Gerald Coates Pioneer: A Biography

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Later, I learned that in medieval times the court jester, also known as the fool, acted like an immensely powerful rogue, who could nudge the mightiest power in the land to dothe right thing, often through wit and repartee. The jester taught with laughter and sought to bring healing to painful situations. The smiling Gerald modelled that in life, and now exhorted me in word. I was relieved. There was dignity in my calling. In fact Westminster Chapel actually declined and numbers dwindled in the months andyears that followed Coates' prophecy.Thisparticular prophecy was one of a number of false propheciesmade by Gerald Coates. The extent to which their approach to safeguarding reflects and has been shaped by biblical values and beliefs.

We pray for Gerald’s wife, Anona, as well as their three sons and their families. And we pray for John, Christine’s husband, and their extended family.Their brilliance, kindness, way of thinking and turn of phrase turns our own heads and hearts. We want to be around them. Formerly a leader of the Pioneer network, and a significant voice for many decades in the British Church, Gerald Coates was one of those people. Restoration 1" ('R1') followed the more conservative teachings of Arthur Wallis, Graham Perrins and Bryn Jones, and included such figures as Terry Virgo, founder of the Newfrontiers network of churches, Barney Coombs of Salt and Light Ministries International, and Tony Morton, formerly of Cornerstone. Jesus goes on to speak about tribulation, apostasy, persecution, betrayal, false christs and falseprophets, lawlessness, false signs and wonders ,great tribulation culminating inthe appearance of the man of sin and the abomination of desolation. Notice that change, miracles, experience and new thing s are at the epicentre of theNew Wine Movement. They talk about unity and diversity, continuity and change.... their hopes are centredupon a new thing, but this hope is not what God's Word tells us to rely upon. New Wine offers something apart from the gospel of Jesus Christ. (Proverbs 30:6).

The scope of this review is broad, and Pioneer Trust and CSS are committed to following the evidence and considering any information that comes to light. The main limitation in the scope is that this is a review of Pioneer Trust, and focuses on areas in which they are active or for which they have responsibility. It is not a review of Gerald Coates’ activity in other spheres, neither is it restricted to concerns about him. The review wishes to hear from anyone who has information that will help us to understand where improvements need to be made to the culture and practice of Pioneer Trust. However his peaceful and generally stress-free if somewhat lonely life, was thrown into turmoil in the early 1990s when the old chestnut of completing Worcester’s ring road reared its head again. Teenagers aged 15-19 began leaving the Church in large numbers; courses for youth workers began to help slow down the rate of decline. I am grateful for the way he influenced my life, my marriage, my faith and my understanding of the Kingdom. Also for helping me to become the singer/songwriter I aspired to be.Sunday 3rd April 2022, marked the end of Gerald's life on this planet. During his 78 years, he has impacted the church and countless lives around the globe. His passing marks the end of an era. Those evenings more than 40 years ago marked the start of a friendship with Gerald that changed our lives completely. We arrived to set up and while doing so, I noticed a guy in a raincoat helping to put out the chairs.

