Three questions for Pioneer about Gerald Coates

The review into the behaviour of Gerald Coates is disturbing reading. And, it raises a number of questions for Pioneer, the organisation he founded. 

1. Did the Pioneer Leaders give up stopping Coates after 2015?

2. Did they warn the Monkton Combe School about Coates?

3. Did the Pioneer Leaders warn Wildfires Festival about Coates?

The people in charge

Gerald Coates was the founder of Pioneer and led the organisation for over 20 years. As such, it's likely that safeguarding concerns about him required intervention from the leaders of the charity. Who were they?

Billy Kennedy led Pioneer from 2009. He also led New Community Church in Southampton at the same time. It was, and still is, a large church. New Community had a turnover of £1,100,000 - £1,500,000 in the 2010s. Interestingly, it was never a Pioneer church before Kennedy became leader of the movement.

He became involved in Pioneer in a consultancy capacity in the mid-2000s. Kennedy and his wife Caroline began transitioning to become leaders of the charity in 2008. The offices of Pioneer were moved to their church in Southampton that year, and in 2009 Coates resigned.

At some point this shared leadership arrangement changed. But it's unclear when that happened. Archives of the Pioneer website describe Caroline Kennedy as a joint leader until 2017:

"Billy & Caroline Kennedy, Senior Leaders of New Community, Southampton, lead the network of more than 80 partnership churches of various sizes and with varying structures, that can be found across the UK – with many more associate churches in mainland Europe, Africa, India, Asia, Australia and the USA."

However, Caroline Kennedy is never mentioned in the filings of the charity after 2014. When Billy Kennedy is mentioned in 2015 and 2016 filings, it's implied he's the sole leader of Pioneer. Here's an example:

"Billy Kennedy, leader of Pioneer, has launched a second Apostolic Learning Community in Northern Ireland"

(Source: Total exemption full accounts made up to 31 August 2015, page 4) 

I'm going to assume that the filings are more reliable than the Pioneer website, as they are reported to the regulator, The Charity Commission.

In September 2019, Ness Wilson became the new 'National Director' of Pioneer. But Kennedy didn't hand over leadership of the charity. Rather, at that point he moved sideways to become International Director. Both Kennedy and Wilson are listed in the annual reports as Executive Directors. This is illustrated in a section of the 2020-2021 filings for Pioneer:

(Source: page 17)

Pioneer International has a separate website, and a separate director (Kennedy), but both areas of work are part of the same charity: Pioneer Trust. As joint Executive Directors they are both responsible for the operation of Pioneer, with the trustees holding them accountable.

Ness Wilson was, and still is, leader of Open Heaven Church in Loughborough. Open Heaven was a smaller church than Kennedy's church in the 2010s, with a turnover between £250,000 and £450,000.

1. Did the Pioneer leaders give up stopping Coates after 2015?

Let's turn our attention to the Independent Review that Pioneer commissioned Christian Safeguarding Services (CSS) to do. Note that 'independent' doesn't necessarily mean balanced.

The authors of the review give an account of Billy Kennedy, and other Pioneer staff, grappling with the behaviour of Gerald Coates in the 2010s. They began to take formal steps in 2014:

"By 2014, there was a growing concern amongst PT leaders that some of GC’s ministry practices fell short of the standards that they expected. The leaders began to address these concerns with him. Throughout the process of addressing these concerns, which extended over a number of years, PT leaders sought, and followed, advice from Thirtyone:eight (formerly CCPAS) who are their external independent safeguarding advisors."

(Source: CSS Pioneer Trust Review, page 9) 

Something seems to have happened at the 2014 Pioneer Leaders' Conference, because in 2015 we read that:

"The security team’s understanding was that there were concerns about some of GC’s ministry practices. The team were aware of concerns from the 2014 conference. "

(Source: CSS Pioneer Trust Review, page 26) 

In 2015 it sounds like Gerald Coates may have been ejected from the conference! If so, that would have been memorable for everyone there. 

It seems from the report that there was some confusion about the situation, and a lack of following a formal process. Coates earned an apology afterwards, albeit with a restatement of acceptable behaviours from the Pioneer leader at that time: Billy Kennedy.

