A REVIEW of concerns raised about Gerald Coates, the late founding father of a Charismatic house-church movement, the Pioneer Trust, has advisable that the trust “fastidiously considers the implications of its theology and ministry practice for safeguarding; particularly when involved in ministry to children and young people”.
The review records a “pattern of behaviour” concerning Mr Coates’s actions towards young men, including the delivery of prophetic words, questions on their sexual behaviour, and greeting them with a “holy kiss”.
Pioneer began as a bunch of Christians from a Brethren assembly background, meeting in Mr Coates’s home within the late Sixties. By 1997, there was a 1000-strong congregation in Cobham, Surrey, and a network of 100 smaller churches across the country. The Pioneer Trust was established in 1986 to attach and equip member churches. Mr Coates died in 2022.
The review, conducted by Christian Safeguarding Services (CSS), was initiated by the trustees of the Pioneer Trust last 12 months, after a grievance was raised about Mr Coates, who led the network until 2009. CSS was asked “to discover and address any failures or deficiencies in [Pioneer’s] past and present culture, policies, practices, and safeguarding arrangements”.
The evidence, given by greater than 30 people, suggests a “consistent pattern of behaviour that falls significantly wanting expected standards on the time”, the review says.
Mr Coates would approach a young man, often after a public meeting, and “share a prophetic word with them” that “identified ultimately that God’s hand was upon them, that they were special and that they’d be future leaders within the church. He would then seek to ascertain contact with them; normally by offering, or a minimum of appearing to supply, some kind of mentoring or spiritual leadership development.”
Another pattern of behaviour was greeting these young men with “the ‘holy kiss’, sometimes accompanied by a reference to scripture as a justification. This was refrained from prior consent or explanation.”
Mr Coates also approached young men that he had never met in person, through social media. “Once contact had been established, he would start in a short time to query them about their use of pornography, masturbation etc. He would ask detailed questions on the variety of pornography and about their accompanying sexual intercourse. This would occur without invitation in a conversation that the young man believed related to the prophetic word that that they had previously been given. On some occasions, Gerald apparently approached people indicating that he may very well be a father figure to them and that he believed God had called him to this.”
The trust was aware of lots of these behaviours. The review states that, by 2014, after Mr Coates had handed over leadership of the trust, there was a “growing concern” amongst its leaders. Over the course of quite a few years, they sought to deal with concerns, including taking advice from Thirtyone:eight, their external independent safeguarding advisers.
The review records: “GC did modify his behaviour to some extent, nevertheless, overall, the interventions weren’t as effective as would have been hoped.” The Pioneer Trust “had reached a call that if GC didn’t adhere to the expected standards, they’d dissociate from him. This had not been deemed essential prior to his death in 2022.”
The review states that the trust has “invested considerable time, energy, and finance in supporting its churches to be sure that safeguarding arrangements are in place. However, in doing so, they’ve not analysed with sufficient clarity, the safeguarding risks that they themselves need to administer.”
One of the young men approached was aged 12 to 13, and the review identifies this as “the only most important missed opportunity reported to the reviewers” — one that ought to have been passed to the local-authority-designated officer.
Among the contributors to the review was “A”, who was 20 in 2013 when he co-authored with Mr Coates a book, Sexual Healing: Identity-sexuality-calling. He told CSS: “I wish I could buy every copy to take it out of circulation.”
Although on the time of his death Mr Coates had been married to his wife for greater than 60 years, he had spoken in the course of the earlier a part of his ministry “about his own early experiences of same-sex attraction”. “Particular care have to be taken on condition that GC’s voice couldn’t be heard,” the review says, noting “a scarcity of documentary evidence to ascertain many facts”.
Mr Coates is described within the review as “a charismatic, if somewhat eccentric leader who significantly influenced the event of the ‘Charismatic’, ‘House Church’, or ‘Restorationist’ movement”, whose “principle spiritual gifting . . . was said to be within the realm of the ‘prophetic’”. It notes that “very rarely would he prophecy over or publicly pray for, young women or more mature people.”
While a few of the young men who received prophetic words did go on to serve in public ministry, “others felt they were misled, manipulated, and were ultimately left upset and disillusioned”. Some “believed that any discrepancy between the prophecy and their actual experience indicated some fault in themselves”.
The review makes 14 recommendations, including the suggestion that the Pioneer Trust “fastidiously considers the implications of its theology and ministry practice for safeguarding; particularly when involved in ministry to children and young people”.
It observes: “One of the challenges that Pioneer Trust faces, which is an outworking of their particular theology, is the best way to ensure best practice standards, without hindering the movement of the Holy Spirit and stifling the expression of the Spiritual gifts. This is especially vital when engaging in ministry to children, young people, or adults who could have particular vulnerabilities.”
While a few of those that contributed to the review had “very positive experiences of receiving a prophetic word inside a Pioneer context”, the authors write that “it is vital when those operating within the spiritual gifts, especially those able of leadership, are aware of the inherent position of power and authority they hold and the implications of that upon the person being ministered to. An understanding of the ability dynamics inside that scenario and the chance of control and manipulation are a vital factor for people inside leadership to think through.”
The review doesn’t name Soul Survivor, or Mike Pilavachi, but, in detailing the grievance that prompted it, brought by “C”, states that: “In 2023, allegations about one other well-known Christian leader got here to light in connection along with his treatment of young men, which brought C’s experiences with Gerald back to the surface, in as much of the situation resonated with him.”
A press release by the Pioneer Trust said: “We acknowledge that our efforts and interventions as Pioneer to deal with and modify Gerald’s behaviour weren’t as effective as we hoped and were ultimately insufficient . . . we’re committed to learning from and implementing the review’s recommendations.”
