One of the most disturbing things about the CHC/Kong Hee scandal, is how C3 leadership are refusing to educate their movement on the revelations emerging in Singaporean court proceedings. Instead of waiting to invite Kong Hee to speak at their churches after the trial proceedings (and Kong Hee has been vindicated), C3 instead are inviting Kong Hee to speak at their churches and being less than truthful about Kong Hee to their congregations.
In the screen shot below, advertising Kong Hee speaking at C3 Mt Annan, the leadership are guilty of:
1. Lying about Kong Hee’s status (“hosting one of our generations greatest leaders”).
There is nothing ‘great’ about this man if you look at the hard evidence revealed in court and admire his greatness as a serious fraud. The scheming that he has been involved in since 2002 has left the Singaporean public ashamed of this man.
2. Lying about Kong Hee’s influence (“is a highly sought after speaker worldwide”).
The only possible reason why Kong Hee could be “highly sought” is because:
a) His mentors, Phil Pringle, Casey Treat, AR Bernard, John Bevere and Yonggi Cho deliberately mislead their congregations about the circumstances of Kong Hee’s trial and continue to invite him to speak the way C3 Church Mt Annan has.
b) Church leaders are simply ignorant of this man’s schemes at CHC.
Thanks to Christian radio, blogs, websites, forums and media, many Christian churches are beginning to ask the right questions and are not willing to be associated with Kong Hee and his church.
3. Lying about church attendance figures of CHC, (Kong has grown City Harvest Church Singapore to more than 32,000 attendees in 20 years).
The word games on this do not make the grade. This ‘propaganda’ has been promoted for years. Phil Pringle has no problem misleading his C3 Church movement over this issue. Back in 2012 and 2013, C3 advertised that Kong Hee had “grown his congregation to over 28,000 members through passionate prayer and discipleship”.
And now we are lead to believe that the church has grown to 32,000 attendees/members?
Why are C3 leaders and members allowing this misinformation(propaganda) to continue being promoted by their C3 church leadership? Why are not more Christians trying to contact Phil Pringle and ask him to be honest about Kong Hee? Why is it so important for Phil Pringle to keep lying about the Kong Hee?
4. Lying about Kong Hee’s church reputation, (“his Church is viewed as one of the largest, most vibrant and influential congregations in Asia today).
This is one of the biggest scandals to hit Singapore and its citizens are not happy with how long the trial is going. The reputation of Kong Hee and CHC is so bad that Phil Pringle and the C3 movement have to publicly lie to their movement to keep members from leaving.
Members of C3 should be terribly ashamed of the conduct, not only of Kong Hee but also Phil Pringle and the C3 leadership. When people are lied to so brazenly, they feel insulted, they feel betrayed and their faith in God can be terribly shaken. If you are a member of C3 Church reading this, we pray that the Holy Spirit will convict you to be a voice in the C3 movement about the conduct of the C3 leadership surrounding the Kong Hee scandal.
C3 MOUNT ANNAN ADVERT
C3 Church Mt Annan write,
On Friday 13th Feb at 8pm we have the incredible privilege of hosting one of our generations greatest leaders, Pastor Kong Hee.
Ps. Kong is a highly sought after speaker worldwide. Ps. Kong has grown City Harvest Church Singapore to more than 32,000 attendees in 20 years and his Church is viewed as one of the largest, most vibrant and influential congregations in Asia today.
Don’t miss this unique opportunity to listen to an incredible speaker here in our very own church!
Source: February 2015, C3 Church Mount Annan, http://www.c3churchma.com/events/february-2015/, Accessed 25/02/2015.)
EDIT 25/02/2015: Furthermore, Chew Eng Han made this accusation to AR Bernard in an open letter for exaggerating CHC church figures on television:
“One of my specific concerns which I brought to you was the falsified attendance figures, which was claimed to be 33,000 instead of the actual twelve to thirteen thousand.” [Source]
It only goes to show how flippant with the truth these leaders are.
“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?
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.
“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.”
More Christians in his church should tell Phil Pringle to “stick to the bible”. The topic of money is a common message preached at C3 Church. While we do not hear the faithful gospel preached of Christ and Him crucified, it is impossible to escape C3’s ten minute money-grubbing message. People need to face the facts. Phil Pringle has an unhealthy obsession with money and making up fables.
