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Prophet Pringle’s God-Given 2020 Vision Lie (Part 5) Which C3 leader do you believe?

21 Wednesday Jan 2015

Posted by in Pringle's Influences, Pringle's Laws, Pringle's Methods

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“I’ve never found that God asks us to do something that is within our means or within our resources. And so the Vision that we have is always going to be bigger than we currently are. They always call for faith and that’s why it’s so exciting because God calls us to do things that are beyond our abilities. So we’re relying on him. and his power to make it happen.”

Source: Phil Pringle, C3 Church Culture Video, Vimeo, http://vimeo.com/61320694, 07/03/2013 at 10:56 PM.

If you are a C3 member and were told that your pastor, Phil Pringle, has been constantly lying to you about receiving direct visions and instructions from God just so he can manipulate you, what would you think? Would you shrug it off and keep attending C3? Would you feel disgusted that Phil Pringle abused your trust in him as a leader? Would you feel unclean that you are serving a man who is using your God to manipulate you for his own selfish ends?

LIES, LIES AND MORE LIES FROM C3 LEADERSHIP

Let’s look at the facts.  For years Phil Pringle has been hell-bent on trying to deceive his congregation into believing that God gave him his 2020 Vision. Remember when Phil Pringle said, “God has given us a strategy and as we follow that pathway, we will find ourselves expanding right around the world?”.

The fact is that Phil Pringle lied.

God did not give Phil Pringle the 2020 Vision, nor did God give Phil Pringle and his leadership team a “strategy” to fulfill his 2020 Vision.

Christian Schwarz helped Pringle and his staff formulate the 2020 Vision and various strategies to see this come to pass. If C3 want to lay claim that God used the NCD to give Pringle the God-given 2020 Vision, then Pringle and C3 leadership still lied by omission. Why portray Phil Pringle in all their propaganda as a prophet receiving a timely vision from God to plant 1000 churches by the year 2020?

CHRISTAN A. SCHWARZ AND NATURAL CHURCH DEVELOPMENT?

The truth is that Christian Schwarz, the operations manager of the Natural Church Development Organization, helped Pringle and his staff formulate the 2020 Vision as well as the various strategies to see this Vision come to pass.  A few years ago Schwarz interviewed Pringle’s close friend, Gordon Moore. Moore is the man who is speaking as a representative of the C3 Church movement in the video below. In this interview Gordon discloses where the 2020 Vision originally came from as well as the source of their  church growth strategies. The proof that Pringle’s “God Given 2020 Vision,” as well as the strategies to carry it out, did not come from God is in the following statement from Gordon:

“We have formulated as a result of all of this [NCD workshops] our 2020 Vision which is to have a thousand churches with a average size of five hundred.”

So why hasn’t Phil Pringle and his leadership team told the truth about the fact that they were being led by the Natural Church Development strategies of Christian A Schwarz? Why lie? Might it be that  Phil Pringle thought that if he convinced his congregation that it was God’s vision rather than his own that the people would support it?  Who is Phil Pringle really trusting to lead his church?

These are serious questions considering the fact that people at C3 genuinely believe that Pringle is a prophet and gets direct visions, (like the 2020 Vision), from God.  Trusting in, and following, false teachers and false prophets is one of the ways the devil keeps people from true faith and the true repentance for the forgiveness of sins.

Moore also revealed his thoughts what would happen if C3 did not fulfill the Phil Pringle’s God-given 2020 Vision:

“However if we don’t, we’ll be pretty happy with the journey because we’re going to be healthy on the way through. But our feeling is that we’re probably going to do pretty well  with our vision.”

There you have it folks. Gordon Moore does not care if Phil Pringle gets away with lying in the name of God to manipulate the tens of thousands throughout the C3 movement. If they fail the 2020 Vision, as long as people are “pretty happy with the journey”, why should Gordon Moore and Phil Pringle worry about desecrating the integrity and character of God? How can anyone in C3 feel “pretty happy” when these men boldly lie in the name of God to manipulate them?

If a prophet claims to speak and see on behalf of God and their claims do not come to pass, the bible in the Old Testament commanded that the false prophet be stoned. If these false prophets are found in the church, they are too be excommunicated and condemned for their lies and blasphemy. However, such action in C3 culture is considered to be “unloving”. As we have documented continually, C3 loves their false prophet to the point that they will demonise and slander those that question their prophets behaviours outside their church.

Our question to C3 members who wish to defend the blatant lies of Phil Pringle:

If Pringle comes to you and rips you off blind with his lies and false visions, why do you put up with it?

We will be looking more at the Natural Church Development organization as time progresses.

Below this video is the transcript.

Source: Results of NCD in C3 Churches, Results of NCD in C3 Churches, http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=TzIPWHQLydE, Published on 14/08/2012. (Accessed 17/01/2014.)

TRANSCRIPT

“Results of Natural Church Development in C3 Churches in Australia”

Christian: “We just spent a wonderful evening with Gordon Moore  here in the restaurant in Brisbane. But he discussed and shared a lot about experiences that this church has made. Uh, Gordon, your representing the C3 Churches which is according to our research, the healthiest denomination that we are aware of. At the same time the denomination that applies the principles of NCD most consistently. Can you share about what roll National Church Development play in your overall strategy.”

Gordon Moore: “Uh, sure Christian. First of all I’d like to say thank you very much for coming to Australia. We’ve been really looking forward to sharing with you and hearing from you. Um. NCD has probably been the one of the greatest tools we have encountered. I guess first of all in our journey as a movement of churches we started out very organically. Uh, naturally with a move of God and just seeking to plant churches. We found that NCD helped us bring that empirical evidence of growth and health in the life of the church. So our movement has embraced NCD as our number one health analysis tool. We use it in oversight. We encourage all our churches to do this. But we go further than that. We actually take the results and the consultation that comes from your team and seek to apply that to the local church level and also the nation and to all our churches in the movement.

