Stephen Standfast the New Gloriavale Leader after Howard Temple Pled guilty (Part 3/3)

Opinion piece: Liz Gregory.

(Thoughts, opinions and views expressed here belong to Liz Gregory and may or may not represent the views of the Gloriavale Leavers’ Support Trust, former or current members of Gloriavale.).

Part Three:

Read Part One and Part Two for the background to this post.

Should Howard stand down?

Well, before I got to publish this blog post, that question was answered. Howard did stand down a week or two after the verdict. But for what reasons and why did it take him so long to make the call?

Of course it was right he stood down. Even in secular society he would be expected to stand down. In healthy Church circles he would have been forced to stand down as soon as the allegations were raised – long before charges or a trial.

At the time, some leavers didn’t think he would stand down because he really didn’t believe he did anything wrong. And some current members believed the narrative that there were just bitter and evil people who brought these wicked accusations against the leader of the Church of God, and “the gates of hell will not prevail against them.”

Someone sent an email into all of the Gloriavale email addresses suggesting Howard should stand down for spiritual reasons, (ie the Biblical principle that leaders are held to a higher standard and need to be without reproach), but Gloriavale assumed it was a “bitter leaver” who wrote the email, and they said that even if they had a point, God wouldn’t use such a person to send them a message…

But it appears they were willing to receive a message from the heathen instead!!!  A few days later …. Knock knock. Who’s there? An external trustee of their Charitable Trust. (Back in 2016, when the Gloriavale trust hit bumpy waters with the Charities Services, external “friends” were brought onto the Trust Board to try to help Gloriavale comply. It’s their job to ensure that the Trust complies with Trust Law. They must have been hoping Howard would make the decision to stand down after his guilty plea – but it appears he needed some prompting.

A few days later Howard told his flock via a zoom call that the trustee who visited told him that if he remained in charge, it would have a negative impact on those who conduct business with Gloriavale.

After that Howard made the decision.

Apparently it was a commercial decision. Money always talks.

Others suggest he probably knew inside himself that he should stand down, but he was anointed by God after all. That must make this a difficult decision.

Stephen Standfast takes the lead

Howard announced that Stephen Standfast would be taking over (a much-anticipated move – since Hopeful named him before his death in 2018 as the successor after Howard). There was no formal ceremony, as one might expect with the passing of the baton in a church setting. Just an announcement, and Howard will now fade into the background (or will he?). There is a belief that Stephen will still look to Howard as a mentor as Stephen has never really practiced making decisions without Howard or Hopeful’s approval.

Who is Stephen Standfast?

A news article in 2023 sheds some light on him and his family background.
https://www.thepress.co.nz/nz-news/350043133/who-stephen-standfast-gloriavales-next-overseeing-shepherd

It’s fair to say that Gloriavale leavers have their own opinions of Stephen, having attended school with him, lived with or bedside him, been taught by him, and then watched him rise to a position of Shepherd.

Former Member John Ready spoke to RNZ about his views about Stephen’s new leadership role: https://www.rnz.co.nz/news/national/569780/ex-member-says-new-leader-won-t-rid-gloriavale-of-its-issues

I actually haven’t found any former member who believes Stephen has what it would take to reform the community into a healthy organisation. He’s also a victim of the ideology of the group. He was indoctrinated into it early and it’s likely his own development has inevitably been impacted by cultic harm. He holds fast to many beliefs that Hopeful promoted, and that usually involved not thinking too hard about anything, but rather submitting and obeying (Stephen has said as much himself).

A new direction?

Not necessarily.

Former member John Ready shared with RNZ that he didn’t think the outcome of Howard’s trial and guilty plea would really change much in Gloriavale, saying that the community will just carry on, as they have a leadership replacement in place.  Listen to him on Morning Report here:  https://www.rnz.co.nz/national/programmes/morningreport/audio/2018997916/former-gloriavale-member-on-leader-pleading-guilty

How much change can you bring about when you still live in the self-sealing system? Leavers think that it would be naïve to think that you can exercise leadership in a crisis, when you haven’t really exercised those muscles to date.

Stephen has recently stated he wants things to fix things and go back to the way things were. (I think it’s important to note that I don’t believe he wants a community with sexual abuse), but he certainly believes that those that live at Gloriavale should abide by the rules and ethos of the community. Compliance and unity are still the most important features of community life. Along with the common purse. Some leavers I’ve spoken to expect that most people will comply and “buckle down”… After all, that’s what they’ve been taught is the Godly thing to do.

Messaging from inside the community says they expect Stephen to flex his muscles soon.

Stephen is seen as a more spiritual man than Howard, and so we expect to see an uptick in spiritual rhetoric as he tries to bring the people back into line, after a few years of fraying around the edges.

I guess only time will tell what Gloriavale will look like in a few years.

There’s no doubt that Stephen believes the Lord will return before then.