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

The Gerald Coates report is only half the story

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?

Does the home of the UCCF Director break Charity Commission rules?

I have some new discoveries about UCCF and The Areopagus Trust.

Let's start with the question of whether UCCF's director, Richard Cunningham, lived in the building of The Areopagus Trust. And then I have surprising news to share about the owner of that building.

Cunningham was a governor of Kingham Hill School. It's no ordinary school: it's a school founded by a Christian philanthropist, and the governing charity also oversees Oak Hill Theological College. 

The school helpfully provides a biography of their governors. And it's from the 2013 version of that page that we learn about Cunningham's career:

"Rev Richard Cunningham - lives close by the school in [redacted] that Kingham Hill owned [redacted]. Studied at London University- trained and worked as a teacher, followed by a stint on the staff of St Helen’s Church, Bishopsgate. Trained for ordination in Oxford and after clergy roles locally and in Oxford works as the Director of UCCF: The Christian Unions."

I've redacted some details because I don't want to give away what may be Cunningham's home address. I'll refer to it as the 'Churchill Building' from this point forward.

Do you notice the connection to St Helen's Bishopsgate? It won't be the last time you hear that name.

Actually, the bio above seems to be missing one role. In an interview for Pantheos Cunningham talks about an earlier stint at UCCF in the 90s:

"Following a stint on staff as Evangelism trainer in the 90s I remained hugely interested in the ministry of UCCF and continued leading student missions. But I never imagined I would ever go back to work for UCCF- so was as surprised as anyone when I was made Director in 2004."

So, his career has gone something like this:

• Teacher
• Staff at St Helen's Bishopsgate
• UCCF
• Ordination training
• Curacy? (normally part of ordination training)
• UCCF

The first role at UCCF may have come before St Helen's Bishopsgate in this timeline.

Elsewhere, in 1993, the The Areopagus Trust was founded. That is the date of the founding document referenced on the Charity Commission website.

Sadly the Charity Commission website only gives us the last 5 years of charity filings. So we have no available records about The Areopagus Trust from 1993-2018. We don't know who the trustees and staff were in the 90s, and details of the nature of the UCCF relationship. However, the founding document remains visible, with its focus on UCCF.

Let's focus on the Churchill Building. We don't know who owned it in these earlier years. It may have been used by the charity all along, or it may have been purchased/leased at some point.

In 1997, the year Tony Blair became Prime Minister, we find the first evidence that Cunningham lived in that building. The source? Planning permission. In 1997 planning permission was requested for the Churchill building:

If we look at the details we find the contact for the application is 'Mr Richard Cunningham':

Maybe that means Cunningham owned the Churchill Building in 1997. Or maybe he had a significant role at the charity and they owned the building.  

Three years later Cunningham got involved in a different charity called Christian Heritage as a director (They later renamed to The Foundations Trust). In the paperwork he completed on 10th May 2000, he listed his address as the Churchill Building:

The 'Annual return for 2000' for Christian Heritage, filed on 6th March, confirms the same details.

Each year, until 2008, these forms for Christian Heritage list the Churchill Building as his address. No return was filed for 2008. Maybe the rules changed for charity reporting from that year.

In 2003, Cunningham became a trustee of the Proclamation Trust. They are a charity founded by Dick Lucas when he was Rector of St Helen's Bishopsgate. They seem to have had a close relationship with that church; they are linked from the 2008 St Helens website with a handful of other organisations.  

The address he gave for his trustee details? The Churchill Building.

The current UCCF website tells us:

"Richard has been Director of UCCF: the Christian Unions since early 2004.  Immediately prior to that he was Executive Director of the Areopagus Trust, developing initiatives in confronting secular thought in universities across Britain and Europe and, at the same time, was Director of Evangelism at St Andrew’s Church, Oxford."

So, in 2003 he led the Areopagus Trust. I wonder when he began that role. The way this is phrased indicates he left that job when he became UCCF director.

In 2007 Cunningham joined forces with three other Anglican priests Nigel Beynon (then curate of St Helen's Bishopsgate), Jason Clarke (UCCF) and Hugh Palmer (Rector of All Souls, Langham Place) to found the Christian Events charity. This is the charity that underpins the Word Alive conference. He filled in the paperwork for director, and listed his address as... the Churchill Building.

The names of these founders rather struck me. So I dug some more and discovered something interesting: 3 of these 4 are former staff members of St Helen's Bishopsgate. The exception is Jason Clarke.

The 2008 Christian Events annual return lists the address again. In the following years the annual returns don't mention trustee/director addresses. 

I've seen Twitter posts from a member of Cunningham's family in 2007 and 2016. They refer to the Churchill Building like a home. I'm not going to link to those for privacy reasons.

In 2013, the biography from the start of this post was displayed on the Kingham School website, stating that Cunningham lives in a type of property that matches that of the Churchill Building.