Christian: “Let’s us ask real quickly. Where do you expect your movement to be in the year 2020?”

Gordon Moore: “Funny you should say that Christian. We’ve formulated as a result of all of this our 2020 Vision which is to have a thousand churches with a average size of five hundred. The thousand churches is our quantitative vision that we look for growth, we look for the kingdom of God to grow in advance and also the five hundred average size is a quality measurement. Where after a “kind-of” church. A church that ranges somewhere between four hundred and eight hundred, that has a team that is viable, that has the resources to go out, plant churches and fulfill the commission of Christ.”

Christian: “And if we meet again in eight years from now, will you say, ‘We have arrived there’ or do you sense that you will be far away from that?”

Gordon Moore: “We’re on track to meet that. However if we don’t, we’ll be pretty happy with the journey because we’re going to be healthy on the way through. But our feeling is that we’re probably going to do pretty well  with our vision. I mean if you aim at nothing you’re gonna hit it every time, right? So we believe that having a vision is important but the most important thing is that we are vitally connected to Christ and our lives our healthy. And that reflects in our churches as well. That our churches are healthy communities that are growing and manifesting Christ to a needy world.”

Source: Results of NCD in C3 Churches, Results of NCD in C3 Churches, http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=TzIPWHQLydE, Published on Aug 14, 2012. (Accessed 17/01/2014.)

We will be looking more at the Natural Church Development organisation as time progresses.

RELATED ARTICLES

Prophet Pringle’s God-Given 2020 Vision Lie (Part 1)

Prophet Pringle’s God-Given 2020 Vision Lie (Part 2)

Prophet Pringle’s God-Given 2020 Vision Lie (Part 3)

Prophet Pringle’s God-Given 2020 Vision Lie (Part 4)

Prophet Pringle’s God-Given 2020 Vision Lie (Part 4)

21 Wednesday May 2014

Posted by in C3 Culture, Pringle's Behaviour, Pringle's Beliefs, Pringle's Doctrine/Gospel, Pringle's Language, Pringle's Laws, Pringle's Methods

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Phil Pringle says in his book ‘You the Leader’,

“Warren Bennis, as quoted in In Search of Excellence, calls the leader a “social architect.” When a leader is a God-person, a God-seeker, vision is planted deep inside. God often speaks in pictures to God-seekers, especially to leaders. Pictures are the visual language of the Holy Spirit to reveal God’s blueprints for what He wants to build.” – Phil Pringle, You The Leader, 2005, pg 34.

Keep the above in mind as you watch this 2020 Vision campaign video.

Sorry – this is the 2020 Vision campaign video.

Here is the transcript.

TRANSCRIPT

“In the beginning, God gives us vision. This vision is to build the church worldwide. Building the church is God’s top priority in this generation. You and I are called to bring people to Christ, to make disciples and to release those people into ministry within our churches and beyond. And by doing this, we will fulfill the heavenly vision.”

VISION BUILDS FAITH

“Vision from God always boosts faith from the inside of your soul. As soon as we hear the magnitude of what God is calling us to do, we find faith rising on the inside that this is possible. Just like Joshua knew he could take the land of Canaan, so we know that we can build the church around the world.”

FAITH BUILDS INTENTION

“Every vision is just a fantasy without a plan. God has given us a strategy and as we follow that pathway, we will find ourselves expanding right around the world. We will raise up thousands of leaders, connect group leaders, worship leaders, assistant leaders, leaders of churches. People who will work to build the house of God and fulfill this dream God has put in our hearts.”

INTENTION BRINGS ACTION

“Faith without action is dead. Just believing that this vision is going to happen wont make it happen. This vision calls for action. It calls for people to step out. It calls for sacrifice. It calls for stretching. It calls for raising ourselves up to a level we’ve never been before. This action has taken us from seventy one churches in the year two thousand to over three hundred today. It’s taken us from five nations to thirty five nations. And today, we have influence in two hundred cities around the world.

ACTION BRINGS MOMENTUM

This momentum turns a small snowball into a massive avalanche. It’s the power of compounding effort. You and I are involved in a gathering momentum of the great power of God.

AND THE MOMENTUM OF GOD

IS UNSTOPPABLE

Because of this momentum, we are seeing six hundred people around the globe come to Christ every week in C3 churches. Because of this momentum, we’re seeing nearly thirty thousand come to Christ every year. Because of this momentum, each week seventy five thousand people are gathering to worship God. God in heaven is with us. It’s his mighty plan to build his church on the earth.

Together you and I are going to see this amazing thing come to pass. You are part of the history making group of people that are changing planet earth as we fulfill the 2020 Vision.”

CRITIQUE

It is of our opinion Pringle is purposely blurring the lines with the great commission and His 2020 Vision to get people to commit themselves to his movement and not to the true commission of Jesus Christ. If the 2020 Vision was the ‘vision’ that God gave Christians in Matthew 28 this is perfectly fine. Jesus can give us the faith to go out into the world and make disciples in His name. But is this what Pringle is reinforcing?

Not at all. Pringle opens up with the following claim: “In the beginning, God gives us vision”. Already we are off to a bad start. Where on earth does the bible teach this?

Pringle adds his own unbiblical theology into his New Age doctrine on vision: “Vision from God always boosts faith from the inside of your soul. As soon as we hear the magnitude of what God is calling us to do, we find faith rising on the inside that this is possible”.

Where on earth did he get this from? His liver shivers? Notice also his allusion to him being a ‘Joshua’ in this video when he says, “Just like Joshua knew he could take the land of Canaan, so we know that we can build the church around the world.””.

But who gave Joshua the strategy to “take the land of Canaan”? God.
So who supposedly gave Pringle the “strategy” to “build the church around the world”? God.

Is Phil Pringle your Joshua?

This is nothing but subliminal advertising again. While the C3 Media flash snippets of Pringle’s 2020 Vision (“1000 churches”, “500 members”), Pringle claims that “God has given us a strategy”. Wasn’t the biblical Great Commission strategy enough?

