Bethel Church (Redding, California)

In the fall of 1998, Bethel Church began Bethel School of Supernatural Ministry, under the direction of Kris Vallotton, Bethel's senior associate pastor. The school trains its students in the supernatural and miracles, such as faith healing, in order that they may become revivalists.[2][4] The normal program is one academic year and students have the opportunity to return for a second and third year. Approximately 15% of the students stay for the full three years. The school was founded with 36 students, and in 2010 and 2016 the school enrollment numbered over 1,200 and 2,000 students from 57 countries, respectively.[24][2] They are an unaccredited program and do not offer a degree or credits but a certificate.[25] The school has gotten the nickname "Christian Hogwarts" among students because of its focus on the supernatural.[4][26]

BSSM now has more than 10,000 alumni. In 2016–17, an extensive survey on alumni was carried out by Eido Research by alumni of the program.[27] From a representative sample from all years of graduation since 1999, the survey found that 97% of graduates are still "confident in their faith", and that 90% attend a church service at least monthly. Likewise, graduates reported seeing at least 35,000 salvations since 1999, and 50,000 physical healings over the previous year.[28] The report also showed that BSSM graduates have a divorce rate that is four times lower than the American Christian average.[28]

As a part of the student's education, they get assignments, such as to find strangers in Redding to heal. News articles report that students seek out people in wheelchairs and crutches to pray for in grocery stores and parking lots.[2][4] Reportedly, the students are banned from prophesying to tourists around the Sundial Bridge after incidents[4] and they have similarly been kicked out of local stores.[2] Another regular practice is "treasure hunts", where they believe God gives them clues that match people they are to find and attempt to heal or prophecy to.[4][29]

In 2008 a man fell down a 200-foot cliff in Redding after drinking with a group at the top. The two others that were with him, including one student at the Bethel School of Supernatural Ministry, believed he was dead and tried to find him for six hours in order to raise him back to life, rather than calling the police. The man survived, but was paralyzed from the fall, and later unsuccessfully sued the student in the group.[30] The incident is often brought up as a criticism of the church's teachings, which includes that believers may raise people from the dead with prayer.[4][31]

The school garnered criticism for a practice among some students termed "grave soaking", where they would lay on the graves of deceased revivalists in the belief that they would absorb the deceased's anointing from God. The school would visit such graves for inspiration and prayer, and there the practice developed among students from an interpretation of the Biblical story of the prophet Elisha. In the Bible, a dead man was put in the grave of Elisha, and when the man's corpse touched the dead bones of Elisha, he was revived.[32] This was interpreted to mean that the same power, or anointing, laid in the graves of later revivalists, and thus the students sought it by laying on their graves. The leadership of the church never endorsed the practice, but did not immediately shut it down.[33][2] In an interview, one of their leaders, Banning Liebscher, stated that Bill Johnson and the rest of the leadership responded in this way because Johnson "doesn't want to shut down those that are really seeking and those that are really trying to press in for more of God". At the same time, Liebscher said it was possible that revivalist's graves had the same anointing, but called the practice "weird". He further stated that he believed the criticism the church got over this, and other practices such as students attempting to walk through walls, actually stemmed from disagreements on charismatic theology.[33]

Some critics allege that Bethel leaders, including senior pastor Beni Johnson, have in fact practiced and promoted grave soaking.[2] Allegedly, Beni Johnson posted photos to Twitter and Instagram of herself laying atop of or hugging the graves of Christians such as C.S. Lewis. The posts appear to later have been removed, and the critics provide screenshots of them. Among these critics are The Gospel Coalition and Baptist apologetics blog Pulpit & Pen.[34][35]

Bethel Music is an American record label and publishing company associated with Bethel Church, led by Bill Johnson's son Brian Johnson.[36] Their music was among the most played contemporary worship music in American churches in 2019[37][38] and their albums have reached the Billboard 200 multiple times.[39][2] Bethel Music have many songs with tens of millions of views on YouTube, and two with over 100 million views as 2019.[40] The live performances of their songs are characterized by their extended duration with lots of repetition and emotion.[4]

Bethel Church is responsible for the formation of the Jesus Culture youth outreach ministry. Jesus Culture Ministry hosts conferences and operates a record label, Jesus Culture Music, to share its message and spread worship. They remain committed to Bethel Church, but were sent out by Bethel in 2012 to plant a church in Sacramento, California.[41][42]

The CHANGED Movement is an organization started by Bethel pastors Elizabeth Woning and Ken Williams in 2019 for people who "once identified as LGBTQ+ and through encounters with the love of Jesus, have experienced His freedom in their lives". Bethel does not financially support the organization but does pay the salaries of the pastors, promote it, and house the organization in the offices of another one of Bethel's ministries. In August 2019, the organization got attention when Bethel promoted CHANGED through a series of Instagram posts, which was criticized by The Trevor Project and Q Christian Fellowship, among others. As a response to this criticism, Bethel Church said that "The message of CHANGED has never been ‘All Must Change’" and "For those of you who feel fulfilled and happy as you are, we love you!".[43][44]

CHANGED uses the term "once gay", and some have noted similarities with the ex-gay movement. CHANGED's slogan is "Changed Is Possible", whereas the now-defunct Exodus International had the slogan "Change is possible". The Bethel pastors behind CHANGED do not use the term "conversion therapy".[43][44]

In 2016, senior pastor Bill Johnson outlined why he voted for Donald Trump in a Facebook post, where he criticized abortion, open borders, the welfare system, same-sex marriage, socialism, political correctness and globalization, all as contrary to God's will. His wife and senior pastor, Beni Johnson, has also supported Donald Trump.[48]

The church has continued to be supportive of Trump during his presidency. Bethel Music leaders Brian Johnson, Jenn Johnson, and Sean Feucht were among the worship leaders who visited Donald Trump in the Oval Office, where they prayed for him and sang worship music.[49]

During the impeachment process of president Trump, senior associate leader Kris Vallotton prophesied during a sermon, ten days before the impeachment started, that God would end the process, stating "the Lord is gonna step into the impeachment process. I mean I know it’s gonna happen". He went on to say that he believed God would give Trump another term. But according to Vallotton, this was "not about politics", rather it was a prophetic word. He claimed to have prophesied that Obama would win and that he on a biblical basis loved and prayed for Obama as he said Christians are called to do for their leaders.[50]

Bethel leaders Brian Johnson, Jenn Johnson and Kris Vallotton were among the signers of the letter from evangelical leaders critical of Christianity Today's editorial that called for Trump to be removed from office.[51]

In 2018, the church publicly opposed three bills in the California state legislature that would have restricted conversion therapy. The church, whose position is that "same-sex sexual behavior is unhealthful",[52] believed the bills would restrict their ministry. Their opposition included a released statement, letters to legislators and encouragement of congregants to contact legislators through a sermon titled "What Would Jesus Do In A PC World?" by Kris Vallotton and tweets, also by Vallotton, that specifically addressed those that had "come out of homosexuality".[26][53] Vallotton later retracted his sermon, but stood by his opposition.[26][52]

In September 2019, Bethel worship leader Sean Feucht announced he was running for Congress as a Republican on a socially conservative platform. His announcement video featured a Bethel Music song with the lyrics "We won't stop singing until the whole world looks like heaven".[54]