Planetshakers Church is an evangelical Christian Pentecostal megachurch adult and youth movement based in Melbourne, Australia, with several church campuses around the world.
The church is also known for its contemporary worship music, with its bands Planetshakers and Planetboom, and its record label Planetshakers Ministries International, whose songs have been translated and reinterpreted in many evangelical churches of the world.
The church was formed as an Australian Christian Conference and band in 1997 from within Paradise Community Church, now known as Influencers Church, in Adelaide, South Australia. The church started when the band and ministry moved to Melbourne in 2004, and was then called Melbourne City Church.[3]
Planetshakers Church is an evangelical Pentacostal Church affiliated with Australian Christian Churches (Assemblies of God), and one of the fastest-growing churches in Australia.[4][5] It has multiple church campuses in Melbourne and others around the world, including in Cape Town, South Africa;[6] and Singapore.[7] with campuses being planted in Sydney and Papua New Guinea in 2022.
As of May 2022[update] the main Melbourne church's senior pastors are Russell and Samantha Evans, and they have more than 21,000 members.[8][9] Russell Evans is the son of longtime pastor Andrew Evans.
Planetboom is the youth ministry branch of Planetshakers Church, primarily targeting high school students, ministering to teenagers via channels like school programs, youth camps and Friday meetups.[11] They created Planetboom band and released first four singles in 2018. In the 2019 they released their first album entitled Jesus Over Everything.[12]
It was reported in 2008 that Michael Guglielmucci, pastor of the church and former bass player in the Planetshakers band, had fraudulently claimed he was dying of cancer.[13][14] He wrote "Healer", a song of encouragement for believers who were suffering from cancer, for the album Saviour of the World, which was released in June (2007).[15] Guglielmucci performed the song regularly over a two-year period, often with an oxygen tube attached to his nose,[16] and during this time received money from supporters who believed his illness was real.[17]
Guglielmucci later explained his actions as being a result of a long-term pornography addiction.[18] The track had also been added to the Hillsong album This Is Our God (2008),[19] but later removed from the album.[20] Representatives of churches with which Guglielmucci had affiliations told the press they were totally unaware of this situation. In an email sent to Hillsong members, the church's general manager, George Aghajanian, said the news was even a shock to Guglielmucci's own family and that the suspended pastor was seeking professional help. Guglielmucci was stripped of all credentials by the Australian Christian Churches, who promised that all money donated by listeners inspired by the song would be returned or donated to charity and Guglielmucci's bank accounts would be audited to determine the amount of funds raised.[21][22][23]