He clearly does not put his faith in God. Rather, Pringle puts faith in his works and finances. Question Pringle’s prosperity gospel and there is a good chance you will be labeled, criticised, ostracised, demonised or even isolated by the leadership. The tithe doctrine specifically is Pringle’s golden calf. In the past, the tithe has been called by C3 leadership the “foundation” or “cornerstone” to every believers life.
This false doctrine is both binding and destructive. This keeps poor Christians in C3 stuck in their poverty. This false doctrine has divided families and churches. Still, Phil Pringle conveniently refuses to examine the historicity and the biblical truth of the tithe. This doctrine helps no one except the false and deceptive ministry of Phil Pringle. Yet he insists Christians must tithe.
In a Sunday night sermon titled ‘Financial Excellence Part 2’ (22/05/2011), Phil Pringle slandered (blasphemed) God. He did so by putting words in God’s mouth. Pringle unashamedly went out of his way to mislead his congregation on his false tithe doctrine. Phil Pringle invented his own theology to convince and intimidate his congregation to continually financially support his ministry.
Before you read and listen to this segment of Phil Pringle, we wish to warn you of following deceptive methods false teachers like himself use on Christians.
WARNING 1: Always hold the pastor accountable to the words he uses. If he his playing with words, DO NOT LISTEN TO HIM.
WARNING 2: If a pastor is wrongfully confusing what God is saying to what he is saying, DO NOT LISTEN TO HIM.
WARNING 3: If a pastor does not read the biblical text to justify his claims, DO NOT LISTEN TO HIM. (i.e., if he tells you a biblical story and hi-jacks the biblical narrative for his own means.).
WARNING 4: Always check what the pastor is saying in the NAME of God to what God actually says in His Word.
WARNING 5: Always make sure that the Pastor is using biblical reasoning to teach you and NOT emotional manipulation (e.g., guilt, group intimidation).
Below, Pringle breaks all the rules of how a pastor should teach, behave and rightly approach biblical texts.
PRINGLE PLAYING WITH WORDS
In the below transcript you will see Pringle mislead the congregation by calling his financial insights to the bible a “bible study”. How can Pringle call what he taught a “bible study” when he never read the texts in Joshua and Genesis? He never even gave biblical references. This was not a bible study. (A bible study actually involves the pastor explaining what the bible means by reading it and handling the contexts of what is said correctly.)
Throughout the below segment, Pringle kept redefining what the tithe was in very obscure ways. He does this to convince Christians that the tithe is biblical. Ask yourself: is the tithe continually defined by Pringle as ‘a tenth’ or something else? Does it keep changing itself meaning to suit Pringle’s theology or agenda?
PRINGLE PLAYING ‘GOD-AND-SWITCH’ AS IN ‘BAIT-AND-SWITCH’
To actually grasp what Pringle is doing in this segment of teaching, please watch the video at the bottom of this article (one minute in).
Good preachers clearly distinguish when God is speaking through the scriptures. They make sure that their voice is separate from God’s so no man is confused between a man’s words and God’s Word. Not so with Pringle. Pringle at one point speaks as though God is saying something through the scriptures. However, the listener can get easily confused over either God or Pringle speaking to you.
It was incredibly difficult to transcribe this video. In particularly when Pringle said,
“If you give me that [Jericho] then the rest of the land is yours. That’s the first fruits, that’s the tithe. That’s the tree in the garden for Adam.”
Was Pringle telling us this or was he telling us this is what God was saying in the book of Joshua?
PRINGLE AVOIDING THE BIBLE AT ALL COST
Using the books of Genesis and Joshua, Pringle starts arguing his case for the tithe. He AVOIDS reading these texts to support his argument. Instead, Pringle hi-jacks the narrative, lies about God saying things He never said and makes stuff up according to his personal pet theories.
