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Didaktikon
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Date Posted:03/04/2014 2:21 AMCopy HTML

Good afternoon all.

Those who have been around for a while might recall every few years I report on the continuing demise of Revivalism in Australia via appeals to Australian Bureau of Statistics (ABS) data. The most recent census was conducted in this country on 9 August 2011; the results should be troubling for Mr Simon Longfield, and those among his coterie who advise him.

So what does the data present?

In the 2001 census 3,856 people across Australia identified themselves as members of the Revival Centres International. However, in 2011 the figure had dropped to 2,226 - a decline of 1,630 adherents. To put this another way, the RCI lost almost half its 2001 number over the following decade!

The RCI has been trending significant negative growth since the census of 1991, averaging a decline of approximately 38% each succeeding decade. The heyday of the 1980s are well and truly past; the future, such as it is, is decidely grim for this branch of Australian Lonfieldianism.

Soli deo gloria.

Ian




email: didaktikon@gmail.com
spitchips Share to: Facebook Twitter MSN linkedin google yahoo #1
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Re:The continuing demise of the Revival Centres in Australia

Date Posted:08/04/2014 9:48 AMCopy HTML

Hello Ian


I have not been on this site for such a long time. But it is with much happiness that I read this post of yours. Perhaps the decline will continue steadily until there is a lone preacher of false doctrines preaching to an empty hall.


cheers and God's blessings


Chips

D-T-M Share to: Facebook Twitter MSN linkedin google yahoo #2
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Re:The continuing demise of the Revival Centres in Australia

Date Posted:13/04/2014 5:20 AMCopy HTML

 I hope you are correct in your assumptions Ian, but when I accompany Mrs Mole to the Box Hill gathering three or four times a year there is still a reasonable turnout, although they never open the mezzanine any more.

Maybe some were not 100% honest when filling out their census forms and put down "none" "Jedi Knight" etc.

Mole.
Didaktikon Share to: Facebook Twitter MSN linkedin google yahoo #3
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Re:The continuing demise of the Revival Centres in Australia

Date Posted:13/04/2014 12:33 PMCopy HTML

Hi, Mole.

I'd suggest they're more than simply assumptions, but statistical realities. And to be honest I just can't see any RCI adherent recording anything but 'Revival Centres' in the religious affiliation section of their census form, nevermind sixteen hundred-odd identifying themselves as 'Jedi knights' ;)

Blessings,

Ian

email: didaktikon@gmail.com
D-T-M Share to: Facebook Twitter MSN linkedin google yahoo #4
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Re:The continuing demise of the Revival Centres in Australia

Date Posted:17/04/2014 4:53 AMCopy HTML

 Meanwhile Mrs Mole advised after last Sunday's service that Pr Simon had just returned from a junket in PNG and claimed to have over 8,000 bums on seats in PNG.

Is Simon exagerating slightly?


Mole
Didaktikon Share to: Facebook Twitter MSN linkedin google yahoo #5
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Re:The continuing demise of the Revival Centres in Australia

Date Posted:17/04/2014 7:24 AMCopy HTML

Hi, Mole.

"Is he exaggerating?" Well, I believe he probably is :) There are several things to consider in reviewing this matter. First and foremost, PNG has a well ingrained culture of witchcraft and magic. Toss in the standard Revivalist nonsense about 'signs-and-wonders' and you're sure to gather a crowd. Converting them, and then keeping them? Well, those are entirely different matters!

Next, both the RCI and the RF make the same claim about having thousands of 'saints' in PNG. I wouldn't be in the least bit surprised to discover that individual adherents consider themselves to be members of both sects, especially given that the Revival Fellowship in PNG is known as 'Revival Centres of Papua New Guinea'.

Of some interest, according to the PNG National Statistics Office the largest Christian communion in the country is the Roman Catholic Church. The Catholics account for almost one third of the nation's total population; the Lutherans account for another fifth, and the SDA's a tenth. These are the largest, single organisations. Then there are the 'Pentes', which account for only another tenth of the total population, with the Assemblies of God denomination 'owning' almost 70% of 'em.

Consequently, when I hear/read wild pieces of Revivalist propaganda, such as the notable piece from 2012 wherein the Revival Fellowship claimed: "Today more than 90,000 people throughout Papua New Guinea are enjoying the benefits of paying attention to the salvation message of God and taking that step to repent, be baptised and be filled with the Holy Spirit, Acts 2:38." I tend to smile and reflect on the foibles of 'wishful-thinking'.

However, I suppose if Simon Longfield is happy enough to be claiming there are three times as many active converts in PNG as there are in Australia (whilst having only one third the population), then he should probably resign his appointment and install Sacky Gebia as Senior Pastor of the Revival Centres International! :)

Blessings,

Ian

email: didaktikon@gmail.com
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Re:The continuing demise of the Revival Centres in Australia

Date Posted:18/04/2014 1:22 AMCopy HTML

Ian,

"There are several things to consider in reviewing this matter. First and foremost, PNG has a well ingrained culture of witchcraft and magic. Toss in the standard Revivalist nonsense about 'signs-and-wonders' and you're sure to gather a crowd."

