: By Glenn McConnell | Stuff | A shunned member of Gloriavale​ claims TVNZ’s documentaries about life inside the Christian community only show outsiders what leaders there want them to see. But the show’s director says she is presenting an accurate account of life inside Gloriavale while other media look for “clickbait”. John Ready…
: By Michael Wright – Stuff – 19/05/2018 Few leaders meant as much to their cause as Hopeful Christian. So it was that, when the founder and spiritual leader of the reclusive Gloriavale Christian Community died this week, aged 91, the very future of the West Coast settlement was questioned. This…
: By: Martin van Beynen – 18/05/2018 (Video can be viewed in article link). OPINION: What is it that makes regular folks so fascinated by Gloriavale, the Christian sect of about 500 people based in godforsaken Haupiri on the West Coast? And believe me, people are. We can tell which stories…
: | Ashburton Guardian | Michael Moreu | Digital cartoon by Mike Moreu on political and social issues in New Zealand and internationally. Accessible via National Library…
: | RNZ | Morning Report | The death of the founder of the Gloriavale sect, Hopeful Christian, is focussing attention on who will emerge as the new leader. The convicted sex offender, also known as Neville Cooper, died this week of cancer at the age of 92. Melanie Reid is…
: | Stuff | Paula Penfold and Eugene Bingham | Phil Cooper is an exuberant, boisterous – and openly emotional – guy. But he’s uncharacteristically quiet when he calls and with good reason: an hour beforehand, he tells us, his father, Gloriavale founder Hopeful Christian, died after a battle with cancer.…
: | RNZ | Checkpoint | A former Gloriavale member says he knows for an “undeniable fact” that sexual abuse has occurred in the West Coast religious community.…
: | 1News | The death of controversial Gloriavale leader Hopeful Christian is drawing mixed reaction from those who knew him. While the West Coast commune mourns his loss, others have taken the opportunity to speak out against him. The closed community closed ranks even further on what’s believed to be…
: | 1News | A woman who claimed she was sexually abused by former Gloriavale leader Hopeful Christian in the 1980s has given an emotional interview after his death, saying he escaped justice and “deserved to rot in jail.” Yvette Olsen, a former Gloriavale member now living in Australia, says she is…
: | NZ Herald | Kurt Bayer and Meghan Lawrence | The secretive Gloriavale religious commune has closed off the outside world as it buries its controversial leader Hopeful Christian today. Christian, formerly known as Neville Cooper, led the community for over 40 years and passed away at the remote community…