C3 Church Global

Pastor Phil and Christine Pringle arrived in Sydney from New Zealand in 1980 to begin a church on the Northern Beaches of Sydney, Australia. Growing to 400 people within four years, the church began expanding and planting in other cities. The vision of 10 churches in 10 major cities was developed and the movement of Christian City Church began.{{cite book|title=25: The 25th Anniversary story of Christian City Church Oxford Falls|year=2007|publisher=Hyde Park Press}}

In 2008, at the "Here We Go" global conference held in Hawaii, Christian City Church announced the name change to "C3 Church".

In 2016, due to mounting allegations and public awareness, a prominent branch of the C3 Church Rebranded to Vive Church.https://web.facebook.com/vive.church/videos/c3-silicon-valley-is-now-vive-church/1037684282995974/?_rdc=1&_rdr#

C3 operations in Europe have largely been under this branding as well as rebranding of their Silicon Valley Chapter. https://www.vivechurch.org/locations

In 2017, Global News took an inside look at C3 Toronto, one of the C3 Church Global locations around the world. The article details what a regular Sunday service looks like. Lead Pastor Sam Picken explains his approach to leading a church, and congregation member Mirelli Vanheer talks about how she found C3.{{Cite news|url=https://globalnews.ca/news/3525227/toronto-c3-church-millennials-christianity/|title=How Toronto's C3 Church is attracting millennials to Christianity|work=Global News|access-date=2018-08-24|language=en}}

Eternity News published an article on C3 Church in April 2017, detailing C3's annual Presence Conference and the movement's approach to community.{{Cite web|url=https://www.eternitynews.com.au/australia/c3-church-knows-the-power-of-dinner-parties/|title = C3 Church knows the power of dinner parties - Eternity News| date=12 April 2017 }}

Reference was made to C3 Church in the Business Review Weekly (BRW), Australian edition article "God's Millionaires". This article noted that "Prosperity theology is practised by the bigger Pentecostal churches, including Hillsong, Christian City Church and Paradise. This promotes the idea that it is a Christian's responsibility to achieve wealth and worldly success."Ferguson, Adele (26 May 2005) "God's Millionaires". Business Review Weekly, Australia{{Cite web |url=http://www.brw.com.au/ |title=Careers | Latest News & Analysis | the Australian Financial Review | AFR |access-date=27 May 2005 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20050527003922/http://www.brw.com.au/ |archive-date=27 May 2005 |url-status=live}}

In 2019, A Current Affair aired an exposé of the Church's financial ideology and history, including its controversial practice of requesting large donations from members of its congregation in return for 'miracles'.{{Cite web|url=https://9now.nine.com.au/a-current-affair/a-current-affair-miracles-for-money/3549dac9-26e8-4c39-8445-505ad03d2336|title=Miracles for money|website=9now.nine.com.au|language=en-AU|access-date=2019-12-18}}{{Cite web|url=https://9now.nine.com.au/a-current-affair/a-current-affair-c3-exposed-sins-of-the-past/7d688b3d-c470-4a8d-bc29-f8a81e057f7d|title=C3 exposed: Sins of the past|website=9now.nine.com.au|language=en-AU|access-date=2019-12-18}} C3 Church responded to the allegations levelled in an online statement.{{Cite web|url=https://myc3church.net/media-response/|title=Media Response|website=C3 Church|language=en-AU|access-date=2019-12-18}}

The Cult Information and Family Support organization (CIFS){{cite web|title=CIFS Report|url=http://www.cifs.org.au/misusing.php|date=2 July 2012|access-date=18 November 2017|archive-date=1 December 2017|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20171201044824/http://www.cifs.org.au/misusing.php|url-status=dead}} notes that C3 Church is being actively monitored by a self-appointed Christian watchdog group, run anonymously. Two accusations made by this group are of C3 controlling people and of teaching false doctrine.{{cite web|title=About C3 Church Watch |date=20 July 2011 |url=https://c3churchwatch.wordpress.com/about/ |website=c3churchwatch.wordpress.com |accessdate=18 November 2017}}