If Pringle read out Genesis 2-3 or Joshua 6-8, then any hearer would realise that the tithe is not even mentioned in these ancient documents. You don’t think Pringle knows this? And what he says isn’t new. The sermon ‘Financial Excellence’ is based off his book ‘Keys To Financial Excellence’. His teaching has been expanded and extracted from his book ‘Keys To Financial Excellence’:
Phil Pringle not only makes up his own theology in regards to the city of Jericho being a tithe, he also teaches that the Tree of Knowledge of Good and evil is the tithe. Once again, if anyone was reading Genesis 2-3, they would see that Pringle is not honest in handling the God’s Word.
PRINGLE’S MESSAGE
Below is part of the transcript we just critiqued and the video.
“So here’s the Lord saying, “You’re robbing”. You’re taking something that belongs to God. It’s the tithe. You’re sticking it in your pocket. [Inaudible] Bless me. It aint gonna happen.
There’s a guy called Achan in the scripture. And look- If I’m stirred up about anything to do with this message, it is this point I’m making right now. Because, here’s the thing, Achan- does anybody know who Achan is? Achan?
Ok. Here’s the picture. Real quick little bible study.
Joshua comes to Jericho. God says, “March around the thing- seven days. Seven days, seven times. Shout. PHEOW! The whole thing will collapse. But,” he says, “that city is the tithe.”
“Don’t touch anything in the city.” It belongs to God. The whole lot. It was ‘under the ban’ was the literal words. Devoted to destruction. “If you give me that then the rest of the land is yours. That’s the firstfruits, that’s the tithe. That’s the tree in the garden for Adam.”
It’s the firstborn of every animal born on the earth. It’s the first. It’s the tithe.
‘kay. So everybody does it.
“Phew! Don’t touch it! Don’t touch!” Achan sees a big lump of gold. He says, “I’ll take that”. Puts in his back pocket. Goes into his tent. Digs a hole. Puts it in. Hides it in a couple of garments. [Inaudible.] Digs a hole. Hides it.
The next- they’re ready to go to the next town, Ai. Little town. A-i. That’s a little name, three thousand people, bam! Just go up there. Josh is- says ‘Oh, we wont even send the whole army up. We’ll kill these guys in no time at all’. Bam! So he goes up. They get defeated.
Israel gets defeated. About thirty seven of their own soldiers die. Achan doesn’t. One of the soldiers. He doesn’t. They come back. Josh is on his face. He says, “God! How did that happen? We took Jericho with big thick walls! Then we got beaten at Ai, by a nobody group!”
God says, “Somebody took the tithe.”
He says, “What do you mean?” He says, “You gotta find out who did this.” So they find out. Do a little investigation.
“Achan. What are you doing?”
“Woah!” … This is why I’m stirred up about it. Because it’s not about just me individually. It’s about the whole church. I’ve a corporate responsibility to the entire Kingdom of God. To the whole body of Christ.” Phil Pringle, Ps Phil Pringle: Financial Excellence Part 2, http://www2.myc3church.net/videos/ps-phil-pringle-financial-excellence-part-2, Sermon (PM), 22/05/2011.
Below you can watch him say this in the snippet about one minute in.
PRINGLE LYING TO PEOPLE ABOUT GOD
Phil Pringle has a shepherds responsibility to handle God’s Word correctly and NOT lie and slander God and His word for financial gain. If anyone did do a “bible study” reading Joshua 6-8 while Pringle preached, they would notice Pringle made up things God never said.
God didn’t say,
“that city [Jericho] is the tithe.”
God did not say,
“If you give me that then the rest of the land is yours. That’s the firstfruits, that’s the tithe. That’s the tree in the garden for Adam. It’s the firstborn of every animal born on the earth. It’s the first. It’s the tithe. ‘kay.”
When Joshua consulted God in regards to his military losing the battle at Ai, God did not say to Joshua,
“Somebody took the tithe.”
Phil Pringle is making God say and teach things God never said. In other words, Phil Pringle is blaspheming by taking the Lord’s name in vain.
Firstly, this false teaching of the tithe goes against the heart of the Father, goes against Jesus and His finished work on Calvary and the Holy Spirit. Why? It is through Christ we find blessing and freedom away from the curse and condemnation of death, God’s Law and His wrath. As Christians we do not receive the Holy Spirit, God’s promise and blessing by our works. The entire letter to the Galatians makes this case. This is blasphemy no matter which way you look at it, again taking the Lord’s name in vain.
