New working group to analyze the issues raised by the Soul Survivor scandal

AFTER “appalling practices and a shocking abuse of power” were exposed at Soul Survivor, in reviews by the National Safeguarding Team (NST) and Fiona Scolding KC, a group is being formed to carry out further work, the Bishop of Stepney, Dr. Joanne Grenfell, the lead bishop for safeguarding, said this week.

The working group will examine the processes of ordination, training and supervision of clergy, and safeguarding and governance in churches, Bishop’s Mission Orders (BMOs) and mission charities that have an Anglican approach to the his job

The aim was to ensure that the recommendations of Ms. Scolding to have an “appropriate response” but also “that the areas that have not yet been fully covered are dealt with rigorously”, Dr Grenfell said. “The perspectives of victims and survivors will be vital in this work.”

The pledge was made in response to an open letter from 30 members of the General Synod asking the bishop what steps he would take to “fill the gaps and rectify the incompleteness” of the Soul Survivor review carried out by Fiona Scolding KC. The signatories include those who backed a motion brought to the General Synod by the Vicar of St James’s, West Hampstead, London, the Revd Robert Thompson, calling on the Council of Archbishops to commission its own report, also led by KC (News, July 12).

Fr Thompson argued that existing reviews were “not sufficient in their terms of reference or scope to meet both the needs of victims and survivors of such abuse or issues that should be of interest to the Church of England in general.” .

The Synod carried an amendment by Dr. Grenfell to remove almost all of the content of the original motion. He called on the Council of Archbishops to ensure that the learning of the Scolding review “is taken into account in any recommendations relating to the future of safeguarding the Church”. It also committed the Council of Archbishops to engage “with relevant survivors to understand their perspective on the findings of the review”.

Since the publication of the Scolding report last month (News, October 4), some survivors of Mr. Pilavachi have been critical of the review. David Gate, a former Soul Survivor cult leader, said “a fully independent inquiry is essential to any sense of justice and peace for the victims”.

The reviewers acknowledged the limitations of their work: they had not been able to get people to talk to them, and while the “vast majority”, including Mr Pilavachi, had, some had not. They had also been unable to review all records due to data protection legislation, while only 15 of the 46 people who had given evidence to the NST review had been allowed to see their statements.

The Synod members’ letter argues that “all areas of (another) safeguarding failure remain unexamined, hampered by Ms Scolding’s inability to access people and information from the National Safeguarding Team and the survivors’ lack of confidence in the integrity of an internal investigation.” On this last point, Scolding says the terms of reference were “crafted by the people most vulnerable to criticism”.

Survivors who contributed to the NST review were not approached individually to seek their consent to pass information to the Scolding review, but were made aware of the review and request for information through online channels and the safeguarding charity Thirtyone:Eight, which organized therapeutic treatments. support for those who presented themselves. This method is understood to have been adopted out of concern for a “trauma-informed approach” to asking survivors to retell their story.

Scolding’s reviewers acknowledged that they had “encountered some difficulties in identifying precisely who knew what about Mr Pilavachi’s behaviors and when”, and lamented that “those responsible are still not being held accountable for their actions”.

Addressing the Synod in July, Dr Grenfell said: “I do not see enough benefit in an expensive re-investigation of these actual events, without any assurance that the victims, survivors and those involved in a variety of other ways are willing to put through new potentially traumatizing interviews.” He was also wary of a “side-kick to the missionary and church-planting communities,” given that abuses could occur anywhere in the Church.

In his response to members of the Synod this week, he said that after digesting the review of Ms. Scolding, “I think there is more work to be done. . . . I am committed to working with victims and survivors, and other colleagues and members of the Synod, to create better foundations and safeguards in the Church.” He pledged to update the Synod regularly on this work.

In response on social media to the publication of Scolding’s review, Matt Redman, a former cult leader at Soul Survivor, who has spoken about his own experience of Mr. Pilavachi’s behavior, wrote: “He will not respond to all questions will not heal all wounds, but moments like this, which bring light, are a step in the right direction”.