Destiny Church is a New Zealand Christian fundamentalist organisation variously described as a church, a religious movement, or a cult. Based in South Auckland and with a strong Māori conservative character, Destiny Church's direction and ideology is highly personalised around its leader and founder, Brian Tamaki, whose title is "Apostle Bishop", and his wife Hannah Tamaki. The couple founded Destiny Church in 1998, and quick growth led to it peaking in 2003 with approximately 5,000 members. As of the 2018 New Zealand Census, the organisation has a recorded 1,772 followers, under a third of the 6,000 claimed by Tamaki.
Destiny Church describes itself as an "iwi-tapu" or a "spiritual tribe of God's people". Its structure is Pentecostal, with Tamaki preaching the prosperity gospel to his followers, who are overwhelmingly Māori and Pasifika. The group advocates strict adherence to Biblical morality, and has a reputation for its vitriolic position against homosexuality, for its patriarchal views and for its calls for a return to Biblical conservative family values and morals. It stands against same-sex marriage.
In the 2000s, Destiny Church expanded outside of Auckland; this was mostly across the Upper North Island, but there is also a branch in Wellington, two in the South Island, and one in Australia on the Gold Coast in Queensland, which has a very significant Māori population. Rising to prominence in the 2000s, Destiny Church sponsored a nationwide rally against civil unions, attempted to build a commune, and issued a DVD which labelled the Government of New Zealand as "evil".
During the COVID-19 pandemic, Tamaki incorporated anti-vaccination conspiracy theories into the group's ideology, including the denial of the virus' existence altogether.Grimshaw, Mike (January 2006). "Religion, terror and the end of the postmodern: Rethinking the responses ". International Journal of Baudrillard Studies 3 (1) Tamaki soon became extremely opposed to lockdowns and mask mandates in New Zealand, and the group partook in the 2022 Wellington anti-vaccine protest. Various small political parties split from the group to contest the 2020 and 2023 New Zealand general elections, including Freedoms New Zealand, Vision NZ, and the New Nation Party, none of which gained more than 0.5% of the party vote.
Since the beginning of the Gaza war, the group has strongly backed Israel and performed haka to show support for the Israel Defence Forces. Tamaki's actions and rhetoric have attracted criticism from the New Zealand media and from other public figures. He has been criticised for blaming the 2011 Christchurch earthquake on the "sexual perversion" of gay people, and for holding a gathering of 700 men who swore a "covenant"Covenant Document, published on www.bishoptamaki.org.nz. oath of allegiance, obedience, and deference to him. For his actions, Tamaki has run afoul of the law, having been imprisoned for breaching bail conditions as he took part in an anti-vaccination protest in Christchurch.
Organisation Leadership
Described by religious expert Peter Lineham as "Māori-focused", Destiny Church is led by Brian Tamaki and his wife Hannah Tamaki, who hold the positions of Visionary and Senior Ministers. The Tamakis established the organisation together in 1998 as a splinter from their previous investment, Lake City Church in Rotorua."Cults" and "New Religious Movements" – University of Auckland
https://canvas.auckland.ac.nz/files/1426866/download?download_frd=1 Their three adult children Jasmine, Jamie, and Samuel are all actively involved in the church ministry. Samuel and his wife pastor the Destiny church on the Gold Coast in Australia, Jamie and her husband are the CEO of ManUp and Legacy International, Jasmine and her husband facilitate social services within the ManUp and Legacy organisation. Brian and Hannah have 5 generations of their family in Destiny Church. Following a unanimous agreement by the then 19 other pastors of Destiny Churches throughout New Zealand, Tamaki was ordained as a bishop during a ceremony performed by kaumātua and Destiny Pastor, Manuel Renata, on 18 June 2005. The church's leadership encourage obedience to its teachings"Cultism in religion rings the alarm bells", NZ Herald, 13 August 2004. and its rhetoric has sometimes alienated other churches that have different approaches to Christianity."Enough is Enough". Challenge Weekly, Vol. 62 Issue 25, July 2004 In 2003, Tamaki, in what he described as a prophetic utterance, predicted that Destiny would be "ruling the nation" within five years.Archived at Ghostarchive and the Wayback Machine:
Ministry The church claims to provide not only biblical guidance and teaching but also a range of social services including budget advice, family and parenting advice, support for drug and alcohol abusers, anger management and resolution, provision of food and housing. Church services are energetic and have a Pentecostal worship style. The preaching and teaching is strongly conservative, literalist interpretation of Biblical teachings. Its membership is predominantly Māori and Polynesian, intergenerational, and from all levels of the socio-economic sections of New Zealand society.Peter Lineham contextualises Destiny Church as a part of a broader cultural phenomenon in "Wanna be in my gang? ". The Listener. 195 (3357). 11 September 2004. Religious expert Peter Lineham has said of the church's followers: "they stem from the endemic Māori struggle to find a secure space in Western capitalist society, although there are obviously huge differences between the rural Māori that Rātana reached out to and the urban Māori community that has flocked to Tamaki. The development of a socially and politically active Christianity was a logical response in both cases."
