The Church Society report by Lee Gatiss about the Andreyevs is misleading, inaccurate, defamatory, and a gross abuse of power by senior Christian leaders. Extensive written evidence of this can be found on this website.
However, the publication of the Church Society report calls into question not only the integrity of Lee Gatiss and Church Society, but that of senior Christian leaders outside of Church Society, who have given their public approval to the report.
One of these senior Christian leaders is John Stevens, the National Director of FIEC (Fellowship of Independent Evangelical Churches). When the inaccurate and misleading 45-page Church Society report about the Andreyevs was published on 2 August 2021, John Stevens, along with other evangelical leaders, swiftly indicated his approval of it on Twitter:
John Stevens still has questions to answer about his involvement in the group of Anglican leaders who met together to manage how the Rev Jonathan Fletcher abuse scandal was to be communicated to the conservative evangelical anglican constituency. I (and others) have tried to ask John about this in the interests of transparency, but without much success. John has also spoken on spiritual abuse for FIEC in the last year and has ignored the serious concerns that abuse survivors and safeguarding professionals had about his widely publicised talk.
Another senior Christian leader who gave his public approval to the untruthful report was Brian O’Donoghue, Team Leader of Partnerships and Projects at St. Helen’s Bishopsgate in London. Brian is a trustee and Planning Team member for the ReNew conference. Amongst other responsibilities, he is also a trustee of the Gospel Partners Trust, the London Diocesan Board of Finance, and the Great St. Helen’s Trust. This equates to a lot of power and influence in the Anglican conservative evangelical world. When Lee Gatiss posted the Update and link to the report on Facebook on 2 August 2021, Brian O’Donoghue was quick to signal his approval:
Most significantly, Brian O’Donoghue is the right hand man of Rev William Taylor, the Rector of St. Helen’s Bishopsgate, the Chair of the anglican ReNew constituency, and the de facto leader of conservative evangelicals within the Church of England. William controls vast sums of money for many different ministries, which means that many in ministry are dependent on retaining his goodwill and patronage. He was also a member of Church Society Council, following its merger with REFORM in 2018, when I approached the Church Society leaders for help, following the appalling treatment that my husband and I had received from Church Society President Bishop Rod Thomas.
William Taylor said publicly in his recorded outburst at St. Helen’s Bishopsgate on Palm Sunday 2021, “I trust Brian more than anyone.” Another evangelical in anglican ministry reports William Taylor once saying, “When Brian is in the room, I am in the room.” It would appear reasonable to assume then that William Taylor also gives his approval to the abusive and harmful report.
It would surely be reasonable to expect that senior Christian leaders, as followers of Jesus Christ, would be willing to speak out against such an act of injustice and abuse of power as the widely publicised Church Society report. The Lord Jesus had stern words for the abusive, hypocritical leaders of his day and showed concern for the vulnerable and powerless, including women. Yet the senior evangelical leaders of our day, who are well aware of Church Society’s serious mistreatment of me and my husband, either remain silent or give a thumbs up to a blatant abuse of power. Why do they and other Christian leaders remain silent?
kateeandreyev.com 