Helpfully, in 2016, the Proclamation Trust filed an annual return. That paperwork lists the UCCF director's address as the Churchill Building.

In 2017 there was more building work planned - for sleeping accommodation this time:

And the contact name? You guessed it: Mr R Cunningham.

That planning application is the most recent evidence I have. Cunningham may still live at the Churchill Building, or he may have moved on since 2017.

In summary, there is evidence the UCCF Director lived in this building from 1997 to 2017.

The surprising owners of the Churchill Building

At this point I had a brainwave. Who actually owns this building now? 

These days anyone can get that data from the Land Registry, for a small fee of £3. So I did.

And I found something surprising. In 2010 the Churchill Building changed ownership. It was bought by David Douglas Monteath and someone called Michael Stahel Farmer:

You may recall that Monteath is the Settlor of the Areopagus Trust - the person whose funds drive the charity. I'm not familiar with that particular charity set up. He provides the funds, but control may be at arm's-length, in the hands of the charity trustees. Or Monteath may have considerable influence.

Research reveals that in 2002 someone called David Monteath was on staff at St Helen's Bishopsgate.

This seems likely to be the same person, given the other connections we've seen, although we can't be certain.  He was in charge of 'Tape Ministry'.

The Proclamation Trust also employed someone called David Monteath in a similar role in 2004. Their website that year says:

"On the audio front, we continue to develop in the area of digital media and website development. David Monteath has been working very hard on your behalf, and very soon there will be full online ordering facilities available via the web which will unleash many new opportunities."

That prompts an interesting question - when Cunningham was a trustee of the Proclamation Trust, from 2003-2018, was he living at accommodation funded by a staff member? If so, that would be a conflict of interest: how could Cunningham be effective in holding the leaders of the charity accountable when they managed someone who was his landlord or benefactor.

Michael Stahel Farmer is a new name for me. I should call him by his official title: Baron Farmer of Bishopsgate.

According to his website Farmer is a Christian who spent his career working in metals trading in the City of London. He is a former treasurer of the Conservative Party, and since 2014 has been a Conservative life peer in the House of Lords.

If we look at Companies House records, we find he has been a director of some interesting organisations. I think two of these are noteworthy:

Gospel Support and Homes Trust Limited sounds fairly anonymous. They say their purpose is to "encourage Biblically faithful gospel ministry across London". When you look at their filings you find that a significant chunk of this ministry is based out of St Helen's Bishopsgate. In fact, the charity was originally named Great St Helen’s Trust. 

Kingham Hill School Trust is the charity that underpins the school and theological college I talked about at the start of the post. Farmer was a trustee there from 2002-2014. That will cross over the time when Cunningham was a governor. Perhaps they knew each other.

What does this mean?

We don't know the arrangement Cunningham had with regard to the Churchill Building. He may pay rent. He may be granted use for free. There would be no concerns about that, except that for some, or all, of this period The Areopagus Trust likely had a commercial relationship with UCCF. 

That would create a conflict of interest. Imagine you're the person in charge of training at UCCF. Say you're offered a very good deal for residential training accommodation. You may want to take it, but are conflicted - what if that decision jeopardises Cunningham's accommodation arrangement with the current provider, The Areopagus Trust?

Are decisions like that made in the best interest of UCCF and their donors, or in the best interests of Richard Cunningham? There is no declaration of such a conflict of interests in the filings, or of any 'Related party transactions' with The Areopagus Trust. You can find details of what the Charity Commission required regarding these on page 89 of The Charities Statement of Recommended Practice (SORP).

Also, this arrangement may be an undeclared remuneration for the director. Is the accommodation a perk that every director gets? There is no mention of this in the UCCF filings at Companies House at any point in the last 20 years.

Charity Commission rules say charities must disclose:

"the number of employees whose total employee benefits (excluding employer pension costs) for the reporting period fell within each band of £10,000 (€10,000) from £60,000 (€70,000) upwards"

(Source: page 81 of the The Charities Statement of Recommended Practice (SORP) )

If this was part of the renumeration package for the Director, then shouldn't it have been disclosed according to those rules? In the most recent report UCCF say:

(Source: page 22, Full accounts made up to 30 April 2023, UCCF Filings at Companies House)

The water is muddied here by the fact that the accommodation is coming from a charity separate from UCCF. However, The Areopagus Trust has a core mission to serve UCCF, and is likely to receive payments from UCCF.

Perhaps the most significant aspect of all of this is that it wasn't out in the open. It was very, very hard to uncover any of this information. Why would it be so opaque? 

I wonder which trustees knew about The Areopagus Trust.

I wonder who on the UCCF Leadership Team knew about The Areopagus Trust.

More UCCF blogs

The puzzling connection between UCCF and The Areopagus Trust

What's strange about the UCCF Leadership Networks?

What's strange about the UCCF Leadership Networks?

I've been looking at UCCF's Leadership Networks. Guess what? There are strange things going on there.

