Guest Post: Dear Pete Greig

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On 19th May, Pete Greig (founder of 24-7 Prayer) wrote a Facebook post reflecting on the situations of abuse within evangelical Christianity. Rather than focus on those who have been harmed, Greig was keen to defend church leaders and requested his followers comment on the post celebrating faithful leaders they know. This post came not long after he extricated himself from the Anaheim Vineyard situation, with a statement which while likely giving him splinters from sitting on the proverbial fence, managed to insist that Alan Scott (now credibly accused of spiritually abusing a dozen people) and his wife Kathryn are “people who listen diligently to the Lord and simply seek to obey.” Last year, Greig’s organsiation 24-7 Prayer had their own abuse situation (detailed in THIS blog). Greig has yet to make an explicit statement on the Soul Survivor statement.

Within the various comments objecting to Greig’s Facebook post was one from Tony Brooks, which summed up a lot of what was wrong with Greig’s approach. I asked Tony if he could send me a “blog ready” version of his comment for a guest blog and he kindly did. Although Greig has now deleted the post, I feel that the approach Tony has taken is really helpful in enabling others to see what it wrong with posts which focus on leaders, in a crisis of abusive leadership.

Pete,

I read your post yesterday which had been shared by a friend and was rather troubled by it. I understand why people feel like they need to say this stuff but I really don’t think it’s helpful for the people that have been at the sharp end of it all. Especially as many evangelicals and the evangelical church has a habit of minimising the affects and reality of spiritual abuse. 

There are lots of lumps underneath a lot of rugs.

Not every rug, of course that’s obvious – I don’t think that needs pointing out. In the same way that every policeman in the Met hasn’t raped a woman, but some have, so lots of church communities and leaders are not toxic. But some are. They really are. 

Furthermore can you begin to imagine what it might feel like for someone that has been very seriously spiritually abused, gaslit and victim blamed to read a post like this? How might those lads (some now grown men) feel reading this that were allegedly asked by Pilavachi to strip down to their pants and have a massage on his bed? Would they feel heard by this post or would they feel like it’s minimising their abuse? I think they might think it is minimising, especially as a victim of abuse is more than likely to blame themselves and have others blaming them too. 

When it’s someone that is ‘God’s anointed’, (the one that tells you what God is saying) perpetrating the abuse it’s extremely harmful and is what sets this apart from other types of abuse. I would have much more respect for you Pete if you just held your hands up and said there’s a massive problem and we all need to deal with it. That’s what I think the message should be. That’s what victims need to hear. They don’t need to hear ‘we’re not all bad’. 

Especially as it’s unlikely that many victims would, if asked, say every element of the church is corrupt and all leaders are abusive. Perhaps a better line would be: 

‘At this time across the evangelical church we need to examine ourselves, our theology, systems and our structures. We need to root out everything that creates environments where abuse can happen and we need to be brutal and ruthless with those things so there is no room for this kind of systematic abuse of power. 

And we will put the needs and voices of victims at the heart of everything we do until we learn and change our theology, systems, behaviours, structures and communities.  I am going to use this platform and the influence I have to share our churches journey to understand and deal with this problem.’

Why are you worried about people being disillusioned and disappointed?

That’s exactly what people should be feeling. They should feel remorse, regret, anger, frustration and be disturbed by it enough that they have the courage to face up to it and deal with it. I totally get why you would post this especially trying to encourage people that are working hard in what they do to care for people and their communities. But right now they are not the priority as they are not the victims. Not to say their roles aren’t difficult, challenging and stressful or that they don’t need support. 

I don’t follow you so I don’t know what else you have said about all of this. What I do know is that you have nearly 35,000 people following you on Facebook and this is the only post I have seen anyone share about spiritual abuse. This is the post I am seeing evangelical Christians share. 

I’ve not seen any posts from influential leaders being shared being honest about spiritual abuse and saying what they are going to do about it and encouraging others to do the same. You have encouraged your 35,000 followers (and the thousands that will read it from sharing) not to face the challenge of abuse in churches but to celebrate leaders. 