There are no mentions in the report of complaints in 2016 or 2017. Then, in 2018:

"Following the Pioneer Leaders Conference, a concern was raised with PT that GC had approached a young man, shared a prophetic word with him, followed this up with Facebook messages and a subsequent phone call. This call quickly and predominantly turned to unsolicited questions about pornography and masturbation. This was reported to PT and was dealt with as a complaint. "

(Source: CSS Pioneer Trust Review, page 27) 

There are no details about what action was taken as part of that complaint. Was there any?

In 2019 he was at the conference again, and Coates says in a Facebook post that he was asked to pray and prophesy for the incoming National Leader, Ness Wilson:

A photo on the Pioneer Twitter account captures the moment (I believe he's on the right with his back to us):

The report doesn't mention any complaints from that year. Were there any?

In 2020 Coates says he attended the conference:

(He calls it 'Pioneer International Leaders' Conference'. From the dates, I believe he's talking about the usual Pioneer Leaders' Conference.)

And again, a complaint was made about him:

"Pioneer Leaders Conference: GC shares a word with a young man (20yrs), hugged him and tried to maintain contact. The young man felt GC was gaining some form of sexual benefit from the contact. A Safeguarding report raised the concern about GCs conduct at the conference in March 2020. The complainant shared their concerns with the Safeguarding Lead, both in relation to their own experience and more generally regarding GC’s relationships with young men and his use of the holy kiss. There is also a record of GC approaching another young man at the same conference."

(Source: CSS Pioneer Trust Review, page 29) 

What did the Pioneer Leaders do about this complaint? It was from the National Conference, but given it involved the founder of the charity, surely it was the responsibility of both Executive Directors to handle.

Did they do anything? Nothing is recorded in the report to suggest they acted. In fact, after 2015 no interventions are recorded. Did the leaders give up stopping Coates?

2. Did they warn the Monkton Combe School about Coates?

Throughout this period Coates talked about having a relationship with Monkton Combe School, a private school near Bath with a 'Christian ethos'. Coates described himself as a 'patron/ambassador' of the school in Library of Lives (the Pioneer magazine he edited): 

"Some people have asked, ‘When you hand over to Billy and Caroline, what are you going to do?’ Well, I continue with my ministry in speaking, writing and mentoring. I am pulling a team together to lead a local church in Leatherhead, Surrey. And I will be at major things like Pioneer’s National Churches Forum, the annual conference, the Round Table, OFCOM/CRAC, patron/ambassador of Monkton Combe School and so on."

(Source: Issue 14, page 9)

He also made Facebook posts about a number of visits. In 2016:

In 2017:

In 2018, on two separate occasions:

In 2019 he posted a photo of him speaking somewhere:

In the comments he states the photo is from Monkton Combe School:

There may have been more visits that he didn't post about.

Coates even mentions Monkton Combe in the Acknowledgements section of his second biography, Pioneer:

"I should also record those who opened significant doors and provided platforms for me, some recorded in this book and others not already mentioned. Clive Calver and Peter Meadows, Spring Harvest; Roger and Faith Forster, Ichthus/Revive/MFJ; Barney Coombs, Basingstoke Baptist Church/Salt and Light; Dave Tomlinson, Festival; Stuart Bell, Grapevine/One/Ground Level Network; Mike Pusey, Farnborough Baptist Church; Don Double, Good News Crusade; Danny Smith, Jubilee Campaign; Alan Kirbey, Monkton Combe School; Andrew Owen, Destiny; Stuart Brunton, The Gate; Sandy Millar, HTB/Focus; John Coles, New Wine."

(Source: page 240)

Given the behaviour reported about Coates at the time, these visits should have raised concerns for Kennedy, then leader of Pioneer. How would he behave towards male teenagers at the school?

Kennedy had previously been chair of governors of an Oasis academy from 2008-2013. In 2016 he got involved in setting up Hope Community School, a free school with values 'underpinned by a Christian ethos' in Southampton. The school met in his church building for a number of years.