This indicates that God has given a vision to Pringle that surpasses that of Jesus’ great commission. Why can’t C3 simply follow Jesus’ commission to “go and make disciples of all nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit, and teaching them to obey everything I have commanded you”?

That’s right! Phil Pringle is the Messiah! How can we forget this?

And what is this God-given strategy? Pringle says that if Christians are to “follow [the strategy’s] pathway, we will find ourselves expanding right around the world”. What a claim!

Whatever happens do not question the churches strategies. To do so is to challenge God. Not Pringle. Not C3 leadership. Not C3 church. But God.

Pringle then goes on to purposely misappropriate and reword the scripture in James 2 to his advantage. He reworded the scripture “faith without works is dead” to “faith without action is dead”. He then used this verse to convince his listeners to get on board with his 2020 Vision. A pastor should NOT use the scriptures for his gain like this. Pringle used this scripture to justify people to submit to his divine authority through the infallible 2020 vision God supposedly gave him.

For Pringle to claim God gave him a divine vision and strategy to fulfill but has the audacity to twist his God’s Word like this is satanic. This was not an accident. This was scripted. This was a deliberate tactic to con people to side with his vision.

Using Nazi ideas – the volk

Furthermore, God can’t fulfill His vision without your help! You must help God! Pringle says, “Just believing that this vision is going to happen wont make it happen. This vision calls for action. It calls for people to step out. It calls for sacrifice. It calls for stretching. It calls for raising ourselves up to a level we’ve never been to before.”

Behind all this vision talk is a very Hitler-esque push. Pringle is elevating and attributing a human ‘power’ or a ‘force’ to God. According to Pringle this, “momentum [that] turns a small snowball into a massive avalanche” is the “great power of God”. No. This is volkism. A Nazi philosophy. In Hitler’s work “Mein Kampf” (1923), he let us understand some key points what the ‘volk’ was and how the ‘volk’ worked. Here is a good summary of the volk:

In his book ‘Mein Kampf’ (‘My Struggle’) published in 1923, Hitler set out quite clearly his political ideas. They can be summarised as follows:

  • … Mankind’s natural unit is the Volk, or people, of which the German Volk is the greatest.
  • The state only exists to serve the Volk, and both morality and truth are to be subservient to this principle.
  • The Volk must be headed by a Fuhrer, or leader, who must have absolute authority.

Hitler says about the leader of the volk,

“In that way an eternal ideal, which has everlasting significance as a guiding star to mankind, must be adapted to the exigencies of human frailty so that its practical effect may not be frustrated at the very outset through those shortcomings which are general to mankind. The exponent of truth must here go hand in hand with him who has a practical knowledge of the soul of the people, so that from the realm of eternal verities and ideals what is suited to the capacities of human nature may be selected and given practical form.”

So are we really seeing a move of God Pringle? Or are we seeing you behave like a “social architect”, to construct a volk for your own personal interests? Isn’t God communicating to you the “language of the Holy Spirit to reveal [His] blueprints for what He wants to build”? Or are you playing with peoples ideals to manipulate them to further your agendas? Jesus Christ said,

“All authority in heaven and on earth has been given to me.”

What then does Jesus tell us to do?

“Therefore go and make disciples of all nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit”

We are seeing the reverse with the 2020 vision. God supposedly has bent the knee to Pringle and given Phil the authority in heaven and earth through the “2020 Vision” to make people and churches join his volk (“the great power of God”).

Pringle is not saying the “power of God’ is emphasised through the preaching of the gospel which proclaims that Jesus is The Power and The Authority of God personified. Instead Pringle is pushing the idea that thy volk is truth and power, insisting that you be “part of the history making group of people that are changing planet earth as we fulfill the 2020 Vision”.

Can you see what is taking the focus now? Not Christ and his great commission. The focus is now on Pringle, his 2020 vision and those who bend the knee to it in his movement. Pringle’s battle cry is for you to be part of a history making crew that are changing the world because they are fulfilling the 2020 Vision.

So it should be established that Pringle is using clever marketing gimmicks and lies to deceive his congregation into accepting his fuhrer’s vision. This is man is making his own church with out God’s Spirit. Pringle is teaching the power of God is emphasised through the volk under his “god-given” vision and “god-given” strategy.

A Demonic Faith

 

The scriptures make it clear that it is God alone that gives us the faith to believe through Christ. Not so with Pringle. Pringle says,

VISION BUILDS FAITH

“Vision from God always boosts faith from the inside of your soul. As soon as we hear the magnitude of what God is calling us to do, we find faith rising on the inside that this is possible.”

However, the writer of Hebrews doesn’t tell us to look to visions to build faith. Nor does the writer tell us that visions “from God always boosts faith from the inside of your soul”. Nor does the writer say that when “we hear the magnitude of what God is calling us to do, we find faith rising on the inside that this is possible”. Instead, we read this:

“Therefore, since we are surrounded by so great a cloud of witnesses, let us also lay aside every weight, and sin which clings so closely, and let us run with endurance the race that is set before us, looking to Jesus, the founder and perfecter of our faith, who for the joy that was set before him endured the cross, despising the shame, and is seated at the right hand of the throne of God.” Hebrews 12:1-2

Whatever gave this vision and teaching to Phil Pringle is not of God. Phil Pringle has replaced God with himself, speaking his own CEO vision to condition people and control them for his own agenda. Let us be clear: when Phil Pringle is speaking the vision to his congregation, they are NOT hearing “the magnitude of what God is calling [them] to do”. They are not “faith rising on the inside”. Instead, scriptures CLEARLY say this:

“So then faith comes by hearing, and hearing by the word of God.” Romans 10:17

This vision is nothing but a “weight” which members at C3 should “also lay aside”. Hopefully we have made it clear that this is Pringle’s vision – not God’s. This vision is nothing but a godly facade hiding the fact that:

    • Pringle is calling YOU to action.
    • Pringle is calling YOU to step out.
    • Pringle is calling YOU to sacrifice whatever it takes to accomplish his desires.

