Fellowship of Independent Evangelical Churches (Australia)

For the UK body, see Fellowship of Independent Evangelical Churches.
Fellowship of Independent Evangelical Churches
ClassificationEvangelical Protestant
PolityCongregational
National DirectorAl Stewart
Origin2002
Congregations55 (2022)
Official websitewww.fiec.org.au

The Fellowship of Independent Evangelical Churches is an evangelical denomination in Australia. It consists of 55 churches across six states.[1] It is based in Lyneham, Australian Capital Territory.

The FIEC as a denomination started in 2002 (although early church plants began in the 1990s)[2][3] and has experienced significant growth.[4]

Most of the churches were formed as church plants by clergy trained at Moore Theological College, but operating outside the Diocese of Sydney.[5][6] Although trained at Moore College and other theological colleges, senior pastors are not required to be ordained as deacons or priests/ministers by the FIEC. There were objections to these church plants by other local churches at the time.[7][8][9][10][11][12] In 2020, many of the church plants did not have their own church buildings, and met at local schools.[13]

The FIEC denomination is complementarian and requires the male senior pastors, who are the only representatives of its affiliated churches, to agree to and uphold this doctrine to maintain their membership of the FIEC.[14][9][15]

Al Stewart has been National Director since March 2020.[16]

  1. ^ "Find a church". Fellowship of Independent Evangelical Churches. Retrieved 30 April 2020.
  2. ^ "23 Oct 2020 - About Phillip | Phillip Jensen - Archived Website". Trove. Archived from the original on 2020-10-22. Retrieved 2020-12-15.
  3. ^ McDonald, Dave (2018-09-17). "Reflections on the beginnings of Crossroads". macarisms. Retrieved 2023-06-09.
  4. ^ Sandeman, John (18 December 2019). "What changed in the twenty teens". Eternity. Retrieved 30 April 2020.
  5. ^ "1998 ACL AGM - Church Planting on the Central Coast". acl.asn.au. Retrieved 2023-06-09.
  6. ^ Sandeman, John (2022-08-24). "Not just one split. There's been at least 50 'splits' in the Anglican Church of Australia". THE OTHER CHEEK. Retrieved 2023-06-09.
  7. ^ Cameron, Marcia (2016). Phenomenal Sydney: Anglicans in a Time of Change, 1945-2013. Wipf and Stock. p. 242. ISBN 9781498289320. Retrieved 30 April 2020.
  8. ^ Brown, Malcolm (16 October 2000). "Seeds of division take root over 'planted' churches". Sydney Morning Herald. p. 7.
  9. ^ a b "Membership booklet" (PDF). FIEC. 2020. Retrieved 15 December 2020.
  10. ^ "New era for church planting". Southern Cross Online. 16 Nov 2001. Archived from the original on 2001-11-16. Retrieved 2023-06-09.{{cite web}}: CS1 maint: bot: original URL status unknown (link)
  11. ^ Heard, Andrew (1999-02-03). "Doing 'nothing remarkable' on the coast". The Briefing. Retrieved 2023-06-09.
  12. ^ ABC TV, Four Corners, "An unholy row", 19 June 2000, transcript begins at 38:35
  13. ^ Burton-Bradley, Robert (2 July 2016). "'Homosexuality will send people to hell' - church sermons on public school grounds". SBS. Retrieved 30 April 2020.
  14. ^ McCarthy, Joanne (2019-01-25). "Go and make babies: pastor's message to married women raises hackles". Newcastle Herald. Retrieved 2021-02-09.
  15. ^ "FIEC Constitution" (PDF). FIEC. 2019. Retrieved 15 December 2020.
  16. ^ "Staff & Executive". FIEC. Retrieved 2023-07-20.