I imagine both of these roles would have involved exposure to the practicalities of safeguarding in the school context. He was more likely than most to know the appropriate routes to handle the risks posed by Gerald Coates. 

Did Kennedy warn the Monkton Combe School about Coates? Perhaps he did.

It's possible he didn't see these Facebook posts, and missed the mention in Library of Lives, and that no one brought them to his attention.

3. Did the Pioneer Leaders warn Wildfires Festival about Coates?

The CSS report gives multiple accounts of Coates approaching young men at the Pioneer Leaders' Conference. With that in mind, Facebook posts like this one from 2018 raise concerns:

Why? Well, Wildfires was a new all-age Christian festival that began in 2018. At the time it described itself like this:

"Wildfires is a three day festival at the Wiston Estate, West Sussex, UK. It was launched in 2018 as a joint adventure between 24-7 Prayer, Worship Central, Pioneer, Fusion, Big Church Day Out and Tearfund.

Over the course of 3 days, thousands gather from different church expressions and communities to unite in prayer and worship, to deepen friendships and community, to learn, to party and to encounter God."

I can't find numbers for the scale of the 2018 Wildfires. Subsequent events attracted about 3,000 attendees. It's likely there would have been more young men at this event than the Pioneer Leaders' Conference.

Did Coates approach young men, and invade their personal boundaries, at Wildfires?

In a video update six months before the festival, Kennedy described Pioneer's role in Wildfires:

"Now we are going to be partnering together with 24/7 Prayer, Fusion, Worship Central, Gas Street Church and many others to put on an event on the Wiston estate in West Sussex from the 28th to the 30th of May. It's called Wildfires. An opportunity for us to be together, partying together, praying together, worshiping together and building community together. Details are on our website, Facebook pages and Twitter, but we are so excited by what the Wildfires could do as we come together as friends to see what the Holy Spirit will do among us. So check out the website and look forward to seeing you there."

It seems like there was a village concept to the physical layout of Wildfires. A tweet from Pioneer at the time said:

"Join us at Wildfires! We have our own Pioneer Village where we camp as a network together. Join us as we seek God and fan into flame the next Great Awakening with friends from different streams, churches and communities."

By the 2018 Wildfires, there had been at least 4 years of concerns about Coates' behaviour. Did Kennedy warn his fellow partners about the safeguarding issues connected with Coates? 

As it happened Kennedy would have probably known the lead event organiser. That person was Mike Andrea, CEO of 24-7 Prayer and leader of Global Generation Church in Kent. Wildfires posted a tweet with him talking about the festival:

Side note: Mike Andrea has since been since resigned from both roles after allegations about his behaviour.

An archive of the Pioneer website from 2012 shows Global Generation Church as a pin on their map. As a Pioneer church at that stage, it's likely that Kennedy would have met Andrea at one of the Pioneer Leader's Conferences.

Alternatively, did Billy Kennedy report the risks posed by Coates to the person responsible for safeguarding at Wildfires 2018?

I should say, it's possible the Coates booked without Kennedy's knowledge. The post above makes it sound like he may have attended for a day rather than the whole event.  

Did Coates also attend Wildfires in 2019 or 2021? Similar questions would apply if so. 

If he attended in 2021, these questions could be asked of Wilson as well, as she became National Director of Pioneer in September 2019.

In conclusion

Let's hope that the Pioneer Leaders acted appropriately in all of these circumstances and protected the children and young men involved. It is possible they did.

However, it's valid to ask these questions; the CSS review may have missed these elements. Or, the authors of the review may have considered them out of scope, as they did with Pioneer Engage Church, because several of them relate to connections with other charities.

Did the Pioneer Leaders do enough to protect young people?

More Gerald Coates blogs

The Gerald Coates report is only half the story

The troubling behaviour of Gerald Coates… did it also happen at Waverley Abbey?

  

The Watford priest who couldn’t stay away from Australia

The independent investigation into Soul Survivor was released last week. It's a difficult read.

