The church has also been criticised in a number of areas including high levels of control, extreme commitment requirements, and the mistreatment of former members.
— Jeremiah 18:2 (King James Version)The Potter's House Statement of Faith contains the central beliefs of the church.
[6] The articles of faith are summarised as below: • There is one true God, and He exists as a Trinity: Father, Son, and Holy Spirit.
• The Holy Spirit is eternally God, given in completion to the Church at Pentecost and works to empower, guide and align Christians to Christ.
• Water Baptism, done in the name of the Father, Son and Holy Spirit, is a sign of the believer identifying with the death, burial and resurrection of Christ.
In 1969, Wayman Mitchell asked for a ministerial position and was appointed to serve as the minister of the Foursquare church in Prescott, Arizona.
Mitchell discouraged his disciples from attending bible schools due to his own negative experiences in them so the men who he sent out did not receive full ordinations from Foursquare.
According to Nathaniel Van Cleave, Mitchell permitted only his own style of primitive and militant evangelism, isolated his disciples from other Foursquare ministers and as a group, they walked out of conference meetings that they disagreed with.
[7] At the 1983 Foursquare convention, a large number of pastors brought complaints against Mitchell to the executive council meeting.
Larry Neville stated that the split was partially due to restrictions which prevented them from maturing and enlarging their expressions of faith.
[10] The Potter's House Christian Fellowship holds Pentecostal beliefs with a strong emphasis on evangelism, church planting, and discipleship.
[2][32] Stubbs stated that commitment to the church is constantly reinforced with phrases such as, "Every time the doors are open, you need to be here.
"[18] Members will spend up to seven nights a week at church in their commitment to the fellowship and have reported getting in trouble for leaving services early.
[27][29][30][32][33] In cases where interaction does occur, former members have reported receiving harassing letters and phone calls, and being slandered through rumours.
[citation needed] Former members have consistently reported that time in the church has led to traumatic experiences both to individuals and to families.
[27] A court prevented a man from taking his 5-year-old daughter to the church after she was diagnosed with PTSD as a result of being traumatised by the pastor.
[29][32] Campo responded in a letter to The Arizona Republic stating that after Christensen told him about the alleged rape, he spoke with the accused rapist who convinced him that the sex was consensual.
[35] The church holds a homophobic position in relation to the LGBTQI community and has screened anti-gay movies to the public.
In a 2009 interview with the Waikato Times, Scott McGrath stated that although it was still considered a sin, the church had softened its stance on homosexuality and would accept gay, lesbian, and transgender members.
[12] However, in 2018 founder Wayman Mitchell was recorded using a homophobic slur while preaching in Guam, referring to homosexuals as "little faggots" and claiming that the gay community was miserable.
[23][36] In August 2022 a Texan church performed a rewritten version of the stage show Hamilton over two nights without obtaining the rights to do so.
Representatives for Hamilton were made aware of the production and issued a cease-and-desist letter for unauthorized use of intellectual property.
"[39][40] In late August, Roman Gutierrez, the church's pastor, issued an apology to Hamilton's creator, Lin-Manuel Miranda, promising to destroy all images, video, and sound recordings of their production and agreed to never stage the performance again.
[41] Hamilton representatives stated all damages would be donated to the South Texas Equality Project, a nonprofit coalition supporting the LGBTQ community.
Prior to leaving the depot, Singh had informed his supervisor, Simiona Tuteru, that he was too tired to drive, was "seeing things" and had been cursed by a witch.
[47] A judge later put the case permanently on hold due to "oppressive" misuse of court processes.