According to UCCF, the purpose of the Leadership Networks is to:

"equip students who face unique challenges in their field of study, and who will be entering areas of strategic and cultural significance"

At the time of writing these fields of study are:

• Arts
• Law (which seems like a joint effort with the Lawyers' Christian Fellowship)
• Music
• Politics
• Science
• Teaching
• Theology

The Networks produce resources, they run events, they provide mentoring, etc.

There are staff with responsibility for each network. According to UCCF's About the Team page, 10 staff members currently work full, or part-time, on one of these networks.

Someone, somewhere is donating money specifically for this work on a regular basis. I know this because from 2014 onward their annual filings list a 'Leadership Network Restricted Fund'. See the bottom line of this list:

(Source: Page 19, Full accounts made up to 30 April 2014, UCCF filings at Companies House)

A restricted fund is a ring-fenced pot of money. It exists because a donor (or many donors) has said "I want to give this money for x purpose". It's an administrative hassle, but it's common because donors are often inspired by a particular element of a charity's work. 

It would be unethical to use this money for a different area of work, without the permission of the donor. The Fundraising Regulator has rules about this:

"A donation must be used for the purpose for which it was given. If you want to change that purpose you should get advice from legal advisers or the relevant national statutory regulator before changing the purpose, even if the person making the donation has given you permission to do this."

The ring-fenced money that always adds up

The thing with restricted funds is that there's normally some money left. Because it's rare you exactly match the amount you spend to the amount you're given.

Imagine you're given £20,000 to produce an information pack for university freshers. You'd get quotes for each element: writing, design, printing, delivery costs. When the work is done aspects may go under or over budget. So you'd end up spending £17,658 or £19,110, say. It's unlikely you'd spend exactly £20,000.

And sometimes there are delays in spending the money, for example a key staff member may get a new job and recruitment stalls a project. So this money may take more than a year to spend. That would be fine: the money is ring-fenced, it's not going anywhere.

What's strange about UCCF's Leadership Networks is that for 4 years in a row this ring-fenced money was entirely used up each year.

In the 2014-2015 financial year (the year after the screengrab above), the Leadership Network Restricted Fund started with £186,108 in it. In the course of the year another £52,253 was donated. That may have come from a single donor, or from many donors. £49,336 was spent from the fund. And then something interesting happens: £189,026 was transferred out into general UCCF funds. The explanation for this was:

"£189,026 of costs were transferred from General Funds to the Leadership Network for the salaries and associated costs of both field and office staff"

(Source: Page 19, Full accounts made up to 30 April 2015, UCCF filings at Companies House)

Notice it's costs that were transferred, rather than money. I find it hard to follow that wording.

At the end of that financial year £1 was left,  ring-fenced for the Leadership Networks.

The following financial year followed a similar pattern. Donated funds came in, some was spent, some was transferred to UCCF General Funds. Nothing was left in the restricted fund at the close of the year.

That same thing happened again in the 2016-2017 financial year.

And, in the 2018-2019 financial year? You guessed it. 

It seems odd to me. I find it too perfect. One year where spending exactly matched funds would be possible. But four years in a row? 

It makes me wonder if they were following the Fundraising Regulator rules. It makes me wonder if they were respecting their donor's wishes.

Maybe they were. I've worked in three charities in the course of my career. That said, I've never been a fundraiser, so I may be showing my inexperience here. Contact details are on the top right if you think I've missed something here. 

The network that's hidden from view

There's something even stranger going on with the Leadership Networks. 

These operations get a decent amount of publicity: on the website, in emails for supporters, in posts on the UCCF social media accounts. That makes sense, right? Students need to hear about them so they can join them.

But there's a network that's never mentioned in any of those places.

Let me introduce the Apologetics Network.

We can learn about it in the UCCF filings for 2020-2021:

"The Leadership Network is pioneering a brand new stream 'Teaching Network' which (alongside all the other networks Arts, Apologetics, Music, Politics, Science, Theology and Law) will provide first-class digital resources across the disciplines and will form a stronger partnership with the Internship (Relay) programme enabling us to mentor and train a new generation of thought leaders within a blended format of physical and virtual meetings"

(Source: Page 4, Full accounts made up to 30 April 2021, UCCF filings at Companies House)

Similar mentions occurred in the UCCF filings for 2021-2022 and 2022-2023. 

Can you see how it was spoken of in the same way as the other networks? Like it had already existed for a few years, or more before that point.

This network is strange, because it has no publicity anywhere. There's not been a single Twitter post from UCCF. There is not a one mention on the 1000+ pages of the current website. How do students learn about it?

It's strange because there are no staff members associated with it. I looked through the About the Team page again to check. 

It's strange because Apologetics isn't a subject one normally studies at University, not like Law or Theology. 

Why is this network so hidden? 

Does it actually exist?

More UCCF blogs

The puzzling connection between UCCF and The Areopagus Trust

Who are UCCF?