The Gloriavale Christian Community (also known as the Cooperites) is a small and isolated community located at Haupiri on the West Coast of the South Island in New Zealand. It has an estimated population of over 600. It has operated on a property owned by a registered charity since 2008. History The group was founded in 1969 by Neville Cooper (aka "Hopeful Christian"), an Australian-born preacher who was invited to New Zealand, having earlier (as a member of the Voice of Deliverance Evangelist Mission) survived a near fatal 1965 plane crash in south-east Queensland. Cooper founded what became known as the Springbank Christian Community near Christchurch, moving to a larger property on the West Coast of New Zealand between 1991 and 1995 when the community grew too large for its existing home. This new settlement, located in the Haupiri Valley was named "Gloriavale", and established the existing Gloriavale Christian Community, roughly inland from Greymouth. Public apology On 27 May 2022, Gloriavale's leadership issued a public apology for various sexual and child abuses and labour exploitations that occurred within their community. The leadership claimed that much had changed at Glorivale following the resignation of their previous leader and founder in 2018. The leadership agreed to allow young people to make decisions on whether to continue living at Gloriavale or moving out once they had matured. To address future sexual offending, the leadership established a "Child Protection Leads team" that answered directly to Oranga Tamariki (the Ministry of Children). The leadership also claimed to have developed a new child protection policy which encouraged members to report acts of abuse to the Police, Child Protection Leads team, and Oranga Tamariki. They also claimed to have restructured their business operations to allow parents to spend more time with their children after 3pm. On 31 May, two senior Gloriavale leaders Fervent Steadfast and Faithful Pilgrim resigned from their positions as senior community leaders following the public apology. Steadfast had previously served as Gloriavale's financial controller and had been accused of mishandling employment issues within the community. Pilgrim had previously served as the Principal of Gloriavale Christian School until his resignation in 2020 for failing to protect pupils in his care. Overview Known by some outsiders as the "Cooperites" after their leader Neville Cooper, the group rejects this name and members refer to themselves only as Christians. Members of the community live a fundamentalist Christian life