At best that feels to me like a missed opportunity. At worst it seems somewhat irresponsible. Of course I appreciate your intent in this post but I think perhaps its a bit misplaced. I hope you can prayerfully reflect on and consider some of these points. Some of these Nomad podcasts may be a good place to start, with some very nuanced and thoughtful consideration of the issues:

• Surviving Spiritual Abuses with Joy Brooks and Justin Marsh HERE.
• Freedom from Unhealthy Religious Systems with Joy Brooks HERE.
• Jemimah, Joy and Jezebel HERE.
• Stories of Deconstructing Faith with Olivia Jackson HERE.
• And THIS is my friend Olivia’s book, “Un)Certain: A Collective Memoir of Deconstructing Faith”.

I would encourage everyone, especially those that hold a position of power in evangelical spaces to pause, take time and do some research before sharing their thoughts on such a difficult topic on social media or from their pulpits.Please be assured – I have no issues with thanking and supporting people. That’s an important part of life, living and community. I think that celebrating leaders is not the thing to be doing right now. Particularly when there is so little attention being drawn to the reality of spiritual abuse and how churches and people with lots of influence are going to be working to understand it and deal with it. 

That’s the piece of work that needs doing now.

This is especially as it seems to me the evangelical church has little (or no) understanding at all about power dynamics. It doesn’t understand how its theology supports and creates environments where abuse can happen, where abusers can thrive and even be defended for their behaviour as ‘the Lord’s anointed’. And Pete, trust me, I am not having a go at you in anyway. I’m just a bit confused about another aspect of your post. 

You wrote about people quietly getting on with things but then listed a load of people with enormous platforms. Like, really big ones. Whoppers even! One of these was Tim Keller. I know it’s sad for many that he’s passed away but oh boy does he have a life littered with facilitating spaces that are rife with abuse, as shown HERE. And of course you mention Nicky Gumbel who was very much entwined with Mike and Soul Survivor. THIS video where he praises him on a number of occasions now feels pretty dreadful. I find it hard to believe that Nicky and others around him will not have at some point come across what Mike was doing or at the very least got wind of it. Maybe they didn’t but this is hard to watch now.And then there is THIS account of the culture and ‘values’ at Soul Survivor that is absolutely stomach churning. How does Nicky Gumbel, who you celebrate as a great and humble leader, not know about the toxicity of the culture Pilavachi curated?:

I have also been advised from a friend that the Bishop Stephen Croft, bishop of Oxford and formerly of Sheffield, (along with Sentamu, who has now had his licence revoked, while Croft remains in place) did nothing when Matthew Ineson complained that a vicar had raped him as a child, has a son, Andy Croft – who is senior pastor at Soul Survivor. Please, please take some time to read THIS article.

Again, I cannot see how we should be celebrating leaders at this time. At the very least some consideration of the stories and lives of victims and a cursory glance at the reams of evidence of systemic abuse and cover ups would illustrate that celebrating leaders is not in anyway the priority. Again Pete, I am not having a go, I am just asking for some active evidence-based reflection followed by action.

Yours, in hope, 

Tony Brooks

Other relevant posts:

1. The Problem with Statements; Mike Pilavachi, Soul Survivor, and the importance of independence
2. Firm Foundations; on statements, silencing and Soul Survivor
3. Holy Saturday and Soul Survivor
4. Guest Blog: Soul Survivor’s Elephant Navigating Service
5. A Suggested Statement about Soul Survivor
6. Silence, Soul Survivor and pushing things under the rug
7. Soul Survivor and anything that needs to come into the light
8. Scrutinising Soul Survivor
9. Guest Post: An Open Letter to Evangelical Leaders in the UK
10. Soul Survivor and those who are late to the conversation
11. The Soul Survivor Situation – A Timeline
12. Guest Blog: Dear Pete Greig
13. We are all implicated subjects
14. Trampling on the Little Ones
15. Woe to you, religious leaders
16. Guest Post: New Frontiers and Mike Pilavachi