Coleraine church faces £30k bill over spiritual abuse investigation
- Published
Pastor Alan Scott, who now leads Dwelling Place Anaheim, has not responded to requests for comment
An investigation into allegations against a former pastor of a County Londonderry church, and counselling for those affected, will cost about £30,000.
Causeway Coast Vineyard (CCV) is an evangelical church based in Coleraine and has about 1,400 members.
According to CCV the allegations primarily relate to Alan Scott, a senior pastor there until June 2017.
The church said he "did not respond" when the allegations were put to him.
An interim review commissioned by the church identified "manipulation, inappropriate comments, narcissistic behaviour, and certain occurrences of public shaming and spiritual abuse".
Although Alan Scott did not respond, the current pastor at the church, Neil Young, has apologised for "any of my actions that have caused pain".
Some of the details are contained in the church's annual accounts, which have just been published.
The accounts said that the trustees of CCV had allocated £15,000 to cover the cost of the review and "counselling to those impacted".
'Hurtful conduct'
It said the umbrella organisation Vineyard Churches UK and Ireland (VCUKI) had also set aside about £15,000 towards the review and counselling.
There are 120 Vineyard churches in the UK and Ireland and about 1,500 worldwide.
The Causeway Coast Vineyard (CCV) church is one of 1,500 vineyard churches worldwide
Some of the allegations against Alan Scott were first reported by the Roys Report website in the United States.
Pastor Scott now leads Dwelling Place Anaheim, a church which recently disaffiliated from the Vineyard USA movement.
That decision is currently the subject of a legal challenge in the USA.
The just-published annual accounts for Causeway Coast Vineyard said concerns had been raised about "Alan's conduct in the US and from his time in the UK".
"In response, CCV and Vineyard Churches UK and Ireland (VCUKI) commissioned an independent review process of the complaints relating to CCV in February 2023.
"That process is ongoing and primarily relates to Alan Scott's time as senior pastor."
A statement on its interim findings of the review was read out at a Sunday service at the Coleraine church on 2 July.
It was delivered by Peter Lynas, who is a trustee of CCV, and John Wright, the national director of Vineyard Churches UK and Ireland.
The statement said that CCV and VCUKI "acknowledge that wrong and hurtful conduct has occurred at CCV, and apologise to all those who were hurt, harmed, mistreated or in any way negatively impacted by their time at Causeway Coast Vineyard".
'Failed to spot warning signs'
It said the review had "identified themes and repeated patterns of behaviour including examples of manipulation, inappropriate comments, narcissistic behaviour, and certain occurrences of public shaming and spiritual abuse".
"The allegations primarily relate to Alan Scott and have been put to him, but he did not respond," the statement continued.
"The trustees of CCV acknowledge that they are responsible for the governance and oversight of CCV.
"They accept that they failed to spot some of the warning signs and did not have sufficient structures in place to ensure complaints came to the attention of trustees, and they apologise to those who have been hurt."
When contacted by BBC News NI about the allegations and ongoing review, Causeway Coast Vineyard and Vineyard Churches UK and Ireland issued a joint statement.
"CCV and VCUKI have set aside a fund for those who attended CCV, have engaged with this process and would like to access counselling," they said.
"A number of people have made use of this fund, which is being facilitated by the independent body conducting the review.
"The trustees of CCV and VCUKI expect to receive the report by the end of October.
"This will then be published on both CCV and VCUKI websites."
The response did not specify how many people had availed of the counselling offered.
BBC News NI also contacted Alan Scott via Dwelling Place Anaheim to ask if he had any comment to make regarding the allegations against him or the ongoing review but did not receive a response.