Toronto Airport Christian Fellowship

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Toronto Airport Christian Fellowship

Type	Nonprofit Religious Organization
Founded	Toronto 1994
Headquarters	Toronto, Ontario, Canada
Key people	Founding Pastors: John and Carol Arnott Senior Pastors: Steve and Sandra Long Children's Pastors: Darrin and Daphne Clark Young Adult and Youth Pastors: Duncan and Kate Smith Board of Directors: (As of 2004) John G Arnott, President Carol S Arnott, Director June Bain, Director Stephen Long, Director Alan Macdonald, Director Jeremy Sinnott, Secretary
Revenue	$7,599,005 (2004, CRA)
Employees	90 full time (2004, CRA)
Website	www.tacf.org
Affiliated with Catch the Fire Ministries and the Partners in Harvest group of churches

Toronto Airport Christian Fellowship (TACF) is a Christian church and religious organization in Etobicoke, part of the city of Toronto, Canada. It is a member of the Partners in Harvest group of churches and is directly affiliated with Catch the Fire Ministries. The church is famous for the Toronto blessing, an experiential religious activity which spread amongst the Charismatic church world-wide.

TACF (Toronto Airport Christian Fellowship) was a church founded In Toronto, Ontario, Canada around 1988 by Pastors John & Carol Arnott. The Church was licensed with the Vineyard & by 1994 it had fewer than 150 people. In January of 1994 a Vineyard Pastor by the name of Randy Clark was asked to come & share. John Arnott had heard that he was blasted while at a conference with Rodney Howard-Browne. Clark had been a Vineyard pastor for eight years but was on the verge of a nervous breakdown. In the beginning it had taken him 11 months to get 11 people in his church. But after growing it large he had gotten away from what he had originally started the church in: Signs, Wonders, and Miracles. But now he was desperate and he had been touched while at this conference with Rodney Howard-Browne. Clark ended up staying months and today the church holds at least 8 conferences a year. Early in 2006 John & Carol resigned, moving on to a new ministry, "Catch the Fire".

[edit] History and Criticism

The Toronto Airport Christian Fellowship (TACF) began as a tiny church (under 50) that met in various rented locations throughout Toronto. In the early 1990s the church found a more permanent home near the airport. It is located in Toronto, Ontario. Just a few meters away is the suburb of Mississauga.

The church is famous for the Toronto blessing, an experiential religious activity which spread amongst the Charismatic church world-wide. John and Carol Arnott were the pastors of the church in 2004, and remain so.

The church was not originally a member of the Vineyard Movement, then joined the Vineyard Movement, but was 'expelled', some say, after others in the movement became critical of the church's beliefs and practices. John Wimber, the leader of the Vineyard Ministries International, met with Leaders at TACF and urged them to continue in what God was doing, but felt that he was too busy with the Vineyard Fellowships to continuously give explanations for and on behalf of TACF. As a result John Arnott and the Toronto Christian Fellowshop founded Partners in Harvest, a group churches worldwide that shared similar beliefs.

The church is also the source of the so-called Golden Sword Prophecy. Another notable phenomenon that broke out there in March 1999 was the outbreak of allegedly instantaneous, allegedly medically documented dental 'miracles' including amalgam fillings or porcelain crowns being 'supernaturally' changed to high-quality gold.

At TACF Revival services, worshippers have exhibited unusual behaviours that they attribute to an encounter with God and the “fire of the Holy Spirit”. The most common described behaviours include laughter (or “holy laughter”), weeping, deep bowing, shaking, 'drunkenness', falling to the floor under the Holy Spirit's power (aka “slain in the Spirit”) and speaking in tongues. Other less common behaviours include manifestations that resembled roaring like lions and crying like and eagle. (See Derek Prince commentary). At one time the TACF website described it thus: “The Toronto Blessing is a transferable anointing. In its most visible form it overcomes worshippers with outbreaks of laughter, weeping, groaning, shaking, falling, 'drunkenness,' and even behaviours that have been described as a 'cross between a jungle and a farmyard.'"