One aspect that the authors discuss is the strange relationships Mike Pilavachi formed with young men:

"A consistent theme of complaints about Mr Pilavachi from the 1980s to the present day was the befriending of young men at Christian events (whether through the Festivals or at other speaking events, both in the UK but also internationally, or through the work at the Soul Survivor Church), developing very intimate and close relationships..."

(Source: page 28)

But later on:

"Mr Pilavachi’s behaviour towards the young person would change, usually very quickly. The invitations and one-on-one time would dry up. Many people told us that Mr Pilavachi would not speak to them at all for long periods or even acknowledge them in meetings. Some told us about ministry trips which they went on with Mr Pilavachi in which Mr Pilavachi would not say anything to them save to answer “yes” or “no” to essential questions."

(Source: page 29)

In the report Pilavachi is given the opportunity to respond. And he offers explanations that I find unconvincing. One of these is:

"He also explained that, as a result of his ministry commitments, he was sometimes too busy to maintain intense relationships with people for long periods of time and would have to move on."

(Source: page 28)

What could he do, eh? He was joint-leader of an events charity with a £3m turnover, and also leading a church of 500 in Watford.

Well, quite a lot actually. Because his 'ministry commitments' weren't typical for an ordained priest.

Let's begin with travel. Looking at 2014 as an example, I've found evidence of trips to these countries:

• Australia
• South Africa (a large group trip with many volunteers)
• Australia (again)
• Australia (again, again)
• USA
• USA (again)
• Singapore
• Malaysia

Some of these trips were 3 weeks long, which makes for quite a lot of Sunday-morning-absences.

I can evidence each of these destinations from several sources. I'm not going to share the evidence here, because it would also identify the interns that year, some of whom may be survivors.

The breakdown above is from just one year. This pattern occurred every year, with Canada, New Zealand and South Africa joining the list above. I'm surprised he didn't find a way to visit Florida.

Pilavachi was quite clever about this. He was public about this travel and sometimes made jokes about it. I imagine this reassured people - "if Pilavachi is open about this, then it must all be fine"  "The trustees would object otherwise". What an astute way to play it. Meanwhile, was he exerting control behind the scenes to stifle any complaints?

Leaving aside the obvious cost questions, especially with interns joining him, what about all of the time spent on this? That was time he didn't spend leading Soul Survivor Watford or Soul Survivor Ministries. That was time he was too busy for the young men he'd cultivated friendships with. 

In the UK he also spoke far and wide. I can't quite believe how much he was platformed by HTB, the Anglican church network behind the Alpha Course. In 2014 alone, he spoke at their conference, their leadership conference and both their carol services. Was this important ministry work?

There are more questions we could ask about Pilavachi's ventures:

If he was too busy for people, why did he keep writing books?

If he was too busy for people, why did he sign up for trusteeships at the Evangelical Alliance, Hope 08 and XLP, with all the responsibility that entailed?

If he was too busy for people, why did he take on a TV show?

If he was too busy for people, why did he start down the path of forming a church network?

It seems like Mike Pilavachi could find time for the things that suited him.

More Soul Survivor Blogs

Soul Survivor donated £53,000 to a charity led by one of their trustees

Following the money part 3: concerns about the collection, a mystery money move and who took home more than £90,000?

Questions about a £500,000 gift and Mike Pilavachi

Gerald Coates and 'fire' in Westminster

Imagine yourself at the Houses of Parliament, where MPs vote on issues concerning the UK. With the building behind you, ziz-zag south-east through the Borough of Westminster. You'll pass historic buildings, like Church House, and Government departments. You'll see a sprinkling of think-tanks and private members' clubs. Soon you'll come to Marsham Street, a road with particular significance in the life of Gerald Coates.

Halfway down Marsham Street, opposite the Home Office, is a church: Emmanuel Evangelical Church. Behind the wrought-iron security gates, and the imposing brick façade, I'm told one finds an impressive interior.

I've found two important connections between Coates and this church. The first occurred in 1997, the year that Princess Diana died. 

Coates seems to have spent a lot of his ministry talking about 'revival'. It's a term used in Christian circles to describe an upsurge of fervour for God in a given location. Revival is marked by people becoming Christians in large numbers and by miraculous events such as healings. Spurred by the Toronto Blessing and Brownsville Revival, Coates' talk of revival reached a crescendo in the 1990s. 

