One of the most decisive and disturbing trends of events in and around Vancouver Canada, is whether Crave church, founded by Pastor Marlon Medina is a cult, legit or not.
While there are so many negative reviews flying around in the media, reddit and a whole lot of places; this review, born out of intense research dissects, analyze and succinctly looks into all known factors with intricate details.
Not being ostentatious and trying to juxtapose facts with riddles, this review lay bared everything you need to know and of course, make a decision based on the facts presented.
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As a practicing Christian whose belief in Yahweh remains unwavering and equipped with the knowledge of the word of God, it is not surprising that what the Bible said in the last days about people being lovers of themselves and shunning the word of God is gradually being fulfilled in our very eyes.
In Matthew 24:12; it is clearly revealed that in the last days, the love of many shall wax cold and unimaginable things will be happening. Just take a look at the gory massacre of the Israelites on October 7th 2023 and the ongoing war between Hamas and Israel, Russia and Ukraine etc.
The acts of that single day can nowhere be compared to the brutal murder of a father and son in Mexico some years back and the inhumane animal cruelty as exhibited in this gruesome cat annihilation video.
Crave Church Review ( Overview)
Founded by Pastor Marlon Medina, Crave church is more than a Pentecostal gospel church. Its mandate of blending and enabling seemingly imperfect people to get a craving of God promoted it as more of a selfless caring social ministry.
Its atmosphere of Joy, love and acceptance of people, both old and young from all walks of life made it transcend the traditional definition of a church!!
I quite agree that owing to people’s experience especially the many scams going all around, you have every right to doubt whether the crave church is legit or not.
Crave Church Values
There are five distinctive pillars on which the church is founded on. These five pillars represents the values associated with the church which help identify as a legit ministry.
1. Gratitude
Looks may deceive, however, the bible says that by their fruit you shall know them. The personality of Pastor Marlon Medina portrays an humble gentleman. His actions shows that he truly thirst for the works of the kingdom.
This physical attribute of the pastor relates so much to their first written value; gratitude!!
The caption on their website reads ”We don’t have to build this church, we get to.: This simply calls for inclusion from everyone and it is a clear sign of someone or ministry dedicated to services.
2. Reach
With this statement of fact, I believe they are relentless in winning souls to the kingdom. This is exemplify in the values of crave church ministry.
A continuous pursuit to reach creativity, goals, and most importantly, people remains the second value of the church.
3. Audacity
As a Christian, being audacious should not be confused with being stupid or wicked; it can land you in trouble just like the ongoing trial of YNW Melly who is allegedly believed to have murdered his friends.
I strongly believe that favor fortunes the bold, I am of the opinion that the pastor understands this, especially knowing fully well, that when God calls you, God also equips and fortifies you for the task assigned to you.
Their audacity statements reads, ”We remain bold and daring about our vision and our faith.
4. Consistency
The fourth value of crave church ministry is consistency. Boldly written as ‘It’s never about our first day, it’s always about our last day;. I, love this caption, truly inspiring!!
5. Excellence
One of the hallmarks of a true and great Christian is the consistent pursuit of excellence in whatever they do or wherever they find themselves.
Their fifth value is the embodiment of this classy assertion; ”We will always work with excellence”.
Crave Church Reviews
For the fact that a church leverages on the power of the internet and social media to propagate their messages does not mean it is illegal.
One of the drivers of the church popularity is because Pastor Marlon Medina leverages heavily on the use of the internet and social media; a decision that often propels visitors and church members to write reviews on Google and on their various social media accounts
On reading some threads on Reddit, I was somehow disappointed on seeing lots of negativity about the church. I will share my opinions further below.
A closer look at reviews on both Google and Facebook shows some discrepancies which may be due to the aggressive rate at which positive reviews were being posted.
I will not want to condemn the church authority or their social media managers of being aggressive telling people to drop positive reviews on Google and Facebook, a founder or someone on a mission will do the same just to get the word out there.
While it is easy to sit down in the comfort of your home and go on reddit and says bad things that the church is like a cult or not legit, I simply believe that the church is simply identifying its values in alignment with the word of God.
I can call it a church without walls.
On reading vividly the comments on Reddit, negative reviews dropped by members ( former members of the church that has left) is much focused on the church leadership that looks disarray and the seemingly authoritarian power of the pastor.
If this is true, Pastor Marlon Medina needs to address this, in a bid to mend fences all for the sake of the kingdom.
In addition, the founder i.e. Pastor Marlon should desist from using his messages and preaching to attack people that has left the church. This is not ideal at all!!
With more than 156 reviews and a star rating of almost 4.6; the positivity far outweighs the negativity about crave church.
Crave Church Locations
The church headquarter is at 1225 W 73rd Ave, Vancouver, BC V6P 4J6, Canada, located in the British Columbia province in Canada.
They also have physical presence in Toronto and surrey. The crave church Instagram address is https://www.instagram.com/cravechurch/
Is Crave Church A Cult
The honest answer is NO. Juxtaposing a church identity, values and belief that may not conform to what you think, want or know does not justify that it is a cult.
Furthermore, to address this question on whether crave church is a cult, it is important you understand the definition and the religious sentiment attributed to cultism.
If what the definition of a cult, as spelt out in Wikipedia, conforms to what Crave church does, we may say it is a cult; however, I digress because God’s standard cannot be stained.
I am of the view that adhering to strict instructions, commandments, identity, belief, values of crave church in as much as it conforms to the biblical standard does not confers on the church a cult status!!
For example, some churches lays emphasis on Faith doctrines, teaching people the values of having and living by faith. Some pastors or churches solely focus on preaching prosperity messages.
This does not mean that the foundational doctrine of teaching God’s word, evangelism and preaching salvation has been abandoned!!
Please note that this present generation is corrupt, so if crave church ministry has some laid down strict rules, so be it. The image of Christ must not be tainted.
Crave Church belief
Crave church has fundamental doctrinal beliefs, just like their values mentioned above. The church does believe in the trinity and they acknowledged the father, the son and the holy spirit.
The 8 cardinal points of crave church beliefs are:
- The Father
There is only one true God, Creator of Heaven and Earth.
- The Son
Jesus Christ physically rose from the dead, ascended into heaven and will one day physically return.
- The Holy spirit
The Holy Spirit works to lead, instruct, and empower every believer.
- The Trinity
God exists eternally in three distinct persons with equal power and authority.
- The Bible
The Bible is true, authoritative, and sufficient.
- Salvation
Faith in Jesus is our only means of salvation and a sufficient payment for our sin. Salvation cannot be earned; it can only be received.
- The Church
The Church is a local community working to bring the Gospel to the world through His commands and teachings and seeks to glorify Christ.
- Man
God created man to exist eternally. Man will either be together with God through forgiveness and salvation in Heaven or separated by sin in Hell.
Conclusion
I observed that part of the negative reviews I read about the church on reddit was about money. People complained that the church likes collecting money.
Not just that, they laid emphasis that the mode of collecting money i.e. offerings, tithe and general fund is like a cult.
While there is nothing wrong about collecting money, tithes and offerings in the church because a church needs money to be run, administered, supervised, pay for essential things etc; I believe everything should be done modestly and just like Jesus Christ, the church should do more of giving back to people rather than collecting!!
So, it is both biblical to raise money. What I am against is if their focus is all about money!!
In conclusion, this review on crave church affirms that it is not a cult and it is legit for anyone to attend and worship the Lord. If some things are not done right, I suggest, in the spirit of love, write a letter or approach the pastor and let him know. After all, he is human.
