coates, founder of the Pioneer network of churches, passed into glory. For more than 50 years Gerald blazed a trail in ecclesiastical circles that have significantly influenced and shaped the church in the UK and beyond. Gerald leaves behind the love of his life, Anona, along with three sons and their families. He loved well. In an age when leaders fall, Gerald stayed faithful. Gerald was an eternal optimist. He tended to see revival where it wasn’t. He was ever hopeful, ever seeing the Spirit of God moving. He succeeded in building ecumenical bridges, regularly speaking at both denominational and inter-denominational conferences, and even becoming a friend and confidant to a number of Archbishops of Canterbury.

We worked on so many projects together, but probably the most memorable was 'Champion of the World' at London's Wembley Stadium, where we gathered almost 45,000 to worship, in June 1997.

The bridleway was so obviously a public right of way, but Gerald must have thought he was doing everyone a favour by converting what was a muddy, narrow slope, into what it became Clyde Culver became the new young general secretary of the Evangelical Alliance, and proceeded to transform the image of evangelicalism over the next twelve years. It involved Tricia and I together with 50 other friends, moving 200 miles to Cobham, just outside London, to be a part of Cobham Christian Fellowship which Gerald had planted in that town. This would be our home for the next 30 years. In fact Westminster Chapel actually declined and numbers dwindled in the months andyears that followed Coates' prophecy.Thisparticular prophecy was one of a number of false propheciesmade by Gerald Coates. MARC Europe began in 1983 with seminars to train Christian leaders in management and leadership. From 1984 to 1991 some ten thousand leaders attended two seminars each; this was equivalent to one-quarter of all clergy.Gerald Coates was universally known as a witty, gregarious and warm-hearted guy. Greatly loved, he will be sorely missed by all who knew him, and by a great many who didn’t. When Tricia and I could not finish our Easter hymn 'He Has Risen' it was Gerald who came up with the missing lines.

The Pioneer network he founded is a charismatic group of evangelical churches. It is part of the British New Church Movement and can also be described as Restorationist. He later handed over the leadership of the movement to Billy and Caroline Kennedy of New Community, Southampton. Coates himself was responsible for coining the term "New Church" to replace the more confusing former name "House Church Movement," of which he was also a founding member. [2] Along with Roger T. Forster of Ichthus Christian Fellowship and Lynn Green of Youth with a Mission, he was one of the founders of March for Jesus. [3] In the autumn of 1978 the controversial house church leader Gerald Coates was invited to speak at a public city-wide celebration gathering in Plymouth (UK). Tricia and I just married, were invited to lead the worship with our band, at that event.A visiting ‘revivalist’ from Chile was then shown ‘in action’ at Mr Coates’s Pioneer Church. Miguel Escobar was shown praying ‘God, give them gold fillings tonight’ following which he shouted repeatedly ‘Receive it! Receive it, by faith’. Asked to comment on the ‘miracles’ Mr Escobar said ‘This is probably the closest expression IN THE HISTORY OF HUMANITY to see God or touch God’. According to Mr Escobar getting a gold filling would therefore exceed the experience of seeing or touching the Lord Jesus Christ who walked this scene of time almost 2000 years ago. Well did the Lord Himself say in Matthew 6:21 “where your treasure is, there will your heart be also”. Gerald was spoilt for anything else. As a young man, leading what was one of the first modern-day house churches, he met with many fellow travellers. Their influence on his theology was considerable. The Church was not to cower in the corner, waiting for some kind of secret rapture. They were called to be a radical people, influencing every area of society. To be God’s people, speaking and prophesying into a broken world. When Gerald bounded into prominence in the early days of the New Church movement in the UK, he was loved by many and loathed by a few. Intolerant of any religious clutter that obscured the simple beauty of Jesus, Gerald ushered many sacred cows to the slaughterhouse. Later, in a desire to help foster unity across the denominations, his tone softened – but his passion to see a healthy Church never waned. As a preacher, he was a consummate storyteller, utilising laugh-out-loud humour while lobbing memorable one-liners around like stun grenades. I saw him close up, as a friend and a member of his team. We laughed with him at his eccentricity; he’d repeat a story we’d already heard a dozen times, usually peppered with the names of a few famous folk. Where are the various streams today? Their overall attendance numbers in England, as measured by successive English church censuses, have begun to decline: Pioneer Trust and CSS are committed to following the evidence and considering any information that comes to light. We recognise that the wellbeing and safety of everyone who engages with Pioneer Trust is critical to our ability to serve our relational network. We are also committed to being accountable for any harm done and transparent about the review and any actions taken as a result. The appeal for information relevant to this safeguarding review will run until mid-November, and the trustees will publish the results when the report is ready (updates will be given in that regard).