Alan Scott: CCV pastor 'knew people's sins by looking at them'
- Published
Pastor Alan Scott, who now leads Dwelling Place Anaheim, has not responded to requests for comment
The former pastor of a County Londonderry church reportedly told people he knew "people's sins just by looking at them," according to a report.
Alan Scott also allegedly set targets on how many people "had to be saved each day".
Those are some of the claims mentioned in a report into the past leadership of Causeway Coast Vineyard (CCV).
It is a large evangelical church based in Coleraine with about 1,400 members.
The investigation report was carried out by an independent HR company and has just been published.
It was commissioned by the church in early 2023 after a number of concerns were raised about the past leadership of the church.
Some positive comments
The final report states while it originally was mainly focused on Alan Scott, other people were also the subject of claims made during the investigation.
It also said that there were some positive comments made about Alan Scott and others.
For instance, some people praised Alan Scott's preaching and said that in the early days of CCV he was seen as "hardworking and inspiring" and "down to earth, seemingly transparent, humble, and having integrity."
Alan Scott was the pastor at CCV for almost two decades until June 2017, and is now the pastor at Dwelling Place Anaheim in the USA.
According to the investigation report, Alan Scott "did not respond" when the allegations were put to him.
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 review but did not receive a response.
The Causeway Coast Vineyard (CCV) church is one of 1,500 vineyard churches worldwide
According to the final investigation report, 37 people provided statements - in some cases lengthy ones - or took part in face to face interviews about their experiences at CCV.
The report included claims of "manipulation, inappropriate comments, narcissistic behaviour, and certain occurrences of public shaming and spiritual abuse."
But it also acknowledged that "the scope of this report, by its nature, is limited to those who felt able to contribute and had issues they wanted to raise."
"We acknowledge that the views expressed are all subjective to those who chose to respond and, in almost all cases, the events that led to these took place several years ago," it said.
Nevertheless, it concluded that "on balance it is likely that many of the behaviours observed and issues raised by respondents, did take place at some level."
Alan Scott used a dream he had as a reason to dismiss an employee, the report alleges
A number of people said that Alan Scott would "falsely idolise himself and that he appeared all-knowing," the report said.
"Multiple respondents stated that Alan would say he knows people's sins just by looking at them."
"Respondents outlined that he would say that even if they were having conversations at home, God would reveal this to him."
"Those who are victims of domestic abuse said they struggled with this especially."
"Alan's dreams were mentioned numerous times, and an individual outlined that Alan used one of his dreams as a reason to fire (dismiss) one of the employees."
Others claimed that Alan Scott would tell people who disagreed with him to leave the church.
According to the report, people stated that they also felt unable to challenge wider leadership and other employees of the church.
Targets for number of people saved
There were also allegations that Pastor Scott and sometimes other senior leaders would offer "rewards for those that do their bidding - with a big focus on numbers of attendees, healings, salvations etc. to obtain these rewards".
"Alan had employed an evangelist and had set him a target of the number of people that had to be saved each day; the 'evangelist' was said to have augmented their numbers to avoid Alan's anger for not reaching their target," the report said.
"Another respondent said they were always being asked how many people they prayed with, how many were 'converted' and how many were healed etc., to count the numbers."
Multiple people also said that there was an "unnecessary competitive culture" at CCV, where people were rated on "who had the best Sunday service and who could share the most elaborate healing story."
"Just under half of the respondents' made comments which suggested they were publicly shamed, that inappropriate comments were made about them and/or their boundaries had been crossed," the report continued.
For example, one person alleged that Pastor Scott informed 50 people at a meeting "about an affair involving one individual from a committed family in the church," according to the report.
A number of other issues around things like safeguarding and governance were also mentioned in the report.
Of those who contributed to it, a number said that they had received therapy and medication, while others said they no longer attended any church.
The senior pastor who succeeded Alan Scott at CCV, Neil Young, also contributed to the report.
It said that he "gave a view on all areas discussed that provided different perspectives on some issues raised, as included in this report."
He and his wife Janet resigned as senior pastors of CCV at the end of October.
In a joint statement accompanying the report, the current leadership of CCV and the national body Vineyard Churches UK and Ireland (VCUKI) said they were "deeply saddened to read the conclusions of the independent review process."
"We are sorry that we have not always acted well and been all that Jesus called us to be," they said.
They also said they would implement the report's recommendations in full.