Arise Church founding pastor John Cameron is apologising for the "heartbreaking" stories of affected students saying it has left him "broken and devastated".
"I want to say I am deeply sorry for any hurt caused.
"Our heart as a church has always been to make a positive difference in the lives of people, and to hear experiences where people have felt negatively impacted by Arise is devastating."
He said leadership had been working to understand the stories and what had led to this hurt.
"These stories are real and authentic, and there are people hurting because of the actions and culture of performance that was a part of Arise.
"The truth is for a period of time as a church we allowed a culture of performance to be part of our Arise world, and this negatively affected Arise Ministry School students.
"Although this is not true for the majority of our Arise journey, there is enough of it in our journey that I am determined that it will end. It is not acceptable."
He said the church would listen and learn with the leadership team reviewing the information that had been brought to light.
"We have sought advice from an independent body to guide the church on next steps and have appointed an independent reviewer to confidentially hear people's stories, and to make recommendations to our Board and leadership team for the purpose of organisational change."
He said the church was open for dialogue, and would be making the organisational changes recommended.
Cameron said there was no place for people's health to be anything other than the church's top priority.
"It is true that our Arise Ministry School is now a very different experience to what it used to be. We have changed and made massive improvements in recent years, and this year more improvements will be made."
The Arise Board said while an independent HR review was due to start after Easter given the serious nature of some of the allegations levelled against the school the board had also now appointed a separate reviewer.
"The Board welcomes this full inquiry and is asking those who may have been affected negatively by Arise, staff, or its members to approach the independent reviewer as the correct channel for sharing their experiences."
The church's website says that the Arise Ministry School is to "empower, equip and release" a new wave of ministers and leaders into their God-given circles of influence.
It says it offers a life-changing experience with a diverse range of classroom learning, personal growth and practical ministry opportunities.
Students can either undertake a full-time course that requires three days a week plus Sunday or a part time course involving one night a week plus Sunday.
Within the full-time course there is an option of one to three years of academic study as well as internship.