For many years Pioneer published a quarterly magazine called Compass. Gerald Coates was always listed as the senior figure and often penned articles. In the mid-90s he changed the subtitle of the magazine to "Pointing the way to revival". And it did: every subsequent issue had articles about revival. 

It's in this context that Coates began his 'Sowing the Seeds of Revival' meetings in that church on Marsham Street. 

1997 - Sowing the Seeds of Revival events

I should say, it's hard to find information from this era. Few churches had websites in 1997, and the media organisations that cover the UK church weren't online.

For a number of years Coates had contact with an American preacher called Dale Gentry. In Only One Life, Gentry's biography, he describes the genesis of the Sowing the Seeds of Revival meetings:

"In 1997, I received a phone call from Gerald Coates, the leader of Pioneer People in England, saying that he had just met with over a hundred leaders. He told me they wanted me to lead a revival in the heart of London, near Parliament. Jean and I accepted the invitation, and we started the revival in June." 

(Source: page 155) 

He continued:

"We ministered for a month at the Emmanuel Centre on Marsham Street, with Gerald Coates leading the services. Tony and Carol Gemmel were a blessing, hosting Jean and I during that time. Every night, I concluded the service by laying hands on everyone and giving prophetic words. We experienced the glory of God. One night prior to the service, I was praying in [sic] small room, when the word of the Lord came to me saying, “there is a revival on Marsham Street.” We soon had people coming from all over the U.K., Europe, and America."

We should note that these words were written 26 years after the events. They were recalled by the main speaker of the meetings. As such, they may contain inaccuracies and they're likely to have some positive bias.

The Compass issue from the winter of 1997 had an article by Andy Read about the meetings that sheds more light on the involvement of Emmanuel Evangelical Church:

"Coates had met Pastor Chua Wee-Hian, leader of Emmanuel Evangelical Church who actually owns the building - previously the 9th Church of Christ Scientist. 'But to use the centre seemed impossible,' Coates recalled. 

'For one thing, the church had only recently bought it. And it wasn't due to be opened for over a month! However, as I discussed the idea - meeting five nights a week in the heart of the capital, to seek God, get right with him and pray for revival in our land - with my advisors and others - the vision began to grow.

Through the trust and faith of Pastor Chua Wee-Hian and his leaders, we were in a position to make the vision a reality. So that's what we did!'"

The nature of the meetings changed after a month:

"Dale Gentry left England for Texas at the beginning of July, publicly passing on the mantle of revival to Gerald Coates,"

According to Read, Emmanuel Church were invested in the meetings:

"It was Emmanuel Church's Pastor Chua Wee-Hian who, towards the end of July, told Pioneer People, 'You've started something now, you can't go, you must not go!' That's added a new aspect to the meetings. The Emmanuel Church is mainly ethnic Chinese and has contacts with other minority ethnic congregations. Many have attended from those communities, bringing a richness and diversity to the gatherings." 

(Source for all excerpts: page 15)  

According to the Compass article the meetings ran for 4 nights a week. That's a significant investment of time from Coates, who was also leading the Pioneer Network, the Pioneer People church, co-leading March for Jesus and a trustee of Challenge 2000 / Together in Mission at the same time.

Long-time associates of Coates led some of the worship: Dave Bilborough, Sue Rinaldi and Noel Richards. In fact, it was significant enough to inspire music: an album from Bilborough and a song from Rinaldi. Dave Bilborough talked about the events in an interview 12 years later:

"Gerald Coates has [sic] successfully convened Sowing The Seeds Of Revival meetings in London's Marsham Street. They ran for many nights during the week and over a period of many months. Along with my fellow members of the Pioneer team (Noel Richards, Sue Rinaldi, etc) I was regularly invited to lead worship. These were significant times, not only for the congregation but for me personally."

How big were these meetings? The first Compass article claims the meetings were attended by 40,000 in total. An article in the following issue, 3 months later, claims 55,000 by that point. 