PRINGLE USING INTIMIDATION AND CROWD CONTROL
Pringle lets his emotions run in this portion of his talk. His tone is accusative against Christians for not tithing. If you watch further beyond the transcript, he starts personally confessing his works and his faithfulness to the tithe.
This does not stop Pringle teaching to his congregation that if individuals aren’t tithing, they are accused by God of “robbing,” cursed by God Himself and blocking the progress of his C3 church movement. This is This is why he says,
“I’m stirred up about it. Because it’s not about just me individually.”
The onus is on non-tithers to do what Pringle says or else. His lies mixed with his intimidation is in our opinion bullying. It is of our opinion he is using misleading tactics to force non-tithers in his congregation to tithe, using his own congregation against them. Think of it this way. After this sermon, how would members react to people who say they don’t tithe? After this sermon, do you think non-tithers would dispute this teaching against other members? Do you think they will feel isolated and alone in their thoughts on this matter?
Overall, this is a good example how a false teacher would teach and behave behind a pulpit. Phil Pringle’s false message and deceitful methods are clearly evident in this sermon.
Pringle protests that he doesn’t preach the prosperity gospel.
We’ve documented Pringle saying that Jesus died to make people rich. But did you know Pringle also teaches that Jesus was also buried and resurrected to make you rich? Phil Pringle gave this giving sermon on Resurrection Sunday 2012.
He teaches people again to sow money so they can grow money trees (1:36). Using a seed packet analogy, he contradicts the scripture Hebrews 11:1 he used at the start of his talk (2:35 and 3:07). He goes on to say,
“If He [Jesus] can beat death, he can beat the GFC. If He can beat death, He can beat any debts you’ve got in your world. All you gotta know is that it takes the sowing of a seed.” (3:56)
Pringle turns Christ’s death and resurrection into a financial principle in how to get money:
“The reason you and I are here this morning is because one seed was sown and one human life died in the ground and it’s risen again. That exact same principle applies to our giving here this morning. God has such a longing in his heart to bless you.” (4:19)
Finally, Phil Pringle encourages his members to give money as follows:
“And so right now, why don’t you and I get involved in a resurrection offering? A victorious offering! One that rises from the dead! You might say, ‘My finances are dead’. Well, here’s a moment to resurrect them. Here’s an opportunity to take the hold of a principle that God’s put in our hands.” (4:41)
This is not a biblical teaching and is completely disregarding the importance of Christ’s resurrection. Apostle Paul said,
“I want to know Christ and the power of his resurrection and the fellowship of sharing in his sufferings, becoming like him in his death,” Philippians 3:10
Pringle clearly wants to know a Jesus and the principles of the resurrection so he can get money.
Pringle also teaches that money is Christ-like. In fact, it is probably safe to say that Pringle has great difficulty separating Jesus from filthy lucre. As his quote above teaches us: money dies, money becomes victorious and money rises from the dead.
Finally, Pringle prays to God in regards to this offering, “your ways are not our ways”. Who is Phil Pringle trying to deceive here? How is this God’s way? Does God really care about us acknowledging a principle that resurrects our finances? Or does God care about the way His Word is handled?
“You foolish Galatians! Who has bewitched you? Before your very eyes Jesus Christ was clearly portrayed as crucified. I would like to learn just one thing from you… After beginning with the Spirit, are you now trying to attain your goal by human effort? Have you suffered so much for nothing—if it really was for nothing?” Galatians 3:1-4, NASB
“But now that you know God—or rather are known by God—how is it that you are turning back to those weak and miserable principles? Do you wish to be enslaved by them all over again?” Galatians 4:9, NASB
“Mark my words! I, Paul, tell you that if you let yourselves be circumcised, Christ will be of no value to you at all.Again I declare to every man who lets himself be circumcised that he is obligated to obey the whole law.You who are trying to be justified by law have been alienated from Christ; you have fallen away from grace.But by faith we eagerly await through the Spirit the righteousness for which we hope.For in Christ Jesus neither circumcision nor uncircumcision has any value. The only thing that counts is faith expressing itself through love.
