Destiny fosters new converts

Brian Tamaki. Photo / Hawkes Bay Today

A Destiny Church pastor working for a child-fostering organisation that gets $10 million a year of taxpayer money is placing vulnerable children with Destiny members of the congregation.

New Plymouth Destiny pastor Robyn Edmonds oversees foster placements as the Taranaki branch manager of the Open Home Foundation, which helps "disadvantaged and hurt" children.

The foster kids are expected to attend Destiny's controversial services each Sunday.

The link with Destiny has caused concern at the highest levels of the foundation.

It comes as former Destiny members in Taranaki say they were encouraged to seek training in social work so that they could qualify as foster parents and bring more children into the church.

Open Home Foundation national manager Russell Martin said Taranaki had the highest concentration of children placed in homes with adults who attend Destiny Church.

At least 12 of the foundation's 60 foster homes in Taranaki were homes of Destiny members. Church members were also prolific foster carers in other parts of the country, he said.

He said the controversy surrounding Destiny had prompted "informal discussions as a board with regard to the Destiny movement and our links to it".

"We don't have a formal relationship with the Destiny movement. We've taken no formal line on our children being with Destiny. We're watching and considering things as they go."

Foster parents are "reimbursed" between $60 and $150 a week, depending on the age of the children. The payments are to cover costs, not to generate profit.

Martin said links with other churches could create similar imbalances. "On any Sunday, there are a number of churches where our people are recruiting foster parents. It is a little more connected because Robyn is the pastor's wife."

The Destiny Church website lists both Lee and Robyn Edmonds as its pastors in Taranaki. Neither returned calls for comment.

Martin said it was difficult for the pan-Christian foundation to isolate denominations. "I can't stand on a soapbox to our staff and say 'this is our brand of Christianity'."

He said it was part of the group's ethos to have foster children attend church on a Sunday unless their natural parents specifically objected.

Former Destiny members from Taranaki said the congregation was encouraged to open its homes to foster children.

"They were encouraging people to go into social work," said one.

The object was to have members make their homes suitable as potential foster homes, from which children could be taken to church services.

Another member said the extra children meant a greater income and higher tithes. However, he said the appeal was fresh membership.

In a statement, Child, Youth and Family national operations manager John Henderson said the foundation received $8.9m in funding last year, mainly for foster-family work. The group's own records put total taxpayer funding at $10.7m.

"There have been no concerns raised with the Ministry of Social Development or Child, Youth and Family in relation to Open Home Foundation or Destiny Church," he said.

The Destiny church has recently been condemned by former members as "a money-making cult".

More than half the Brisbane congregation, including Pastor Andrew Stock, walked out during a Sunday service last month and the leader, self-proclaimed bishop Brian Tamaki, has been trying to raise millions of dollars to fund his own weekday TV programme.

The Open Home Foundation is a major Christian philosophy-based foster network and places more than 600 children in homes across New Zealand.

The Ministry of Social Development statement listed a number of projects linked to Destiny Church, including mentoring projects across the country and youth worker services in Auckland's Otara.