Locations and membership Destiny Church is located in South Auckland, New Zealand. The current site is in Wiri, and houses the church auditorium and its administration offices, a chapel, a multipurpose room, a fitness/boxing gym, a medical centre, an early childhood centre and school. The church began in Rotorua as "Lake City Church", which had a membership of 20 people. Within two years, it had grown to 300 members. Over the years, Destiny churches were established in the following locations:
Auckland - July 1998Destiny Church Auckland was initially named "City Church" but renamed to "Destiny Church" when relocated to Mt WellingtonWhakatane - March 2001Tauranga - April 2001Destiny Church Tauranga was formerly known as "Harbour City Church"Nelson - June 2001Hamilton - June 2002Christchurch - April 2003Whangārei - June 2003Wellington - August 2003Wanganui - May 2004TaranakiRotoruaBrisbane
At its peak in 2003, Destiny Church had a network of 19 church branches throughout New Zealand, with a total membership in excess of 5,000. By June 2012 it had 11 remaining branches, with around 3000 regular attendees. In 2019, Brian Tamaki claimed the church had in excess of 6,000 members. However, in the 2018 census, just 1,772 gave their religion as "Destiny Church", less than did for the satirical Church of the Flying Spaghetti Monster (4248) and Jediism (20,409), and only slightly more than Zoroastrianism. In the aftermath, NZME described Destiny Church's membership as "surprisingly low", while The Spinoff went further, describing Destiny Church as "utterly marginal". Church branches have closed in Porirua (the second in Wellington, after Petone), Wanganui and Dunedin. By June 2013, Destiny Church Wanganui was no longer listed on the main church website. In addition, other branches such as Kaitaia, Ōpōtiki, Taumarunui, and Hawkes Bay had either closed down or merged with other church branches. Destiny Church has also expanded to Australia, with one branch formerly in Brisbane and a current one on the Gold Coast. The Gold Coast has a very significant Māori population.
Broadcasting Destiny TV, a televangelist ministry, launched in 2001 and produced 30-minute programmes that ran every weekday morning on New Zealand's national television broadcaster. The programmes were funded by donations from Destiny Church members. TVNZ ceased to broadcast the programme in late 2004 just after the formation of the Destiny New Zealand political party. , Destiny TV still operates as the video production arm of Destiny Church. Weekly Destiny TV programmes are available for streaming on Destiny Church's website.
Destiny School The church also operates a composite school (catering for both primary and secondary students), known as Destiny School, which uses the Cambridge education system alongside the New Zealand curriculum.
History Origins
The Destiny Church movement was founded in 1998 from 20 members of Lake City Church in Rotorua,Destiny Church: Our History , destinychurch.org.nz, retrieved 31 October 2009 initially calling itself City Church Auckland. Destiny Church was founded by Brian Tamaki and his wife Hannah Tamaki, who continue to serve as Visionary and Senior Ministers of Destiny Church. Destiny Church had a close relationship with New Birth Missionary Baptist Church in Atlanta, USA, the church of Bishop Eddie Long. In his autobiography Tamaki described meeting Long, "my spiritual father", in 2002. Historian Peter Lineham has compared Destiny Church's liturgy progression away from orthodox Christianity to the late 1920s Ratana movement's divergence and eventual excommunication. Lineham also notes the usages of the historic and strong belief within Christianity in Māoridom to promote his reach and teachings.Lineham, Peter (5 April 2006). "Among the believers ". Massey University.
Enough is Enough rally Destiny Church has campaigned for a return to what it considers to be "Christian moral values" in New Zealand society, particularly for the "sanctity of marriage between a husband and wife". In August 2004, Destiny members marched on Parliament under their "Enough is Enough" rally which drew 5000 protesters against civil unions legislation. The rally attracted considerable criticism. The black T-shirts and track-pants worn by many of the marchers prompted negative comparisons with Nazi storm-troopers in the New Zealand media."March arouses Nazi fears". The Press. 24 August 2004."Black shirts spark anger". Dominion Post. 24 August 2004. When the rally was in progress, Tamaki indicated that he did not want to be a politician, saying, "I have a higher calling than a politician, I am a man of God." A second march occurred in Auckland along with the Christian Life Centre and the City Impact Churches on 5 March 2005.
Plans for a "Destiny City" On 29 October 2008 it was reported that Destiny Church was planning on building a holy city in South Auckland. The report was based on comments made by Brian Tamaki at the church's 10th birthday celebration, and released on DVD, where he talks about a site the church had procured, with a budget of $2.4m. He said the community would have its own maraes and medical facilities and that "every child of every member of this church will never go to a state school again". The church subsequently denied the report, a spokesperson saying they only intended to build a new headquarters and supply "social help" programmes, despite Rotorua's Daily Post quoting Tamaki as saying Destiny planned to create a "city within a city" in 2006. At the Church's 2012 annual conference in Rotorua, Tamaki presented plans including a library, bookshop, early childhood centre, three schools and a university and encouraged tithing, saying "I don't care what the media say, I don't care what your relatives say, I don't care what the world says, nobody should be not tithing." In December 2012, Destiny Church moved its headquarters to a section in Wiri, South Auckland.
Momentum conference and pledge of allegiance