Gerald Coates

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Gerald Coates

Gerald Coates (1944- ) is the founder of Pioneer, a Christian community established to "develop new churches across the UK and engage in mission globally."[1] The Pioneer network is a neocharismatic group of evangelical churches. It is part of the British New Church Movement and can also be described as Restorationist. Coates himself was responsible for coining the term "New Church" to replace the more confusing former name "House Church Movement," of which he was also a founding member.[2] Along with Roger T Forster of Ichthus Christian Fellowship and Lynn Green of Youth with a Mission, he was one of the founders of March for Jesus.[3] He and his wife Anona have been married since 1966 and have three sons, one grandson and two grand daughters. Gerald and Anona live in Bookham, Surrey.

Current work

Coates is an author and a broadcaster, in both secular and religious media. He leads a church in Leatherhead called Engage which was planted in the former Thorndike Theatre but now meets elsewhere. He founded and ran a series of training courses called Insight, which is, in charismatic idiom, a "school of prophecy." He is the chair of the Charismatic Evangelical Round Table. He is involved with Pioneer's National Churches Forum, [4] and CRAC (the Central Religious Advisory Council).

Gerald has now handed over the leadership of the Pioneer movement to Billy and Caroline Kennedy of New Community, Southampton.

Reputation

P D Hocken says that Coates is a "dynamic and somewhat flamboyant figure, whose insistence on the gospel of grace has sometimes produced controversy."[5] Karla Poewe notes his reputation for generosity when working with churches of other nations.[6]

Bibliography

An Intelligent Fire (Eastbourne: Kingsway,1991) ISBN 0-86065-860-0 - an autobiography

Divided We Stand (Eastbourne: Kingsway, 1987) ISBN 0-86065-396-X

Gerald Quotes (Eastbourne: Kingsway, 1984) ISBN 0-86065-295-5

Footnotes

  1. ↑ http://www.pioneer.org.uk/
  2. ↑ Andrew Walker Restoring the Kingdom: the Radical Christianity of the House Church Movement 4th Ed (Guildford: Eagle, 1998) 19
  3. ↑ Stanley M Burgess, Eduard M van der Maas (eds) The New International Dictionary of Pentecostal and Charismatic Movements (Grand Rapids: Zondervan, 2002), 45
  4. ↑ About Gerald Coates
  5. ↑ Stanley M Burgess, Eduard M van der Maas (eds) New International Dictionary of Pentecostal and Charismatic Movements (Grand Rapids: Zondervan, 2002) s.v. "Gerald Coates"
  6. ↑ Karla O. Poewe Charismatic Christianity as a Global Culture (Columbia: University of South Carolina Press, 1994) 25

See also

British New Church Movement

External links

Authority control
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