Joe.My.God. LGBT News
The Roys Report reports:
Soul Survivor Watford has formally suspended Mike Pilavachi, founder of a large Christian youth festival in the U.K., who’s facing allegations he spiritually and sexually abused young men under him. The suspension comes amid revelations that ministry leaders in the U.K. knew about allegations concerning Pilavachi for nearly two decades but did nothing.
On Saturday, Soul Survivor Watford released a new statement, saying it had suspended Pilavachi, its associate pastor, “with immediate effect” while the investigation continues. The statement added, “It has been clear that this more decisive action should have been made earlier and we have acted to correct this now.”
The vicar and charismatic speaker has been accused of running “a cult” in which young men received full-body massages on his bed and were pressured to engage in extended wrestling matches. Survivors claim Pilavachi abused them spiritually and psychologically and “left a trail of broken, young male adults scattered all around the world.”
Read the full article.
Tim Hughes told me in 2004 that Mike Pilavachi was massaging an intern. I reported this to then Executive Director Liz Biddulph who just said “Pft.” https://t.co/i7qxbuomIt
— Chris Bullivant (@chrisbullivant) May 22, 2023
‘Quote of the week’ – Paul Martin, founder of Soul Survivor USA, on the Church of England’s investigation into alleged abuser Mike Pilavachi. pic.twitter.com/gCCdci9pZG
— National Secular Society (@NatSecSoc) May 21, 2023
Abuse lawyer Richard Scorer said: “Given the numerous conflicts of interest within the Church of England and the seriousness of the issues now emerging in relation to Soul Survivor, it is impossible for the Church to credibly conduct this investigation ‘in house’.“
— Katie Gatens (@katie_gatens) May 21, 2023
Suspended: Soul Survivor leader who wrestled boys at Christian Glastonbury. I also repeat the call for a fully independent investigation. Church of England General Synod members have now put forward a motion on this which I hope others will support https://t.co/HhxLMEbE57
— Richard Scorer (@Richard_Scorer) May 21, 2023
Archbishop of Canterbury statement on Soul Survivor. Sadly @JustinWelby fails to acknowledge that his own closeness to Soul Survivor is one reason why an investigation independent of the Church of England is so necessary https://t.co/9RxdxQ1PfQ
— Richard Scorer (@Richard_Scorer) May 16, 2023
Many of the alleged victims first encountered the now 65-year-old charismatic evangelist through his church’s gap-year programme, Soul Time – now known as Soul61 pic.twitter.com/qR7sRjUaR2
— The Telegraph (@Telegraph) May 12, 2023