Changing of guard at Gloriavale

| Greymouth Star | Brendon McMahon |

A younger face has emerged to replace Howard Temple as overseeing shepherd of the Gloriavale Christian Community at Lake Haupiri.

In a statement yesterday, Gloriavale announced the resignation of Mr Temple, 85, and his replacement with 48-year-old Stephen Standfast.

The succession comes after Americanborn Mr Temple pleaded guilty in the Greymouth District Court to 12 charges of assault following historic sexual abuse allegations spanning more than two decades.

These included accusations of touching girls and women aged between nine and 20yrs by way of unwanted touching, hugging, and kissing, mostly in the community’s communal dining room.

Mr Temple is on bail awaiting sentencing after he changed his plea to guilty midway through his judge-alone trial after an earlier not-guilty plea to representative charges. The charges followed a three-year police investigation into the 600-strong Gloriavale community.

The former leader is believed to be still living in a house associated with Gloriavale but not on the main property. Meanwhile, Mr Standfast had been acting as the overseeing shepherd and was designated to replace Mr Temple for some time under a succession plan drawn up by the community’s founder and its overseeing group of elders.

Mr Temple had been at the helm since 2018 upon the death of the founder Hopeful Christian, otherwise known as Neville Cooper.

“In the years since then, he has led a campaign to establish policies around child safety and well-being, as well as workplace health and safety,” the statement said. The new overseeing shepherd would continue that.

“Mr Standfast, 48, has spent several years now working with outside agencies to support ongoing changes for safety and well-being,” the statement said.