Gerald was a radical, regularly challenging the status quo, and taking mischievous delight in overturning what he saw as unbiblical and unhelpful evangelical church traditions. The British New Church Movement ( BNCM) is a neocharismatic evangelical Christian movement. Its origin is associated with the Charismatic Movement of the 1960s, although it both predates it and has an agenda that goes beyond it. It was originally known as the "house church movement", although this name is no longer relevant as few congregations meet in houses. Gerald Coates, one of the early leaders, coined the name New Churches as an alternative. [1] It is also restorationist in character, seeking to restore the church to its 1st century equivalent. [2] While the Charismatic Movement focused on the transformation of individuals, the BNCM (like Brethrenism, Baptists, Anabaptists and the Restoration Movement in the US) focused also on the nature of the church. For the BNCM since 1970, this has focused on the renewal of the fivefold ministries, particularly apostles, which for others might resemble a charismatically ordained and functioning episcopate. As he sat on the Mount of Olives, the disciples came to him privately, saying, “Tell us, when will these things be, and what will be the sign of your coming and of the end of the age?” And Jesus answered them, “See that no one leads you astray. For many will come in my name, saying, ‘I am the Christ,’ and they will lead many astray. And you will hear of wars and rumors of wars. See that you are not alarmed, for this must take place, but the end is not yet. For nation will rise against nation, and kingdom against kingdom, and there will be famines and earthquakes in various places. All these are but the beginning of the birth pains. (Matthew 24:3-9).We worked on so many projects together, but probably the most memorable was 'Champion of the World' at London's Wembley Stadium, where we gathered almost 45,000 to worship, in June 1997. The opening shots showed many people seated prayerfully with their hands clasped – not together but around their jaws. The prayer of the pastor at the front could be heard filling the auditorium – ‘In the name of Jesus – fill teeth Lord – replace amalgam fillings with gold and with platinum’. Who were these people, what was the location and who was the pastor/prospector praying for an infilling, not of the Holy Spirit, but of precious metals? We were in TORONTO – birthplace of the 1994 so-called ‘BLESSING’. Same fellowship and same pastor – John Arnott. The programme was presented by Diane Louise Jordan (I’ll have more to say about her later) and in the course of the programme she asked someone for their views on ‘prophecy’ – who was that someone – a man called Gerald Coates. Unquestionably, there were strengths to his leadership. Among his achievements was the organisation of the March for Jesus events that gained worldwide traction and became major annual occurrences. This could be David Cameron's Achilles' heel, in the same way that the hunting ban was for Tony Blair. It seemed to be a small issue and it seemed that the public would be on the side of the ban but it went on and on to dog him and nothing changed.

Restoration 1 diverged into three groups, under the leadership of Bryn Jones, Terry Virgo and Tony Morton. Eventually, Bryn Jones' group has diversified into five identifiable parts: churches led by Alan Scotland, Keri Jones (Bryn's brother), Gareth Duffty, Andrew Owen and Paul Scanlon. Restoration 2 had originally had at least three groups: that led by Gerald Coates, John Noble, and George Tarleton. Tarleton left the movement quite soon after the split; in the 90s John Noble joined Gerald Coates' movement, with some of his churches following. During this time, Dave Tomlinson started as an Apostle within R1, moved to R2 and then also left the movement, becoming an Anglican vicar. Barney Coombs churches have developed alongside R1 throughout the period. Thirty years after the first division, it appears that churches connected with R1 have generally maintained their impetus (with the exception of Tony Morton's churches, whose association has dissolved after he left the movement also). On the other hand, churches within R2 have had a much more difficult history. Gerald Coates was born in 1944; he became the founder of Pioneer, a Christian network of churches and forums, founded to “develop new churches across the UK and engage in mission globally.” You will note that in that short article I made reference to ‘Toronto’ and this of course was the so-called ‘Toronto Blessing’ that infected large parts of professing Christendom in the mid 1990’s. Much of the ‘credit’ for spreading this viral ‘Blessing’ in the UK was down to the ‘ministry’ of one Rodney Howard Browne. On video of a meeting that he held in England the supportive platform guests included Gerald Coates. After ‘Toronto’ eventually subsided there was a lull in Charismatic activity and frenzy but then in 1999 reports started appearing of a new phenomenon being claimed by the Toronto Airport (Vineyard) Fellowship where the so-called ‘Blessing’ had originally incubated. This was a claim that God was miraculously turning ordinary tooth-fillings into GOLD tooth-fillings. I made reference to this in an article in my September 1999 ‘News From The Front’ – this is what I wrote –

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This review was initiated after a complaint was raised with Pioneer Trust in July 2023 about their late founder and former Network Leader, Gerald Coates, who led the network up until 2009. The concerns relate to approaches to ministry and pastoral practice. Outspoken and abounding in energy, Gerald was one of the UK’s best-known church leaders in the 80s and 90s. It seemed that almost every other Christian book published in Britain during those decades sought (and gained) an endorsement from Gerald Coates! Keith Larby/Alamy Live News One of the windows of Truro Cathedral which were damaged by vandals last month All I have spoken to about this are absolutely sure if the road had been forced across his land the stress would have killed him.” As it happened opponents of the scheme won the day and the ring remains incomplete. The bridleway was so obviously a public right of way, but Gerald must have thought he was doing everyone a favour by converting what was a muddy, narrow slope, into what it became