Phil Pringle has been accused of 'grooming' church congregations to pay for legal fees after a friend of Pringle's, a pastor of an unrelated church was convicted of fraud for using church funds to fund his wife's music career.{{cite news|title=Singapore pastor found guilty of using church funds for wife's music career|newspaper=The Guardian |date=21 October 2015 |url=https://www.theguardian.com/world/2015/oct/21/singapore-pastor-kong-hee-guilty-church-funds-wife-music|last1=Davies |first1=Caroline |access-date=1 June 2024}}{{cite web |title= Pringle grooming people financially for Kong's trial| website=YouTube | date=9 August 2014 |url=https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9NNYiBbPlLE |archive-url=https://ghostarchive.org/varchive/youtube/20211212/9NNYiBbPlLE| archive-date=12 December 2021 |url-status=live |publisher=C3 Church Watch}}{{cbignore}}{{cite web|title=What the Sun puts down, we put up| website=YouTube | date=15 August 2014 |url=https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=vRVobkcyEI4 |archive-url=https://ghostarchive.org/varchive/youtube/20211212/vRVobkcyEI4| archive-date=12 December 2021 |url-status=live |publisher=C3 Church Watch}}{{cbignore}}

During the 1980s, church elders within C3 were accused of failing to act on several situations of sexual abuse and molestation of young boys. In 2007, in the South Australian Supreme Court, paedophile Trevor John Russell, 57, of Stansbury, who had already pleaded guilty to sexually abusing four teenage boys at church camps in the early 1980s, also confessed to molesting five other teenage boys in the 1970s and '80s.{{cite news |title=Paedophile confesses to molesting 5 more boys |url=https://www.abc.net.au/news/2007-01-17/paedophile-confesses-to-molesting-5-more-boys/2174270 |website=ABC News |date=17 January 2007 |publisher=Australian Broadcasting Commission |accessdate=1 October 2019}}

In 2014, the senior pastor at C3 Asheville in North Carolina, Nicholas Dimitris, received a federal prison sentence for his part in a real estate fraud.{{Cite web |url=https://www.justice.gov/usao-wdnc/pr/five-involved-failed-land-development-luxury-homes-sentenced-prison |title=Five Involved in Failed Land Development of Luxury Homes Sentenced To Prison |website=www.justice.gov |date=2 June 2015 |language=en |access-date=2 January 2018}}{{cite web|title=3 get prison in Seven Falls case |url=http://www.blackmountainnews.com/article/20131127/NEWS01/311270022/|access-date=3 January 2014 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20140104022742/http://www.blackmountainnews.com/article/20131127/NEWS01/311270022/|archive-date=4 January 2014|url-status=dead |publisher=blackmountainnews.com |date=26 November 2013}} In 2017, a pastor within C3 was convicted of colluding with a person to defraud copyright of a large number of DVDs. Phil Pringle has maintained friendships with pastors around the world who have been convicted of financial fraud, including Kong Hee.{{cite web|title='Questions of Sex, Fraud And Faith Surround Megachurch Now Courting God's Hipsters'|date=18 September 2017|url=https://patch.com/new-york/fortgreene/inside-multimillion-dollar-australian-megachurch-now-courting-nycs-hipsters |author=Culliton, Kathleen |website=patch.com }}{{cite web|title=C3 Scandals|url=https://c3churchwatch.wordpress.com/c3-scandals/ |website=c3churchwatch.wordpress.com |date=8 July 2012|accessdate=28 November 2017}}{{Unreliable source?|date=April 2022}}

The church has also been accused of claiming to be progressive and inclusive while hiding the fact that it is strongly against gay marriage and does not allow sexually active gay members to fully participate in the church.{{cite web|title=I Fell For a "Progressive" Church, and It Was a Mistake |publisher=Flare|url=https://fashionmagazine.com/flare/c3-church-anti-gay/|author=Alyssa Garrison|date=10 December 2019|accessdate=30 September 2023}}{{cite web|title=CBC documentary on popular Toronto evangelical youth church features Queen's alum |url=https://www.queensjournal.ca/story/2020-07-18/arts/upcoming-cbc-documentary-on-popular-toronto-evangelical-youth-church-to-feature-queens-alum/|publisher=Queens University Journal |author=Cassidy McMackon|date=18 July 2020|accessdate=18 August 2020}}

{{Reflist}}

• [http://c3churchglobal.com/ C3 Church Global website]

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Category:Charismatic denominations

Category:Pentecostal churches in Sydney

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Category:Evangelical megachurches in Australia

Category:Christian organizations established in 1980

Category:Pentecostal denominations established in the 20th century