You were running a good race. Who cut in on you and kept you from obeying the truth? That kind of persuasion does not come from the one who calls you. “A little yeast works through the whole batch of dough.” I am confident in the Lord that you will take no other view. The one who is throwing you into confusion will pay the penalty, whoever he may be.” Galatians 5:2-10, NASB
The scriptures also say,
“He saved us, not on the basis of deeds which we have done in righteousness, but according to His mercy, by the washing of regeneration and renewing by the Holy Spirit,” Titus 3:5, NASB, (Emphasis mine)
Before Pringle ‘lovingly’ bashes his critics (7:22), Pringle once again teaches people at C3 they can earn God’s grace by works. More specifically – if you give money, God gives you access to ‘grace’.
“And as you and I become givers in the kingdom of God, we’re gonna find ourselves accessing this grace. This unbelievable, inexhaustible, unending grace of God. Empowering you to have an abundance for every good work.” (6:57)
Click the time link above to see him make that specific comment or watch him say it in it’s proper context below.
You would have noticed C3 had plastered behind Phil Pringle this ‘scripture’:
“He saved us through the washing of rebirth and renewal by the Holy Spirit.” Titus 3:5
Was this orchestrated? Was this a coincidence? We can conclude it is very convenient for the scripture to be edited the way it was so Pringle could peddle this false doctrine that clearly contradicted the edited scripture. How is the moral and honest behaviour? Is this not leading people away from fundamental Christianity?
EDIT 05/05/2012: On the 4th of May, Phil Pringle twittered that his “media guys” had put something together to help with his message this coming weekend.
This is insightful for us to understand what goes on behind the scenes. It seems safe to say that Phil Pringle endorses the content in regards to what his “media guys” present in his sermons. With this in mind, it is highly likely that Phil Pringle gave them the distorted Titus 3:5 scripture that read, “He saved us through the washing of rebirth and renewal by the Holy Spirit”.
We at C3 Church Watch have already questioned if the typo in Phil Pringle’s book Top 10 Qualities of a Great Leader, was a typo or not.
“Today, Dr. Phil Pringle oversees the approximately 1,200 churches that make up Christian City Church International throughout the world, a significant proportion planted directly from Christian City Church Oxford Falls.” – About the Author DR. PHIL PRINGLE, Top 10 Qualities of a Great Leader, 2007, pg. 227.
We discussed how flippant Phil Pringle is with his church statistics in this article:
We have counted that he has 243 churches. Pringle updated his profile on his website last year, stating he ‘oversees the approximately 258 churches’, while in his services promotes he has‘nearly five hundred’churches in his movement. A commenter on C3 Church Watch has stated, ‘He [Phil Pringle] nearly always says it’s around 500’ (see comment section in the above link).
Phil Pringle released a new book last year called ‘Hope’ in 2011. Pringle writes (emphasis mine),
“He [Pringle] has overseen the planting of new churches in major cities throughout the world. Today, there are more than 300 C3 Churches around the globe, which collectively make up C3 Church Global, with a combined membership of more than 75,000. In addition to its renowned teaching ministry, C3 has an internationally acclaimed, accredited education program that includes kindergarten through high school, and offers baccalaureate degrees in disciplines that include:
The School of Ministry, which trains ministers and develops powerful ministries.
The School of Creative Arts, focusing in all disciplines of the arts.
The Pastoral Care and Counseling College.
The International School of the Church, which trains pastors and teams to plant churches and take the Word of God to new levels of growth.” – Phil Pringle, Hope, About The Author, 2011.
This information is not true. Previous articles have revealed that C3 does NOT have over 300 churches. What is also untrue is that NONE of his colleges offer courses that supply “baccalaureate degrees”. The last degree students finished at the end of 2009 and graduated in summer school, February 2010. The graduation ceremony was in April and May. C3 Colleges no longer were running any more degree classes onsite in 2010. Why?
PERSONAL TESTIMONY
When I was involved at C3 Creative Arts College, C3 tried to establish an arts degree program. I was guaranteed that this was obtainable if I signed up for the arts degree program. They failed to get their program recognised.
However, they resulted in supplying creative arts students a theology degree program. However, when the Sydney College of Divinity investigated C3 College’s conduct on their theology degree program, they found many problems.