Is that an inflated figure? There isn't an independent source available for the numbers. There's also no indication that they tracked people who attended multiple times, so it's probably a figure that double-counts many people. 

In a 1999 interview extract posted on his website, Bilborough says the meetings lasted for 18 months.

Sadly, some editions of Compass are missing from the Coates Archive: 

• Autumn 1998
• Winter 1998/1999
• Spring 1999

Those may have contained articles about the meetings that provided more information.

The last mention we have in Compass is from an article in the Spring 1998 edition. Looking forward, it says:

"Sowing the Seeds of Revival continues in the last week of March with Marc Dupont, Guy Chevreau, Gerald Coates and Martin Scott."

(Source: page 22)

It sounds like in 1998 Coates reduced his involvement, doesn't it? He was no longer speaking at every meeting. It's likely he was still present.

In recent months we've heard disturbing accounts of Gerald Coates' behaviour. And these accounts date back to the 1990s. According to the timeline provided by the investigation:

"Late 1990s - at Cobham Christian Fellowship (CCF) GC became increasingly focused on preaching about homosexuality, pornography, and sex addiction. GC was seen using the ‘holy kiss’ with young men."

(Source: Pioneer Trust Review, page 62) 

Was Coates also behaving like this at the Sowing the Seeds of Revival meetings? It was a long-run of events with him as the most powerful figure. He would have had ample opportunity.

Were complaints made about him, and not dealt with properly? 

2008 - Fire on Marsham Street events

11 years later, following his stint at Waverley Abbey, the closure of Pioneer People, and the opening of Church in the Theatre, Coates embarked on another series of meetings. He seems to have been inspired by news of the Lakeland Revival in Florida.

In a blog post announcing the venture, he said:

"Then through a further series of “accidents”, the pastor of Emmanuel Evangelical Church in Marsham Street and I met up, and after prayer and discussion sensed that on Thursday July 24th at 7.30pm we should open the doors of the Emmanuel Centre and invite the public in for worship, getting right with God, impartation, fresh anointings and “re-dig the wells” and that’s what we plan to do, by God’s grace, every Thursday until people stop coming or the Holy Spirit moves on."

This time around the meetings were weekly. Do you notice how this sounds like a joint venture?

That approach is evident elsewhere. On the Wayback Machine's archive of the Emmanuel Church website from 2008 we can see a plug for the event:

In a similar archive the church listed the meetings on their own events page:

In this period Pioneer had a new magazine: Library of Lives. As before, Coates held the senior role in the editorial team. And, as before, his archive is missing a number of issues. 

An article titled 'Revisiting Revival' in Issue 12 of Library of Lives provided information about the meetings:

"In partnership with Emmanuel Centre pastor Wee Hian Chua, he is staging weekly meetings for ‘worship, prayer, healing and getting right with God’."

(Source: page 4) 

Notice the phrase 'in partnership'.

Coates and Chua set up a website for the event: www.fireonmarshamstreet.com . It's no longer online, but can be viewed via the Wayback Machine. In the December 2008 archive we learn about another partner: Premier Radio.

That's interesting. Premier Christianity didn't mention the involvement of their sister company with Coates in their coverage of the investigation. Perhaps the current staff were unaware of the involvement?

The following year, an article from Church Times about the leader of the Lakeland Revival gave an overview of the events at Emmanuel Evangelical Church:

"Gerald Coates, of Pioneer, said: “Something went terribly wrong at Lakeland.” His own revival meetings at the Emmanuel Centre, Marsham Street, London, flourished for 18 weeks, and ended on 27 November 2008. For the first nine weeks, they were attracting between 700 and 900 people a night, and, initially, what happened at Lakeland did not appear to affect attendance. But a later fall in numbers, which may simply indicate that the Fire had run its course, could be attributable to the repercussions, he acknow­ledges."

The Fire on Marsham Street events happened in 2008. Let's turn back to the investigation into Coates. According to the timeline in the independent investigation there are some reports from this period:

"Aug 2003 – a young man is picked out by GC at a non-Pioneer Christian festival or conference. Ongoing contact is maintained culminating in the man moving in next door to GC."

 and

"2005 – GC reaches out to a teenage boy via Facebook (FB)"

(Source for both: Pioneer Trust Review, page 64)

Was Coates behaving in the same way towards attendees of the Fire on Marsham Street meetings? 18 weeks of meetings would have provided ample opportunities for him to do so.