This is very different to what we see Luke observing in the early church.

” … the Lord added to the church daily such as should be saved” – Acts 2:47

As Paul said to the church in Galatians:

“Who has bewitched you? Before your very eyes Jesus Christ was clearly portrayed as crucified.”

The answer? Phil Pringle.

Prophet Pringle’s God-Given 2020 Vision Lie (Part 2)

27 Sunday Oct 2013

Posted by in Pringle's Behaviour, Pringle's Beliefs, Pringle's Doctrine/Gospel, Pringle's Methods

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For a very long period of time we have seen Pringle play word games and use deceptive means to convince people that his prophetic 2020 Vision from God is being fulfilled. The reason why we are tackling this issue now is because of recent footage we managed to find online.
In our first article we established that Pringle had received a ‘God-give’ vision to PLANT 1000 churches by the year 2020.

If you have not read our previous article, Prophet Pringle’s God-Given 2020 Vision Lie (Part 1), do so now.
 
In this article we will examine how Phil Pringle is purposely going out of his way to convince his members that his church is PLANTING churches daily to ‘fulfill’ the 2020 vision.

IS PHIL PRINGLE YOUR HABAKKUK?

In the past, we critiqued a giving sermon that had Pringle twist the definition of ‘church plant’. We were being overtly cautious at the time because we believed our critics would accuse us falsely of making up the transcript or find some minor fault with us if we accused Phil Pringle of being highly deceptive.

C3 Giving Sermon Transcript: Just Another Manic Sunday

“Let Me Just Talk To You Out Of A Scripture” – Pringle’s Use of John 3:16

In our “Let Me Just Talk To You Out Of A Scripture…” article, we think it is important to reiterate the following information:

In his message Phil Pringle does not seem to know basic arithmetic:

56 people + 36 wanting to plant a church + 16 churches rebranded + 2 church plants ≠ 120 Church Plants

We are almost forced to believe that Dr. Phil Pringle doesn’t have a basic knowledge of church missions and biblical terminology. Pringle is calling ‘church planting’ a “group of pastors” to be “thirty six churches” and “a guy in Bulgaria who has sixteen churches” who possibly “wants to hook” into the C3 movement…

Pringle continues to make dishonest and unsupported claims suggesting that his organisation is responsible for one church being planted every day in Jesus’ name. Pringle says, “I know you were doubting out there but it’s okay. I have my moments too. And so you and I believing together- we’ll start to see ten churches a day being planted and growing”…

Pringle begins to mix his phrases through his address so that it becomes difficult to know what Pringle actually means…

… previously in his message to garner funding he only talked about the number of churches that were being added to his movement, not how many people “will come to Christ all around the world today”. We can rightly conclude he is still talking about the 120 churches he was talking about previously because he confirmed that these churches were coming into the C3 Movement, “right now in Jesus’ name. That’s just in four weeks time”.

Pringle continues, “That’s just in the existing churches. Now once these new ones are coming in. And they come into Christ, they become disciples, they become empowered and they become ministries themselves”

It is important to ask whether more accurately these alleged thousands being saved from his aforementioned C3 church ‘plants’ are not rather those people in existing churches being rebranded into the C3 fold. This is flawed thinking to confuse such people who join the C3 banner with salvation into Christ. The conclusions we come too after such dialogue is not good.

If Pringle is saying churches who join C3 “come into Christ, …become disciples,” “become empowered” and “become ministries themselves”, that would make C3 a cult. That is, if Pringle believes their movement is the only true church with the right teachings and formulas for salvation then he himself has set his movement to be a cult…

The sermon that we critiqued was given on the 24th of October, 2010. We managed to get video footage of Phil Pringle later that week repeating the same false material to his staff and C3 college students.

First we want to show a video snippet that features Pringle at the start of his sermon portraying himself as a type of Habakkuk. In this snippet, Pringle stresses that leaders shouldn’t have a vision but a ‘God Vision’. As he is the leader, Pringle attempts to establish at the beginning of this sermon that he is a ‘leader’ leading by ‘example’ with his ‘God Vision’. Pringle is the Habbakuk of C3. He is the watchman and knows the future where the movement is heading. He has the vision to go forward. (Heaven forbid you question his infallible God-given direction.)

Here is the video. Below is the transcript.

“I just want to touch on a few things here today for all of us. As students and staff. Number one, is uh- vision: the importance of it. And how much we need that if we’re gonna change this world. We won’t achieve anything without a vision. But it needs to be a God vision. Okay?

Just having a vision is really not the answer. And so in all the business manuals and coaching, training, you’ll hear about how important vision is. But that’s just a vision people are dreaming up in their own mind. We need to have a God vision inside of us.” – Phil Pringle, 00:16, C3 Church Sydney and C3 College combined staff and students meeting 27 October 2010, http://vimeo.com/16260821, October 27, 2010 6:30 PM.

Later on, he recaps what he said earlier on Sunday (which is the transcript you read here). Transcript is below.

“Empowering saints is giving. Is delegation. It’s getting people to do things for God.  And- and uh, (hm-hm!), so we- we want to release people all the time to get stuff done. And I think it’s awesome! Every- I mean, every week, just about, we see a brand new musician up on the stage. And uh- to get people preaching in chapel. All these things.  But the ultimate goal is that we will get people to plant churches and grow churches all around the world.

In the last- uh- (I haven’t- I haven’t done a really detailed study on this though). Well let me- let me explain this. And I mentioned it on Sunday but for those who didn’t hear, I’ll say it again.

In Bali, (which was what? Four weeks ago? Four weeks ago? I think it was. One month? Yeah. [Crowd laughs] Thanks! Thanks Jake! It wasn’t four weeks. It was a month ago), and ah- In Bali, we had our South- East Asia conference, okay.

