Preacher abused his power as 'spiritual celebrity'

Rev Canon Mike Pilavachi founded Soul Survivor Church in Watford

The notion of “spiritual celebrity” contributed to the extent of abuse of power perpetrated by an evangelical preacher, an independent report has found.

In examining the misconduct of Mike Pilavachi, the report is critical not just of leaders of the Soul Survivor movement in Watford, Hertfordshire, that he founded, for failing to act, but of the Church of England centrally.

It says many victims had been left struggling to come to terms with what had happened to them.

But some of those survivors say the report by barrister Fiona Scolding KC, commissioned by trustees of Soul Survivor, leaves unanswered questions, particularly on the full nature and extent of the failings of the Church of England.

Mr Pilavachi was widely regarded as one of the country’s most influential charismatic preachers.

As recently as 2020, the office of the Archbishop of Canterbury recognised him with an award for his work.

Among other aspects of its ministry, the Soul Survivor movement held large national Christian festivals and is credited with bringing thousands of young people to the faith.

But last year in the media, allegations of serious misconduct were levelled against Mr Pilavachi.

They principally concerned inappropriate behaviour with many young men, including giving them unwanted massages and having long wrestling matches with them, sometimes even in church.

Mr Pilavachi resigned, and an initial Church of England investigation concluded that concerns about him were “substantiated” and his Lambeth award was revoked.

Soul Survivor said there had been an "overemphasis on Mike Pilavachi’s gifts and success"

Ms Scolding's report about Soul Survivor, which was published on Thursday, looked into the ways in which Mr Pilavachi’s conduct was enabled by his movement and the Church of England as a whole.

After hearing evidence from "a wide range of sources", the report talked of credible evidence of the preacher’s misconduct over nearly 40 years.

While it said Mr Pilavachi bears primary responsibility for the harm caused to individuals by his bullying and abuses of power, it also pointed to leadership failings at many levels.

It criticised other leaders at Soul Survivor, some of whom it said were aware of the preachers highly inappropriate behaviour well before it came to public attention.

But it said the Church of England also bore some of the responsibility for “inadequate performance management and oversight and a failure to take action when matters became known”.

While the Church of England’s lead on safeguarding, Bishop Joanne Grenfell, said she welcomed the report’s analysis and said the findings would be examined and taken forward, some survivors have expressed disappointment.

'Some questions unanswered'

“The report leaves some issues unexplored and some questions unanswered,” said a joint statement from 15 victims of Mr Pilavachi’s abusive behaviour, shared by Richard Scorer, who represents the group.

While they said Ms Scolding had "done her best", they said much of the picture remained hidden.

The group of victims said the report lacked "forensic analysis of individual culpability" in the leadership of the Watford-based Soul Survivor, such that those who enabled the abuse could evade responsibility.

"A big question is how Soul Survivor can truly reform itself when the people leading it now were also in leadership roles during the years when Pilavachi did these things,” the group asks.

'Overemphasis on Mike Pilavachi’s gifts'

Soul Survivor itself released a statement that said: “To all those victims who have been deeply impacted, and continue to be, we are profoundly sorry. As trustees and leaders of Soul Survivor, we want you to know that we have heard you.

“Throughout Soul Survivor’s history, there has been an overemphasis on Mike Pilavachi’s gifts and success, which contributed to the blindness towards his behaviour,” it acknowledged.

But the group of Mr Pilavachi’s victims was also critical of the wider Church of England, pointing to the concerns raised in the report that the institution only started to look into the case properly under media pressure.

“The Church of England National Safeguarding Team did not share all or even most of the information in its possession. We don’t know what they really learned,” the group said.

The report said that some information held by the National Safeguarding Team could not be shared or included because of data protection legislation.

In July, at a General Synod, a motion to conduct a full independent inquiry into the Church of England’s role in the case was not supported by bishops, ostensibly because of the costs involved. It was not voted through by the Synod, the Church’s national assembly, as a whole.

The victims’ statement renewed a call for such an inquiry.

“In the meantime, survivors will continue to pursue every avenue to ensure that accountability is achieved and lessons are learned,” the 15 victims said.

'I seek forgiveness'

The BBC has been unable to reach Mr Pilavachi for comment.

Last year, in social media posts announcing his resignation, Mr Pilavachi said: “I seek forgiveness from any whom I have hurt during the course of my ministry.”

While at the time he added that he would not make any further public comment, the Scolding review reports that Mr Pilavachi did make himself available to it for “several lengthy interviews”.

In summarising, it said that although Mr Pilavachi “denied some of the specific allegations put to him, he had accepted that too many people had commented on this behaviour for there not to be some truth in it. Though accepted that he has made mistakes and not treated people well”.

In September of last year Hertfordshire Constabulary said it had conducted a “small number of interviews” and decided that “no criminal offences had taken place”.

The force has not yet responded to a request asking if this remains the case.