Former Gloriavale resident’s dreams of pop stardom helped him escape

June 23, 2019: By: Al Williams – 23/06/2019 (Video can be viewed in article link). Enoch Loyal used to sneak away from Gloriavale as a teenager, and would reattach aerials to his transistor radio that had been removed by the sect’s leaders. Loyal, 20, would tune into FM radio during these clandestine missions…

Family of 11 leave Gloriavale over community’s new leadership

August 16, 2018: Newshub Reporter – 16/08/2018 (Video can be viewed in article link). A family of 11 have left Gloriavale for Timaru because of the secluded community’s new leadership. Newshub understands nine children aged between 15 months and 16 years old along with their parents have left the West Coast religious community.…

Director stands by show as exiled Gloriavale father claims ‘everything is vetted’

May 27, 2018: 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…

Obituary: Gloriavale patriarch Hopeful Christian’s troubling legacy

May 19, 2018: 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…

Our fascination with Gloriavale is all about secrets, sex and salvation

May 18, 2018: 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…

‘He’s going to go to hell’ says woman sexually abused by Gloriavale leader Hopeful Christian in the ’80s

May 16, 2018: | 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…

‘He deserved to rot in jail’ – woman who claims she suffered sexual abuse at hands of former Gloriavale leader gives emotional interview

May 16, 2018: | 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…

Who was Hopeful Christian and how did he rise to notoriety at Gloriavale?

May 15, 2018: By Brad Flahive – Stuff – 15/05/2018 [Video can be viewed in article link] One of New Zealand’s most controversial figures has died after a battle with cancer, aged 92. Hopeful Christian, founder of the Gloriavale commune and convicted sex offender, died on Tuesday at the secluded community on the…