So a guy comes out. He says, “I’m joining the movement with my churches”. I said, “How many churches have you got?” He said, “Forty eight 48”. In a place called Myanmar [Burma]. So I said, “Okay”. And I really wanted to clear this up. I said, “It’s not just you joining? You’re actually- all these guys are coming?”

“Yep.”

Then another guy from Indonesia, (Philippines, sorry!), he was joining with eight churches. And then we were celebrating planting two churches at that time. All up that’s fifty eight churches. Right there, okay, four weeks ago. Then, another one of our overseers, has just come back from Indonesia. And he says, uh, he’s just having, he’s got thirty six churches just on their way in as well. That’s- ah- how many’s that? Ninety- ninety- four! Ninety four churches, okay?

Then, ah, in- in Africa, East Africa, the uh, the guys over there said they got about a hundred pastors and leaders. And there were thirty churches in Tanzania, Congo, bla-bla-bla, somewhere else. I thought, “I don’t know if they’re brand new or half new or whatever”. So I thought, “Oh! Just count half of them”. So that’s like a hundred and- that’s a hundred and ten. Hundred and nine actually.

Then Simon told me that he’s talking to a guy in Bulgaria. Ah- who is a really good guy. He’s got sixteen churches. And he is also hooking up. He’s got a big church, one of the biggest in Bulgaria. It’s about six hundred. That’s a big church in that part of the world. So that’s one hundred and twenty. One hundred and twenty churches in one month. That adds up to a growth rate of around about four churches a day. Okay? You know, like- I s- I- I know! I know! So, what are you doing here?

You’re getting ready to look after these churches. You’re getting ready to grow these churches.” – Phil Pringle, 24:16, C3 Church Sydney and C3 College combined staff and students meeting 27 October 2010, http://vimeo.com/16260821, Uploaded October 27, 2010 6:30 PM.

SO WHAT? WHAT ARE WE SEEING?

Let us believe Phil Pringle for a moment. Let us establish for a second that the 2020 Vision IS from God. Pringle has emphatically stated that this 2020 ‘God Vision’ or ‘God-given vision’ is to PLANT 1000 churches. But what are we seeing? We are seeing a man trying to convince his various audiences that the 2020 Vision is being fulfilled for the glory of God. 

But were 120 churches PLANTED in his movement over one month? No.

If Pringle was following the ‘God Given’ 2020 vision, he would be planting churches and not rebranding, converting or assimilating churches into his movement. If he is not planting church, isn’t Pringle opposing the ‘God Given’ 2020 Vision?

What else are we seeing? Let’s say that those 120 church joined the C3 movement. What does this mean?

It means that a third of his churches were established in ONE MONTH. If any person examined his claim in ratio to the current number of churches in his movement a few months later, they’d know that Pringle was lying to them. Where are these church ‘plants’ today?

This actually raises more questions. Is the C3 Church Movement mainly made up of church plants or rebranded churches? If the C3 Church movement fills up with redbranded churches, does this mean that the movement itself is failing God and His 2020 Vision?

We are about to discover that the C3 movement is mainly filled with rebranded churches.

ARE CHURCHES REALLY BEING PLANTED OR REBRANDED?

Whenever a C3 Church plant is about to be undertaken in the C3 Church movement, the news is often huge. For example, leading up to it’s establishment, Phil Pringle and other leaders were monotonously advertising, Facebooking and twittering the C3 Hong Kong church plant. If churches were being planted everyday, Pringle and his leadership would be plastering the news everywhere. However, they don’t.

We would like to conclude that the majority of C3 churches are not church plants but takeovers. To say that churches are being rebranded is not accurate. A takeover is more appropriate since C3 specifically targets churches and assimilates them into it’s collective.

What should be evident in the above transcripts is how C3 uses their conferences to target and market to churches to join their movement. In the name of ‘relevancy’, a C3 conference can easily make local churches feel inadequate, boring and irrelevant. Who cares about the local church and cultural sensitivity when C3 is the answer to your church’s problem! (Who could resist the enticing relevant music, the flashy lights, and the manufactured presence of God?)

Consider again what Pringle said in the above transcripts.

“In Bali, we had our South- East Asia conference, okay.

So a guy comes out. He says, “I’m joining the movement with my churches”. I said, “How many churches have you got?” He said, “Forty eight 48”. In a place called Myanmar [Burma]…

Then another guy from Indonesia, (Philippines, sorry!), he was joining with eight churches. And then we were celebrating planting two churches at that time. All up that’s fifty eight churches…”

“And then Simon came back from the European conference and he met a guy in Bulgaria who has sixteen churches. And he wants to hook in as well.”

May we remind you again what Pringle said how he wanted people to see his Presence Conference:

“We really want  to become more cross-denominational, not parochial about just being C3… And it’s so important that we just, you know, spill the banks, go over, lower the wall, let the water run through the city and be a blessing. And not out there just to drag people into- you know- and to get people into and- many people will get involved in what we’re doing and that’s good. But I don’t want that to be the only motivation that we have. I think that if we have the motivation to be a blessing beyond us, that would be a really good- a really good idea.” – Phil Pringle, C3 Leaders Meeting With Phil Pringle – May 2011, Youtube, http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=DgTdtB-ha0s, Uploaded by CCCOF on May 5, 2011.

So we can rule out the fact that this ‘vision’ is about ‘planting churches’. We’ve now established this to be false. While we can argue that C3 does rebrand churches, it doesn’t accurately describe the malicious scheming and marketing attempts they use to target vulnerable churches through their conferences around the world. If what is said in the transcripts is true, then one third of all C3 Churches are takeovers. However, C3 appears to inform us that they have taken over more churches than they have planted.

If people are still not convinced that the 2020 Vision is a lie, this next bit of information should convince you.

