Geelong Revival Centre: Norlane church plagued by abuse allegations

A law firm is investigating a staggering number of potential claims over a controversial Geelong church, with escapees revealing their ongoing suffering from their childhoods in the “cult”.

Lauren grew up in the controversial Geelong Revival Centre church and now lives in Brisbane. Picture David Clark

A law firm is investigating potential claims from more than 25 people over a controversial Geelong church, as an escapee reveals the ongoing suffering from her childhood with the “cult”.

Lauren says the Geelong Revival Centre (GRC), which has worldwide influence and has been plagued with abuse allegations, robbed her of a childhood.

The 28-year-old, who did not want her surname published, now lives in Queensland and no longer speaks to her family.

She still struggles to separate herself from the secretive Pentecostal church’s doomsday beliefs after leaving aged 18.

She said she was seeking compensation and working with Shine Lawyers.

Lauren attended the Norlane church as a child. Picture David Clark

“I was neglected by the church,” Lauren said.

Amy Olver, abuse law practice leader in Victoria for Shine Lawyers, said the firm had spoken to more than 25 complainants to date whose allegations ranged from emotional, physical, and sexual abuse to coercive control within the church.

“We are investigating each of these potential legal claims and continue to receive new inquiries,” she said.

Geelong Revival Centre in Norlane.

Lauren was born in England, where her mother was involved in a congregation associated with GRC.

At an international church camp, her mother met the man who would become Lauren’s stepfather.

Lauren said he was involved with the GRC, and when she was aged six, she and her mother moved to Geelong.

She said the church’s beliefs dictated children should be “seen and not heard”.

“Growing up, it was isolating, you weren’t encouraged to make friends with other children (outside of the church),” she said.

“You were taught they were the devil (and) the world’s a scary, scary place, and we’re all safe in this little bubble.

“I had a very strict upbringing.”

Lauren, who grew up in Highton and Anakie and attended Kardinia International College, said the church had “hundreds” of members locally.

She said its Norlane hall on Thompson Rd was packed during meetings, where people would speak in tongues, hear “prophecies” and were warned to be ready for the end of the world.

Its demographic was mainly middle to upper class, caucasian people, she said, and churchgoers were encouraged to share their “healings” with non-members in an effort to recruit them.

Lauren, who is now a mother of three, first wanted to leave GRC aged 16.

“But I knew that in leaving, I would lose absolutely everything,” she said.

“I’d lose the home I was living in, I would lose my family, I would lose my friends, I would lose access to any sort of financial help.

“I stuck it out and it affected my mental health quite severely.”

When she was 17, Lauren got in touch with her biological father, who had by then left the church in England.

Geelong Revival Centre on Thompson Rd.

Lauren said he gave her ideas the church was a weird, “culty” place.

When she was 18 and had finished high school, she told her mother and stepfather she no longer wanted to attend GRC.

“I don’t think I’ve ever seen my parents so heartbroken,” she said.

Lauren said that night, Noel Hollins, the now-elderly man who is understood to have founded the group decades ago, was called to the family home.

“I explained that I didn’t want to attend GRC anymore, and that there was nothing anyone could say that would change my mind,” Lauren said.

“I explained … reading from the Bible, showing the scriptures, explaining to me what I was in for would not change my mind.

“It was made up, that was it, I was done.

“And he looked at me and looked at my parents, and he said, ‘Well, you know that you can’t live here’.”

“And I was made to move out that night … I’ve not been home since.”

Lauren said she didn’t speak to her family for years and six years ago she moved to Queensland for a fresh start.

About four years ago, Lauren, who still lives in Brisbane, said she began speaking with family again.

But Lauren hit a “rough patch” about a year ago and was diagnosed with borderline personality disorder – a mental illness that can be linked to childhood trauma.

“They didn’t want to hear about it because they didn’t believe in it,” Lauren said.

Lauren said the church frowned upon modern medicine.

Lauren, who is on medication for her mental illness, said a family member told her she had borderline personality disorder because she left the church.

After being left “absolutely terrified” by doomsday rhetoric as a child, she still struggles.

Lauren said followers were told when the Queen died, the world would end.

Mr Hollins said he did not tell followers this and claimed there was a lot of “nonsense” getting around.

Lauren said: “When (the Queen) died, I had a panic attack, and I’m an adult.”

“The teachings are still deep rooted in you, even when you do leave,” she said.

“I feel robbed of a happy, safe-feeling childhood.

“I was always taught about fear and I was taught about the end of the world.

“I was always told it was a scary place that we lived in, and I don’t want that for my children.

“Having to learn that that’s not the case and the world is a normal place, there’s normal people out there, and it’s not going to end at the drop of a hat has been difficult.”

When contacted by the Geelong Advertiser, Mr Hollins declined to comment on allegations of abuse within the church.

“We don’t want to enter into public discourse about the rights or wrongs of anything, especially in the newspaper,” he said.

The Geelong Advertiser is not suggesting Mr Hollins has committed abuse.

His reach is understood to extend far beyond Geelong.

Simon Hoogendoorn grew up in a church affiliated with the Geelong Revival Centre. Picture: Supplied

Simon Hoogendoorn grew up in an offshoot of GRC located in suburban Melbourne.

Mr Hoogendoorn said it was just one of many churches around the world that follow Mr Hollins’ teachings.

“All the pastors of the different offshoots look at Noel Hollins as being their pastor,” he said.

Now a qualified counsellor with a special interest in cults, Mr Hoogendoorn was raised in the church and left for good about 20 years ago when he was around the age of 35.

After watching a video on YouTube he realised he had been in a “cult”.

“I was devastated,” he said.

“My whole childhood, my adolescent years … I could have made friends, I could have done stuff, I could have had a great life.

“That was all robbed from me.

“I felt very, very violated, in that my whole childhood was stolen from me.

“I had to go to school telling people that if they didn’t come to my church, they were doomed for hell … so I was bullied a lot.”

He alleged he was often physically abused by adults in the church.

“They’ve got this method or this ideology that if you don’t punish the child physically, then you’re just letting them get away with everything,” he said.

He is also seeking compensation.

Mr Hoogendoorn, who lives in Melbourne’s outer suburbs, used social media to set up a support group for ex-members of GRC and its associated churches.

“I decided to create a safe space for those people who want to just get together … and share experiences,” he said.

Survivors from around the world who have suffered due to GRC and affiliated churches have joined the group, which can help ex-members reconnect with other family and friends who have also left, Mr Hoogendoorn said.

“When it comes to actually leaving, it’s really, really extremely hard,” he said.

“Because while you’re in there, you’re encouraged to cut all ties with family and friends that do not go to the cult.

“You will leave knowing that you have no support network, you’ll have no friends, no family, because they will all be told not to associate with you, because you’ve gone back into the world, and that you then will be the poison that will drag them out as well.”

“(Defectors) are looking online … and realising there is a support network that they can tap into.”

Originally published as Geelong Revival Centre: Norlane church plagued by abuse allegations