The Fellowship (Australia)

The Fellowship was started by Ronald Grant and Alan Neil, who had both served as missionaries with the South Seas Evangelical Mission in the Solomon Islands. While missionaries, both were profoundly influenced by widespread^[3] experiences of "the conviction of sin and deliverance from demons"^[4] during their participation in a revival in the Solomon Islands.^[5] Dissatisfied with perceived persecution from evangelical circles following their requested resignation due to "doctrinal differences"^[4] the pair started house meetings in their homes in the late 1930s. Communicants of these meetings would later be labelled as members of "The Fellowship".

Alan Neil died in the late 1960s, and Ronald Grant was involved in the group until his death in 1995. During the following year, members left their current churches and joined one of three Presbyterian churches: Clayton, Mount Evelyn and Camberwell, reportedly at the direction of the Fellowship.^[6] In 2002, people accused of being in the Fellowship were removed from membership of the Mount Evelyn church.^[7]

The Fellowship is strongly opposed to Freemasonry. A theory of "generational curses" is taught, which encourages repentance if a member's ancestors were Freemasons.^[2]

The Fellowship emphasises the importance of what it calls "walking in the light",^[8] referencing 1 John 1:7. In the context of The Fellowship, "walking in the light" means the public confession of sin to one another and being completely transparent with others to keep one another accountable. The doctrine argues that God's forgiveness depends upon such public confession of sin.^[9]

Stuart Piggin suggests that they combined "remnant" and "revival" mentalities, and that occasional visitors to their meetings "have been impressed by the Christian calibre of those who attended and could not fault the Scriptural teaching."^[10]

The Fellowship has been widely criticised for causing relationship breakdowns between Fellowship members and their families and "shunning" members who leave the group. There are many testimonies of ex-Fellowship members being cut off from family members, some unable to see their grandchildren, and examples of Fellowship people refusing to attend funerals of non-Fellowship family members.^[11] While it appears that these relationships have been mending outwardly (with the example of many grandparents being reunited with grandchildren), the group continues to deny wrongdoing. Fractured Fellowship: A Presbyterian Case Study makes this case based on primary sources, including private letters, that have never been published.