The investigation into Gerald Coates contains some alarming accounts. But, when you look more closely, some information is absent.
Coates wrote 11 books, founded the Pioneer network of churches, and was involved in Spring Harvest. He was given platforms across the Christian world in the 80s and 90s. He died in 2022.
In 2023 a complaint was made about his behaviour, sparking Pioneer Network to commission an 'independent' review. The report, by Christian Safeguarding Services, makes for quite a read.
Some of the most troubling accounts concern his interactions with children. The report gives these details:
"2005 – GC reaches out to a teenage boy via Facebook (FB)"
(Source: page 64)
"March 2015 – Pioneer Leaders Conference. GC [Gerald Coates] approaches and interacts with a lone 16-year-old non-Christian undertaking work experience at the event, prophesying over him and praying for him."
(Source: page 67)
"May 2015 – a local charity reported that they communicated with PT [Pioneer Trust], expressing concerns that GC had directly contacted a 12 to 13-year-old boy from a family known to them using Facebook. The young person was not known to him. GC had allegedly sent the boy a message along the lines of; ‘I believe you need a father figure in your life, and I feel God is calling me to get in touch with you.’"
(Source: page 68)
"January 2019 – GC reaches out via Facebook to a 17-year-old male and initiates an inappropriate phone call which includes an invitation to stay at his house. GC asked the male about his masturbation habits, sexual desires, and use of pornography. The male felt GC had purposefully misled him about the nature and purpose of the call. The male
shared with GC that he did watch porn. GC explained to him that a part of his ministry was helping young men/teenagers work through porn addictions and sexual desires. GC shared he had coached other young men with porn addiction before. GC invited him to come and stay at his family home (just the male, not his family) at any time and for as long as he wanted, and he would be welcomed as part of their family and GC would support him in the area of sexual healing. The respondent’s assessment was that the tone was less an invitation to stay at his house, and it was more an assumption that he would do so, and that Gerald would help him to sort this problem out’."
(Source: page 71)
According to the report, it is unclear how many of these accounts were known by Pioneer Network before the publication of the review.
In terms of the veracity of there complaints, the report says:
"CSS were unable to raise these matters with GC, and so they are recorded from the contributions made without further investigation. As stated previously, it is important to remember that Gerald’s voice could not be heard. This is not to question the integrity of [sic] truthfulness of the accounts; however, it is only right to keep clear that GC has not been able to participate or respond. It is also important to recognise that common themes exist between contributors."
(Source: page 25)
The problem is, this investigation is only half the story. You see, in the 2010s Coates was more than just a founder and former leader of Pioneer.
Gerald Coates was a leader of a Pioneer Network church.
The church concerned is called Pioneer Engage Church in Leatherhead, Surrey.
The Wayback Machine lets us view old versions of the church website. Here Coates is, listed as co-leader (with his wife) in 2017:
The Wayback Machine also reveals he was listed with the same role in 2010 and in 2021.
I'm sure you can imagine the regular contact a church leader typically has with children.
So, why does this review make little mention of it? There are several mentions of launching a church, like this one:
"Pioneer People closed around 2003/4 and between 2005 to 2007 GC launched a new fellowship called, ‘Engage Church’."
(Source: page 17)
Sure, launching implies leadership, but nowhere in the 76-page full report do they use the term 'leader' in relation to Coates' involvement in Engage.
I also find this phrase striking:
"He continued to attend Pioneer Trust events and continued to minister within the local church context and beyond but did so in an independent capacity."
(Source: page 9)
'Local church context' doesn't quite do justice to a church that is called Pioneer Engage.
It doesn't do justice to their listing on the Pioneer Network website in the Pioneer South region.
You know what I find interesting? When the review mention the church he attends, they call it 'Engage'. Which is funny, because the church calls themselves 'Pioneer Engage Church', and the Pioneer Network website calls them 'Pioneer Engage Church Leatherhead'.
Is that an editorial decision to distance this church from the Pioneer Network?
We should note that Pioneer Network would have no control over the wording of a truly independent review. So this may be nothing to do with them.
I have a very important question: has anyone investigated Coates' behaviour when leading that church?
If Coates was behaving in a troubling manner at Pioneer Network's events, he may have demonstrated the same sort of behaviour in his church leadership role.
This is illustrated by a news story on Surrey Live from 2007. It's a strange story, which focuses on Coates leading his church to engage in prayer around a motorway junction. One could say a lot about the piece, but there's a stand-out line for me:
"Mr Coates and [name removed], a 17-year-old member of his church who lives with him, organised a vigil on the Kingston Road bridge over the carriageway on Saturday (September 18) to pray for the safety of those driving below."
(Name removed for privacy reasons, as this person was not an adult.)
A 17-year-old from church was living with him? That's a troubling sentence, given that the Pioneer Network Report details a number of times he is said to overstepped boundaries with children and young adults.
Sadly, the report says that Pioneer Network churches are independent charities. They seem to rule the church as out-of-scope of their investigation for this reason.
I notice that there is no mention of the review on the current website of the church. Their Facebook and Twitter accounts seem dormant, but they don't mention it.
There has been no local news coverage of the investigation into Coates. So there may be residents of Leatherhead with information to share about him who didn't have the opportunity.
How did Coates treat the children who came to his church events? Did he ever try to contact them privately via social media? Did he ask intrusive questions about their experiences of pornography as in the examples above?
Will Pioneer Engage Church commission an investigation into the behaviour of their leader, Gerald Coates?