Looking at the comments below the blog posts about the meetings, Coates seemed strangely concerned with the ages of the commenters:

Will Emmanuel Evangelical Church investigate their involvement with Coates? Did they receive complaints about his behaviour at the time? Did staff observe any of the behaviours referenced in the Pioneer report? 

One would feel more reassured if the Church had signposted the investigation into Coates. Or if they had issued a statement about the findings. Neither of those things has happened.

More Gerald Coates Blogs

The Gerald Coates report is only half the story

The troubling behaviour of Gerald Coates… did it also happen at Waverley Abbey?

The troubling behaviour of Gerald Coates… did it also happen at Waverley Abbey?

Did you know about Gerald Coates' relationship with Waverley Abbey? There's no mention of it in the recent safeguarding report.

Back in the 1990s, Waverley Abbey was the headquarters for a Christian charity called CWR (the Crusade for World Revival). They were well known in Christian circles for the publishing output of their leader, Selywn Hughes.

(Image: Tim Sheerman-Chase*)

During that era, CWR used Waverley Abbey as a conference centre, an office space for their publishing wing  and as the base for their further education courses.

In 2023 CWR was renamed Waverley Abbey Trust. If we look at their accounts at Companies House, we see that in the 1990s the organisation was struggling. Each year they made significant losses:

1996 - loss of £199,880

1997 - loss of £105,586

1998 - loss of £175,888

At that time of financial troubles, the charity turned to a well-known figure in UK Christian circles: Gerald Coates. Their annual report for 1998 gave details:

"in July 1998, the board invited Gerald Coates to establish a non-denominational ministry organisation at Waverley to focus on revival and reaching both Christian and political leaders with this message. It is anticipated that this alliance will both increase the ministry output of Waverley Abbey House and also improve our financial position in 1999 and beyond, by virtue of another organisation taking on the responsibility of running the house and sharing the overhead costs."

(Source: Full accounts made up to 31 December 1998, Waverley Abbey Trust filings at Companies House, page 3)

The following year they formalised the relationship:

"KLM Limited, a company owned by Pioneer People Trust entered a lease agreement with CWR with effect from 1 January 1999. This agreement appointed KLM Limited as operators of Waverley Abbey House and is designed to increase the ministry output of the facility and to also share the overhead costs of the property. After a slow start, KLM are developing a growing number of teaching and training events based in the House and encouraging a prayer and revival ministry to emerge."

(Source: Full accounts made up to 31 December 1999, Waverley Abbey Trust filings at Companies House, page 4)

The agreement was accompanied by funds; later in the 1999 annual report we find that KLM Limited paid CWR £67,257 that year. There are further payments in the following years.

Actually, we should talk about KLM Limited. Despite being described as a company, I can find no record of them at Companies House. I have spent a long time searching. 

The biography of Anona Coates, Gerald's wife, mentions them:

"Eventually it was decided that we would form a new board called KLM (Kingdom Life Ministries) to run the house. A new manager was appointed and I was asked to oversee presentation, marketing and run the front of house office"

(Source: I Wish I was by Anona Coates, page 120)

In Gerald Coates' biography, Pioneer, we find another reference:

"They take over part of the upper floor as their accommodation, and Anona gets to work as Front of House Manager. Gerald’s influence is seen with regard to direction and networking. With the help of his business friend Paul Williams, a new trust is set up for the house, with the publishing arm being run by others at CWR."

(Source: Pioneer by Ralph Turner, page 194)

The CWR annual report mentions Coates 'developing a growing number of teaching and training events' at Waverley Abbey House. Pioneer's Compass magazine gives details of one event:

"CHILEAN revivalist Miguel Escobar is guest preacher at the new weekend event 'Revival Camp - Awake UK!' to be held in the grounds of Waverley Abbey House, Farnham, this summer. 