Interesting, I remember Noel Hollins preach on that very thing years ago, difference is he was accusing the Roman Catholic Church of having the rituals as part of the Christian ministry. What a hypocrite.

Ralph.



I believe in Christianity as I believe the sun has risen; not only because I see it, but because by it I see everything else. C.S.Lewis.
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Re:The continuing demise of the Revival Centres in Australia

Date Posted:28/04/2014 12:25 AMCopy HTML

 Mrs Mole advised this week that Simon had returned from Fiji where there are three Assemblies and "hundreds" of members.

Mole
Didaktikon Share to: Facebook Twitter MSN linkedin google yahoo #8
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Re:The continuing demise of the Revival Centres in Australia

Date Posted:28/06/2017 11:34 AMCopy HTML

Good evening, all.

The results of the 2016 Australian census are progressively being released. I hope to post a summary soon, listing the most up-to-date adherence figures for the Revival Centres and the Revival Fellowship.

God bless,

Ian

email: didaktikon@gmail.com
Didaktikon Share to: Facebook Twitter MSN linkedin google yahoo #9
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Re:The continuing demise of the Revival Centres in Australia

Date Posted:19/09/2021 6:21 AMCopy HTML

Hello, All.

I'll be updating the ABS information on the ongoing national demise of the Revival Centres shortly, but for now I thought I'd submit a localised teaser: in the 2016 census, only 322 people in the entire state of Victoria identified with the Revival Centres, which represents a drop of 144 followers from the 2011 figures (when they registered 466 members). This is a decline of almost 31% in five years!

To put this into perspective, according to the ABS the average size of a church congregation in Australia is a little over 100 members. The Revival Centres publicly lists 11 assemblies in Victoria; 322 divided by 11 doesn't make for much in the way of "tithes and offerings". Perhaps this is why Simon Longfield reported just the one paid staff position in the Melbourne Central assembly in his annual return to the Australian Charities and Not-for-profits Commission this year?

Long story, short: if this trend of massive decline continues, there'll be no Revival Centres people "...meeting the Lord in the Air." Whether many would in any case ... is certainly open to challenge ;)

Blessings,

Ian

email: didaktikon@gmail.com
Didaktikon Share to: Facebook Twitter MSN linkedin google yahoo #10
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Re:The continuing demise of the Revival Centres in Australia

Date Posted:23/09/2021 5:53 AMCopy HTML

Good afternoon, All.

Membership within the Revival Centres continued to significantly decline in the five years between the 2011 and 2016 censuses. In 2011 2,226 Australians identified as members of this sect. By 2016, this had reduced to 1,491 adherents, which represents a decline of approximately 33% over five years.

The Revival Centres website lists 31 assemblies in Australia. A survey of ACNC data indicates the majority of these are numerically underwhelming; every assembly self-reported as being a 'small' charity, i.e. having a total annual revenue of less than $250,000 p.a. An approximation of the upper limit for such an assembly can be calculated by considering income from tithes based on the average Australian wage, and then halving the final figure. This would allow for somewhere between 40 and 50 people for an assembly enjoying the ACNC's maximum permissible annual revenue needed to retain the 'small' charity status. Another way of aggregating the data is to divide the total number of people self-identifying with the Revival Centres in the 2016 census, by the total number of publicly listed assemblies. The net result is an average of 48 adults per assembly. Given metropolitan groups would likely have slightly larger attendances than would regional and rural groups, I believe it reasonable to assume the majority of Australian assemblies would likely have somewhere between 15 and 25 adults in regular attendance.

In closing, based on self-reporting by individual members (i.e. ABS data) and pastors (i.e. ACNC data), the Revival Centres membership base in Australia is numerically so small as to be inconsequential. The impact of this branch of the Longfield heresy on local Australian communities is similarly inconsequential. Unfortunately, the same can't be said of the disproportionate impact the Revival Centers has had, and continues to have, in the lives of many past and current members!

The most recent (i.e. 2021) ABS census data won't become available for a few years yet. However, I'm confident we'll find then that the significant trend downwards continues. This heretical sect is dying, thanks be to God.

Blessings,

Ian


didaktikon@gmail.com

Didaktikon Share to: Facebook Twitter MSN linkedin google yahoo #11
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Re:The continuing demise of the Revival Centres in Australia

Date Posted:11/07/2022 11:15 AMCopy HTML

UPDATE:

I inadvertently misrepresented the 2016 RCI membership census numbers in my post, above. There I reported 1,491 adherents when the true figure was approximately half that number at 721 members. Incidentally, the RF fared little better, with a reported membership of just 768 members Australia-wide.

Spiritually impotent and numerically insignificant; a pox on both their houses!

Blessings,

Ian

email: didaktikon@gmail.com
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