The secretive Christian community of Gloriavale will be in mourning today after the death of leader Hopeful Christian yesterday from cancer, aged 92.
Christian, who was convicted of indecent assault in 1995, had led the community for decades, and other members of the community will now be thinking about who will step in to his place, Sunday reporter Jehan Casinader told TVNZ 1's Breakfast this morning.
"There will be a power vacuum that is created within Gloriavale," Casinader said.
The controversial religious leader died today after a battle with cancer. (Source: Other)
"Hopeful Christian has been the Overseeing Shepherd, as its called, within Gloriavale for a number of years.
"There's a team of what they call twelve servants and shepherds who are responsible for the running of Gloriavale, they will step up into those positions and they'll work out where things go from here.
"So we would expect some change in the way that Gloriavale is run, I don't expect that there will be mass change in people breaking out or leaving."
Amanda Evans has visited the reclusive Christian community three times and says she simply doesn’t see the dark realities the media enjoys repeating. (Source: Other)
Amanda Evans, who has produced three TVNZ mini series on Gloriavale, yesterday told Breakfast that life inside Gloriavale is not as dark or unseemly as many may think.
The latest mini-series on Gloriavale will return to screens this month - Gloriavale: The Return.
The series will revisit Dove Love and Paul and Pearl, who played large parts in TVNZ's previous series, Gloriavale – A World Apart, Gloriavale – Life and Death and Gloriavale – A Woman's Place.
1 NEWS has obtained a copy of the religious community's joining pledge, that has been labelled a human rights breach. (Source: Other)
It will be available on TVNZ Ondemand.
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