Gerald Coates is leading the event, and Sue Rinaldi will also be taking part in the programme, which will centre on a 1,000-seater marquee. 

'It will be a mixture of worship, revival teaching and preaching, personal ministry and the prophetic,' said Gerald Coates, 'plus a few surprises!'

The entire weekend is free. People can attend for an evening, the whole day or visit the site on all three days. Camping and caravanning in the grounds is also free, and for those who dislike camping, a limited amount of accommodation is available at Waverley Abbey House."

(Source: Summer 1999 Issue, Compass magazine, page 5)

That issue of Compass also mentions some events to come later in 1999:

"Other events are also planned for the Waverley marquee: ladies day with Wendy Virgo, Elaine Storkey, Caroline Bonnett and Sue Rinaldi on 30th June; leaders day on 1st July with Selwyn Hughes, David Powe and Gerald Coates; youth night on 10th July with Pete Greig."

But....

The thing is that CWR still used the house as a venue in this period: 

"CWR continues to use the house for a variety of its own courses, including marriage, counselling and life issues. The joint venture with London Bible College has resulted in a good number of students enrolling on the Theology and Counselling degree course and other counselling related courses"

(Source: Full accounts made up to 31 December 1999, Waverley Abbey Trust filings at Companies House, page 4)

The Christian Safeguarding Services (CSS) report into Coates paints a picture of a leader who targeted and built relationships with young adult men. It sounds like he would then overstep personal boundaries in his interactions with them. Some examples:

"2009 – Pioneer Leaders Conference, GC highlights a young man and gives him a ‘holy kiss’ then follows up using FB Messenger."

"Feb 2010 - at a Pioneer Leaders Conference - GC highlights a young man, shared a ‘word’, and gave him a ‘holy kiss’. Future meetings with the young man always involved the ‘holy kiss’." 

(Source: Pioneer Trust Safeguarding Learning Review, page 65)

Was Coates behaving the same way at Waverley Abbey in the early 2000s? I'm sure young men would have been present at the events held there, whether they were held by CWR or by Pioneer.

One caveat - Gerald and Anona Coates purchased a flat in London during this period. 

"Because we had sold our own house and were renting at Waverley, Gerald and I felt we should buy some property ready for when we would need our own home again. He was spending a lot of time in London with church leaders and MPs, so it seemed sensible to look for a home there. We found the perfect flat in Regency Street, Westminster – very small with two bedrooms, just modernised and in a small gated block complete with communal garden and porter."

(Source: I Wish I was by Anona Coates, page 122)

It's unclear the portion of time Gerald spent in London versus Waverley Abbey. He moved the Pioneer and March For Jesus offices to Waverley, which may be an indicator.

Even a small amount of time at Waverley Abbey may be significant. Look at the accounts of his behaviour at the Pioneer Leaders' conference - an event that only occurred once a year.

At the end of 2001, CWR decided to end their arrangement with Coates:

"With less emphasis on ministry events overseas and our increasing use once again of Waverley Abbey House, it was decided to terminate the lease agreement with KLM Ltd. (a subsidiary of Pioneer People Trust) in December 2001 and for CWR to take back the day to day operation of the House."

(Source: Full accounts made up to 31 December 2001 at Companies House, Page 5)

So, for 3 years, Gerald and his wife were involved at Waverley and lived on site.

I think the current leaders of Waverley Abbey should commission an investigation into Gerald Coates' involvement there. Were complaints made during his tenure? Perhaps they weren't dealt with appropriately.

The CSS safeguarding report says: 

"It is important to note that the scope of this review does not include: GC's activities outside of what it now know as the Pioneer Trust."

(Source: Pioneer Trust Safeguarding Learning Review, page 5)

This means it's possible that significant information hasn't been uncovered because it is connected with the home of a separate charity: Waverley Abbey Trust. 

I notice that the organisation made no mention of the investigation on their social media channels or website. Have past attendees heard that there has been an investigation into Gerald Coates?

Over to you Waverley Abbey.

More Gerald Coates blogs

The Gerald Coates report is only half the story

*Image converted to black and white and used under a Creative Commons license