C3 were not to continue their theology degree program any more. I was with the last batch of students to obtain a degree from the C3 College.
PROOF C3 COLLEGES DO NOT PROVIDE DEGREE PROGRAMS
If none believe what I say, below is what the colleges offer. Check out their college website here: http://www.c3college.com/main/. You will find that none offer “baccalaureate degrees”.
“COURSES OFFERED: ADVANCED DIPLOMA, DIPLOMA AND CERTIFICATE IV OF CREATIVE ARTS IN CHRISTIAN MINISTRY, SPECIALISING IN ACTING AND THEATRECRAFT” – C3 College, http://www.c3college.com/main/creative/acting-and-theatrecraft, (Accessed 07/02/2012).
“COURSES OFFERED: ADVANCED DIPLOMA, DIPLOMA AND CERTIFICATE IV OF CREATIVE ARTS IN CHRISTIAN MINISTRY, SPECIALISING IN CONTEMPORARY MUSIC / VOCALS AND WORSHIP LEADING” – C3 College, http://www.c3college.com/main/creative/contemporary-music-vocals-and-worship-leading, (Accessed 07/02/2012).
“COURSES OFFERED: ADVANCED DIPLOMA, DIPLOMA AND CERTIFICATE IV OF CREATIVE ARTS IN CHRISTIAN MINISTRY, SPECIALISING IN SCREEN PRODUCTION” – C3 College, http://www.c3college.com/main/creative/screen-production, (Accessed 07/02/2012).
C3’s Creative College reveals their Creative Arts Core Program does not offer “baccalaureate degrees”.
“Core Studies are on Tuesday and Thursdays in Certificate IV and Diploma and on Tuesdays in the Advanced Diploma, leaving the other days free for training in your chosen area of skill.”
Instead they offer,
“Core areas of study for all students over the one year full-time equivalent programme include:
The C3 College Creative Stream (aka SCA) does not offer “baccalaureate degrees”. The Leadership and Ministry Stream are no different. In Year 1, students get a Certificate IV in Leadership and Ministry courses.
In Year 2, students get a Diploma:
In Year 3, students get an Advanced Diploma. ‘Youth and Young Adults’ and ‘Pastoral Care’ is an elective within the Leadership and Ministry Stream. They do not offer “baccalaureate degrees”.
Therefore, we can conclude that Phil Pringle is misleading his readers into believing he offers quality education.
PRINGLE PURPOSELY CONFUSING READERS
It is not right for Phil Pringle to lump the educational quality of Oxford Falls Grammar School (OFGS) with his lack of quality education in his colleges:
“accredited education program that includes kindergarten through high school, and offers baccalaureate degrees in disciplines that include…”
OFGS may have students attend C3 Colleges after graduation and obtain scholarships. However, the educational quality is very different. Pringle’s 1985 Prospectus for his Ministry Training College says,
“We are not a “theological college” though we teach theology, nor even a “bible college” per se, but a ministry training college where students learn biblically how to be effective in the work force of Jesus.” – Ministry Training College Prospectus, 1985, pg 2.
An example of poor education for both colleges are as follows (more articles will be provided later):
C3 has a track record of inviting some of the worst Christian teachers to speak at their colleges which they consider to be “most gifted and experienced ministers“.
CONCLUSION
If anyone has any information about the ISC, please email us at c3churchwatch@hotmail.com. We would like to look into this further if possible.
In relation to this, Pringle has misled his readers to believe…
1. That his church colleges offer “baccalaureate degrees” in:
a) School of Ministry.
b) School of Creative Arts “focusing in all disciplines of the arts”.
c) The Pastoral Care and Counseling College.
d) The International School of the Church.
2. That he oversees 300 C3 Churches when facts reveal this not to be the case.
It’s been more than a year for Pringle to know that his colleges do not run degree programs. We have constantly demonstrated that Pringle is flippant with the truth about the number of churches in his movement for his own convenience. If this is not intentional, then Pringle needs to stop failing the high standard he sets in his C3 Movement.
Pringle needs to explain why he misinforms readers about himself in his books.
If you feel lead to pray for Phil Pringle and the C3 Movement, please do. Please pray for Phil Pringle to be an accountable and responsible leader.
C3 Church Watch 