THW 20/20 VISION FAILING IN VISION

We wrote an article back in December of 2011. In it we had screen grabs and older information on the location of C3 Churches around the world .

C3 Reports It Has Roughly 243 Churches Globally

Now the date is the 27th of October 2013. All the screengrabs you see and read below are recorded on this date.

If people visit the c3churchglobal.com website, click ‘CHURCHES’ and you will come across to this page (http://c3churchglobal.com/church):

proof_c3churchgloblal-trueplants_21-10-2013

You will be taken to this map. You will notice links at the bottom of the right hand corner: “VIEW: ALL | PLANTS”. This wasn’t available two years ago. This is recently added. If you click ‘ALL’ you will see this map:

proof_c3churchgloblal-trueplants2_21-10-2013

So why does the C3 Church Global have a link to PLANTS? When you click the ‘PLANTS’ link, you will see the following map:

proof_c3churchgloblal-falseplants_21-10-2013

Going by the newer information what are we looking at? There are only seven church plants in America? Five church plants in Europe? Three church plants in Europe? Four church plants in Asia? Four in the South East Asia Pacific rim? Four in Australia? About nine in New Zealand and a few around Fiji?

With the information given, that is about fourty churches in total that C3 Church considers ‘Church Plants’. Yet the C3 movement brags of planting anywhere between 240 to 400 churches worldwide? And what are the churches in blue? Church takeovers?

If this information is true, than Phil Pringle has failed spectacularly to fulfill his 2020 Vision. If God did give Pringle the 2020 Vision, then we have the C3churchglobal website exposing Pringle for the false prophet that he is.

NOTE: We would like to ask for your help next article. If you can help us find churches that C3 has taken over, please email us links, screen grabs, testimonies or other forms of evidence. Our email is c3churchwatch@hotmail.com.

Prophet Pringle’s God-Given 2020 Vision Lie (Part 1)

22 Tuesday Oct 2013

Posted by in C3 Culture, C3 Ministry, Pringle's Beliefs, Pringle's Issues/Events, Pringle's Language, Pringle's Laws, Pringle's Methods, Pringle's Outcomes, Pringle's Prophecies

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Around the world for almost ten years, Phil Pringle has been promoting his 20/20 Vision. While we do not believe this vision is from God, we think it is necessary to see if Phil Pringle is indeed fulfilling the vision that ‘God’ gave him.

In this article we wish to document Pringle’s emphasis of PLANTING churches by the year 2020. We apologise to readers in advance if what is stressed in this article becomes monotonous. Hopefully, you’ll understand what we’re trying to establish in articles to come.

PLANTING 1000 CHURCHES BY THE YEAR 2020?

CHC’s propaganda paper, City News reports (emphasis ours):

C3 Church International, a global movement of over 240 churches was founded by Phil Pringle.

Pringle and his wife, Christine, started C3 Church in 1980 in Sydney, Australia, today, one of the most exciting and influential churches in the Asia Pacific region. Pringle’s 2020 vision is to plant 1,000 churches in 15 regions by the year 2020. This has resulted in a global movement of vibrant churches, which have been birthed as a result of his leadership and vision. Today, Pringle maintains an uncompromised passion to see cities changed by a contemporary, relevant and anointed church.

Source: Annabelle Low, Planted In Hong Kong, City News, http://www.citynews.sg/2011/04/planted-in-hong-kong/, Updated on 14 April 2011. (Accessed 10/01/2012.) (Emphasis added.)

In another article, the CHC propaganda agent reports that the 2020 Vision is “to see 1,000 churches planted by the year 2020”.

“From Aug. 23 to 26, 1,800 pastors, itinerant ministers and full-time church employees from 22 nations gathered at the Sunway Pyramid Convention Centre in Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia for the tri-annual C3 Church Global Conference.

Last held in Hawaii in 2005 with an attendance of 1,100 people, the conference is part of the C3 Church movement started by Phil and Christine Pringle, senior ministers at C3 Church Oxford Falls, in Sydney, Australia. Its vision, termed “Vision 2020” is to see 1,000 churches planted by the year 2020 with an average attendance of 500 members.

Through Vision 2020, the C3 movement has grown from 71 churches in 2000 to over 300 today; from five nations in 2000 to 35 nations today, riding on an escalating momentum of revival around the world.”

(Source: Yong Yung Shin, Go Into All The World, http://www.citynews.sg/2011/09/go-into-all-the-world/, Published on 22 September 2011 at 3:36 pm. (Accessed 10/02/2012.)

C3 Raleigh says,

About C3 International

In 1980, a young couple from New Zealand arrived in Sydney with their family and the vision to start a church.

Ps. Phil and Chris Pringle held their first service with just 12 people attending, but by the mid 1980’s it had grown to over 500 people. They began to start other churches and soon independent churches also joined. As the number grew, the collection of churches became known as the Christian City Church movement (now called C3 Church).

Initially C3 began planting churches around Sydney but then expanded across Australia and then the world. Currently, C3 Church has over 230 churches worldwide – in Australia, New Zealand, the Pacific Region, Asia, Africa, Europe and North & South America.

The 2020 Vision is to plant and grow 1000 churches and C3 understands that to achieve this it must connect people to God, connect people to people and empower people for effective, joyful service.

Our History

C3 Church in Raleigh is a part of C3 Church International, a global movement of churches started by Ps. Phil and Christine Pringle, with a vision to build 1,000 vibrant local churches with an average membership of 500 by the year 2020.

We believe in faith, hope and love, a bright, colorful, positive and encouraging church atmosphere
a church that the unchurched are attracted to, filled with music, light, supernatural happenings,
vision, purpose, loving people, and great preaching.

We are irreverent, risky, fun, conservative, serious and holy.
We love people. We love each other. We really love God, and He loves us.

To learn about other C3 Churches, visit www.c3iglobal.org.

Source: Our History, http://c3raleigh.ning.com/page/our-history. (Accessed 10/01/2012.)

