Freedom Church

Freedom Church was founded as New Life Church by Gary and Heather Snowzell in 1988.[1] Originally situated in a small market town in Herefordshire, in around 2005 it moved to Hereford and was renamed Freedom Church.

In 2011, Freedom Church partnered with the Southern Baptist megachurch NewSpring Church in South Carolina. The purpose of the partnership was to help Freedom Church plant churches all over the world.[4] Its first planted church was in Cardiff in 2011, and it has since spread to locations over four continents.

In 2015, Freedom Church's location in Hereford moved location to a converted cinema and nightclub.[5][6][7]

Between 2015 and 2017, several members of Freedom Church were elected to Herefordshire Council as Conservative Party councillors.[8] These included Stuart Anderson, who was elected as the Member of Parliament for Wolverhampton South West in the 2019 general election. Anderson, whose wife is also a member of the church, has appeared on Songs of Praise to promote the church,[9] and his business eTravelSafety shares the same registered address as Freedom Church Hereford.[10]

Freedom Church also maintain a connection with NewSpring Church's founder Perry Noble, who has continued to deliver sermons for Freedom Church since being ousted from NewSpring Church.[11]

In 2011, the Hereford Times publicised allegations of arranged marriages, fight clubs, and mass baptisms.[12] They also alleged that the church encouraged its young members to turn to church leaders for relationship advice rather than friends or family, and that the church and its youth group, 2XL, had links to Herefordshire Council. 2XL reportedly received council funding to deliver certain youth services in local schools.[13] Freedom Church strenuously denied the claims, saying "We have never encouraged 14-year-old girls to 'consider marrying older men'", "Nor have we ever implied that if a girl were to be baptised 'it will lead to a relationship with someone in the church'", and "We do not brainwash people [...] if Freedom Church is not the place for [new people], they are quite free to leave".[14]

In 2012, the police were called on Freedom Church volunteers who were standing outside Whitecross Hereford High School school giving sweets and chocolates to schoolchildren in an attempt to recruit them to the church's youth club.[15]

In 2013, a Freedom Church staff member at the newly-opened Siem Reap church attracted criticism after posting that Cambodia "...is a spiritually dead place but there is an increasing anticipation amongst the team and a sense that this city is ours. Despite all the false worship, rampant sex trafficking and the go-to party destination in Southeast Asia, we know that Jesus has given us this city".[16] Freedom Church were accused on proselytising, which is technically illegal in Cambodia (although rarely enforced in practice), and preying on the poor.

In 2015, the church was banned from Swansea University campus by the university, who described its operation as "cultic".[17] The church was accused of targeting vulnerable young students, putting a wedge between them and their families, discouraging them from having relationships outside of the church, making it hard for them to leave, and using them as cash cows – pressuring them for £1,000 to take part in 'leadership courses' at the church's headquarters in Hereford. It was also claimed that members "never" had relationships outside of the church. The church responded by saying that it was "more transparent than just about any church".

Freedom Church has led successful missions across the world, with locations in the following cities:[18]

Europe

• United Kingdom
  • Hereford
  • Cardiff
  • Worcester
  • Birmingham
  • Cheltenham
  • Glasgow
• Netherlands
  • Rotterdam

Africa

• Uganda
  • Kampala
• South Africa
  • Cape Town

Asia

• Cambodia
  • Siam Reap
  • Battambang
  • Phnom Penh
• Cyprus
  • Limassol

North America

• United States of America
  • Raleigh, North Carolina

• Website
• Freedom Church on YouTube
• Charity Details