Logos Foundation (Australia)
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The Logos Foundation was a Christian group that flourished in Australia in the 1970s and 1980s, under the leadership of the charismatic preacher Howard Carter. The Logos Foundation was initially a multidenominational Charismatic teaching ministry, and primarily Protestant and also had ties with Catholic lay groups and individuals.
The Logos Foundation was Reconstructionist and Dominionist in its theology and works. This is exemplified by their Operation Scatter Seed, which involved sending church supporters into marginal electorates to both spread the "good news" of God's kingship and influence electoral outcomes, and their involvement in the 1989 Queensland State election. However it was not always so.
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[edit] Early history
It was established by Howard J. Carter c.1966 in New Zealand as a teaching ministry. It moved to Sydney, Australia, c.1969, for a short time before relocating to Hazelbrook, lower Blue Mountains for a few years, and in the mid-1970s to Blackheath, upper Blue Mountains. During these years the teaching ministry attracted likeminded fellowships into loose association with it, and it was a publisher of Charismatic and Victorious Life teachings focused on Christ's pre-eminence in short books & the monthly Logos/Restore Magazine. It held annual weeklong conferences of over 1,000 registrants and arranged visiting international Charismatic speakers. A Bible College was also established nearby at Westwood Lodge, Mt Victoria. At the main site in Blackheath a Christian K-12 school, Mountains Christian Academy was established - most of the movement's churches had these as part of their ministry in educating the children of the followers. It carried over the Old Covenant practise of tithing (to the local church), and expected regular sacrificial giving beyond this. Theologically it taught orthodox Christian core beliefs - however in matters of opinion Logos teaching was presented as authoritative and alternative views were discouraged, and thinking Christians holding these tended to leave the movement eventually.
From the mid-1970s a hierarchical ecclesiology was adopted in the form of the whole-of-life discipleship / heavy shepherding of members by personal pastors (usually their "cell group" leader) who in turn were accountable also to their personal pastors, and so forth, through to Howard Carter who said he was accountable to the apostolic group in Christian Growth Ministries of Bob Mumford, Charles Simpson, Ern Baxter, Derek Prince,and Don Basham, in Ft Lauderdale, USA (whose network was estimated to have approx. 150,000 people involved at its peak c.1985). Written covenants of submission to the individual church pastors were encouraged for the members of one representative church, Christian Faith Centre Sydney, and were said to be common practice throughout the movement at the time.
The Logos movement churches were named the Australian Fellowship of Covenant Communities in 1980, and were led through an eschatological shift in the early 1980s from the Premillennialism of many Pentecostals, to the Postmillennialism of the Presbyterian Reconstructionist theonomists. This shift to an overt theological-political paradigm resulted in some senior leadership, including Pastor David Jackson of Christian Faith Centre Sydney, leaving the movement altogether. In the mid 1980s AFoCC re-branded as the Covenant Evangelical Church (not associated with the Evangelical Covenant Church in the USA). The Logos Foundation brand continued as the Educational and Political arm of the Covenant Evangelical Church.
It finally c.1986 moved to Toowoomba, Queensland where they had associated fellowships and a demographic environment more conducive to the growth of New Right religio-political movements.
[edit] The 1980s Move to Queensland
The move to Toowoomba involved much preparation, including members selling homes and other assets in New South Wales and the Logos Foundation acquiring many homes, businesses and commercial properties in Toowoomba and the Darling Downs. As part of the relocation process the Logos Foundation sold/transferred many of the properties it had acquired in Toowoomba to its members.
In the process of relocating the organisation and most of its members, it absorbed a number of other small Christian Churches in Toowoomba. Many of these were "House Churches" more or less affiliated with Carter's other organisations.
In 1989 Logos involved itself in the Queensland State election, running a campaign of surveys and advertisements pushing the line that candidates' adherence to Fundamentalist Christian principles were more important than their attitude to the corruption that had been exposed by the Fitzgerald Inquiry. This controversial action backfired, with many mainstream Churches and religious organisations distancing themselves from The Logos Foundation.
[edit] Other Connections
It had ties to a number of other groups including Christian Growth Ministries, Fort Lauderdale, USA ; and Jim Bakker's PTL Ministries in the United States. These ties included acting as printers and publishers, taking advantage of the Australian tax law exemption from taxes of Church run enterprises.
Some Logos Foundation supporters were also connected to other Christian Authoritarian and Charismatic groups, including Opus Dei.
[edit] Demise and Dissolution
The Logos Foundation / Covenant Evangelical Church did not long survive the public adultery scandal that brought down Howard Carter.
Subsequently many members of Logos found their way to other Churches, especially those connected with the Assemblies of God such as Toowoomba City Church. Many former Logos members are involved in the Family First Party.