The above blurb helps us identify what C3 means by ‘plant’ when they say that Phil and Chris Pringle had “a vision to build 1,000 vibrant local churches”. The concept that is being articulated is similar to a seed. You plant a seed in the ground and it grows or builds up over time. Likewise, Pringle’s ‘vision’ gives people the idea that C3 plants a few people in a particular location and over time it grows or builds up to be a church. This concept is important for our readers to grasp.

Similar information is recorded on the C3 Winchcombe website:

“C3 Church Winchcombe is a part of C3 Church Global, an international movement of churches started by Ps. Phil and Christine Pringle, with a vision to build 1,000 vibrant local churches with an average membership of 500 by the year 2020.” – Let’s Introduce Ourselves, http://www.c3winchcombe.org.uk/about.html, Accessed 10/01/2012.

We can conclude that there is a template for other C3 churches to use on their websites, communicating that the Pringle’s want to plant and build 1,000 churches by the year 2020.

If we now go to the c3iglobal website we read the following,

“Our vision for C3 Church is to see 1000 Churches planted by the year 2020 with an average attendance of 500 members.” – 2020 Vision, C3 Church Global, http://c3churchglobal.com/cms/2020-vision. (Accessed 14/06/2013.)

Phil Pringle says in his personal bio on his very own C3 Church Oxford Falls website,

“My wife, Chris and I, with the kids and some good friends came to Sydney in 1980 to start a church. We had 13 people at our first service but the congregation grew rapidly and we moved buildings, bought land and built a school. We began planting churches around Sydney, then Australia, then the world; we now have close to 300 congregations in our movement. Our 2020 Vision is to plant and grow 1000 churches and we’re on target to meet this.” – About Phil & Chris Pringle, http://www2.myc3church.net/category/about-phil-chris-pringle, Accessed 30/07/2013. (Emphasis added.)

The C3ChurchGlobal website states:

“C3 Church is a place for life development. Our aim is to maximize people’s potential and help them live their best life.

Our vision is that the Church glows with the Glory of God, that men and women become disciples of Christ, and that they encounter the Presence of the Holy Spirit—they find LIFE!

This is an exciting time for C3 Church. We have a global view and perspective. We know who we are and where we’re going. Jesus said, “I will build my church.” The one Kingdom that will endure and has endured is the Kingdom of Jesus Christ. Our true north is the salvation of lost people.

We will continue to plant churches all over the world so God can be found and lives transformed for eternity. By the year 2020, we will see 1000 C3 Churches in cities all over the world.

This is our movement of awesome churches—C3 Church” – Our Story, About C3 Church, http://c3churchglobal.com/about-c3church, Accessed 30/07/2013. (Emphasis added.)

There is a lot of stuff that is wrong in the above statement which we will hopefully address in another article. However, it is emphasised again that Pringle wants to 1000 C3 Churches all over the world. His 2020 Vision is about PLANTING churches. Not rebranding churches, not converting a person who feels they have a church inside them.

Pringle has centered his C3 movement identity around the vision God gave him of ‘planting’ 1000 C3 Churches. If this is the vision God gave Pringle, you would expect Pringle to remain faithful to it right? Our next article will demonstrate that Pringle has been purposely deceptive about his 2020 Vision campaign.

We will end with what Phil Pringle says on his official Facebook page:

About

The official page for Phil Pringle.This page will not ask for any form of donation.If you receive a solicitation, pls contact rebekah.faith@myc3church.net

Biography

Phil Pringle is the Founder and President of C3 Church International, a global movement of over 240 churches, and the Senior Minister of C3 Church in Sydney Australia. Phil and his wife, Christine, started C3 Church in 1980 and it is now one of the fastest growing, exciting and powerful churches in Australia. An entire global movement of vibrant churches has been birthed as a result of Phil’s lead…ership and vision as he maintains an uncompromised passion to see cities changed by a contemporary, relevant and anointed church. Phil’s dynamic and relevant preaching has made him a much sought after speaker in both Christian and secular contexts, particularly in the areas of faith, leadership, ministry of the Holy Spirit, church building and kingdom principles of finance and giving.

My wife, Chris and I, with the kids and some good friends came to Sydney from New Zealand in 1980 to start a church. We had 13 people at our first service but the congregation grew rapidly and we moved buildings, bought land and built a school. We began planting churches around Sydney, then Australia, then the world; we now have close to 300 congregations in our movement. Our 2020 Vision is to plant and grow 1000 churches and we’re on target to meet this!

We’ve started C3 College for Ministry, Creative Arts and Counselling, as well as a television program and Oxford Falls Grammar School, all on around 25 acres at Oxford Falls.

I’ve always been passionate about the arts playing a major role in church to make her contemporary and relevant to the current world. Our Creative Arts stream has developed and graduated thousands of musicians, worship leaders, song writers, graphic artists, dancers, actors and film makers. I myself paint and exhibit around the world. I also love to write, so I’ve mixed these two elements together in books like Inspired to Pray, But God and 24 Hours That Saved The World – The Gospel of John in Art. My other books include Faith, Moving in the Spirit, Leadership Excellence, Financial Excellence, Leadership Files and You the Leader.

My great love is the local church. I believe she is the hope of our world today. When she functions in the power of the Holy Spirit and lives on the Word she will thrive. See you in Church!

Source: Phil Pringle: About, Facebook, https://www.facebook.com/#!/pages/Phil-Pringle/181344135208983?id=181344135208983&sk=info, (Accessed 21/10/2013.) (Emphasis added.)

proof_facebook-pringlechurchlie_22-10-2013

Arch Bishop Phil Pringle Asks C3 Atlanta To Buy Him A Jet

19 Thursday Jan 2012

Posted by in Church Sermons, Pringle's Behaviour, Pringle's Beliefs

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Rebekah Pringle, daughter of Phil Pringle tweeted,

“wishes God would hurry up and buy our family a plane Dang it” – Rebekah Pringle, http://twitter.com/RebekahFaith, 11:53 PM Aug 20th from TweetDeck, 2010.

Whether Rebekah was serious or not, Phil Pringle in C3 Church Atlanta attempted to  get the congregation to buy him a jet… And he was dead serious.
 
 
 
 “… At least that’s from checking in, security and all that. So in a month that’s 48 hrs. In a year that is 2 days so that’s- that is 24 days a year. Twenty four days in a year- that’s almost a month a year I can save myself. Ok, so over ten years- over twelve years – that’s a year. In one year I have saved myself one year of my life. One year of my life is worth a whole lot more then what any jet is worth or anything like that so – amen!

If you – would like to buy that jet [congregation starts to laugh] for us… This weekend – I don’t know what you’re laughing about. I’m serious. [More laughing] And you just go right ahead and slap that black amex down on some counter. And ahh… we’ll be flying, amen! Praise Jesus! Ahaha!” – Phil Pringle, C3 Church Atlanta 8/8/10, http://www.ustream.tv/recorded/8802074, 08/08/2010.

Later, Pringle promotes himself, his false 2020 Vision and starts speaking faith/prophecy. Read the rest of the transcript below.
 
[Continued] “You know it is – It’s always a pleasure to be here. We have a vision of planting a thousand churches around the world so I have no hesitation playing videos and material that promotes our vision – what we’re doing.

One of the great things we’re doing right now is an online college. We’ve just started three weeks ago and we already have five hundred students. Now to plant these – another seven hundred churches in the next eight years – nine years, we need another seven hundred leaders, seven hundred worship leaders, seven hundred methodist administrators and ahh – oh just administrators will do. You know. And if we could have administrators like Jeff, song leaders like Joe, that would be phenomenal. But even moreso to have leaders like Dean Sweetman who was on the online college now. He’s our latest addition. I don’t know if you guys can play that for us now that would be great.

Fantastic! So your pastor is featured in this. You can [go] on line college. You can do it at home on your own or as a connect group. Or as another group – maybe a good way to get people in to meet the Lord. New York City Church, our church in Time Square, is doing it.  And they in their first week had, I think,  two people come to Christ who were just attending the college. And so it can be used in all kinds of opportunities and ways that will really, really be a blessing.

And a- so I’d encourage you to get a hold of that. Get a hold of my books and things like that.

We’re about to start a church in Shang- ah! In Hong Kong! And ah, we probably will start in Shanghai as well. And ah- maybe you’ve got someone in Toronto you can send to help us out. Although they don’t speak French down there and ah – it’s alright! But we need to be starting churches everywhere and we’re sending people down to Hong Kong.

And I’ve just had ‘You the Leader’ [Pringle’s Book] released in Chinese. So that’s a really good thing. Although you’d already know that if you were following me on Twitter. And so if you’re not, go ahead and sign up. We can all stay in touch. We can find out. It’s a connector. It’s just brilliant in staying in touch with one another.

And I know you might be saying, “Oy yeah-roar-rru-roar” (plays an ogre) Get over that and just get on it! It’s a fantastic tool that God has given us to connect with each other all around the world and just to know what we’re all doing. It’s fantastic! And I love all technology that is helping us achieve those ends. There are gonna be some negatives but we don’t focus on those things. Amen!

I’m gonna say this, ‘It’s like, even though I’ve been in Singapore last weekend, speaking to that church, (it’s not a C3 church); and I’m going from here to LA, (we’re speaking at C3 LA tonight- while doing a live painting); they’re going to Jakarta to a thing called the ‘World Harvest Conference’ which is a huge conference they have in Indonesia. And when I go to those places, I am like a guest speaker. It’s not really my show – it’s not my place. So to give- give leadership, is not what they’re looking for. They’re looking for ministry. And if you’re gonna be a leader, you need to have ministry. But the leadership is limited to a sphere of people that you lead. And you guide and you influence and you direct and shape the culture of that.

So whenever I’m in one of our churches, I’m like – I just pick up that burden and cause that I am going to shape the culture here and feel like the pastor here for the day and uh – talk to you about where we’re going. Not that ah you know I need to announce where Dean is going and you’re aware of all that. But as the leader of our movement, I know that I need to be promoting our cause and keeping you on the same page as where we’re going so that we’ve all got one mind – we’ve got one purpose – one spirit. And the delight of dealing with Dean and Jill and the whole team here, is that everyone is so on the same page, we hardly even need to talk. We’ve just got the vibe and we’re going in the same direction.

And so my job in coming into these situations is to be like that!

Ken[?] and John called me the arch bishop the other night. But it’s sort of like that to present to you the over-arching culture and vision of where we’re going. And I really enjoy doing that.

So I speak a little stronger. A little more cause and direction and leadership orientated, when I’m in our C3 churches. I want you to come to me to Deuteronomy 8:18, here this morning. And in the next thirty minutes, I would really like to be able to change your life for you. And if you’ll let me just tinker with your brain, I reckon I can do that- and I mean REALLY change your life. In your – in your world. And both in your domestic world and in your church world.

And every time I’m in any kind of service, I’m believing for God to bring at least one miracle into a person’s life. And while you’re just sitting there, I am convinced that a miracle is going to happen in somebody’s life here today. The miracle I believe that will happen, is that you will get a house. And I would like to think that all of our people will own their own homes, amen! In Jesus name!

And I know some of you would like a medical miracle. Well I’m believing God that can happen as well. But I really have a word that some of you hear today will go out of this place and you’ll buy yourself a house. You’ll have a house and you’ve always wanted a house and now you’re gonna get one, in Jesus name. Amen! – Phil Pringle, C3 Church Atlanta 8/8/10, http://www.ustream.tv/recorded/8802074, 08/08/2010.

NOTE: ALL SCREEN GRABS WERE TAKEN BEFORE 19/01/2012.