The Internet is a great provider of information. Of course, there are to be found in it lies, rumours and falsehoods. We trust, however, that a reasonably discerning person can detect ‘fake news’ and not fall into the trap of repeating unsubstantiated information. But there is another sort of truth that can be found from scrutinising the net. An individual can pick up information from a variety of separate sources but be able to suggest how these fragments of information are connected. None of the fragments of information I tell below stand as complete stories. However, when they are linked together, they seem to tell a complete story, one that does little credit to the Church of England or its breakaway sections represented by GAFCON and AMiE.
The first section is a statement by Bishop Andy Lines, the clergyman appointed by the breakaway Anglican American group ACNA to act as a missionary bishop for Europe. He is also closely linked to AMiE the group that brings together parishes that have opted out of the Anglican Communion. He recently announced to this group that he was withdrawing from active ministry for a few months, having been a victim of ‘spiritual manipulation’. This highly unusual and unexpected announcement has obviously led to speculation. Who was doing the abusing? Who, in short, had the authority over this powerful figure in the Anglican breakaway world to be able to be able to create what appears to be a major crisis for a respected figure? The only clue we get is from the description of the abuser. Andy speaks of a ‘betrayal of trust by a mentor’. No names are given but looking at Andy’s formation and links over many years with Emmanuel Church Wimbledon, we have to suggest that the Vicar, Jonathan Fletcher, a close friend and teacher, fills the description. It was also Jonathan that was present at some kind of ceremony of commissioning Andy in Emmanuel following a consecration service in the States. Jonathan had been Vicar of Emmanuel Church for 30 years. He was thus a major figure in Andy’s life and in conservative Anglicanism generally. Everyone in that world seems to know him or comes in some way into his orbit of his influence. This Wimbledon church seems to be a kind of central hub for the entire conservative evangelical network within Anglicanism. It is still a centre of great importance, along with such centres as St Helen’s Bishopsgate and St Ebbes in Oxford.
A second story that has broken in the past few days also concerns Jonathan Fletcher. He was named by the Daily Telegraph in a story that has all the signs of having been pored over extensively by lawyers. The story revealed that in 2017 the Diocese of Southwark had removed the Permission to Officiate from Jonathan on the grounds of unspecified abuse against vulnerable adults. The Telegraph story provoked a reply on the website of Emmanuel to apologise and offer help to anyone who had been affected by the story. Clearly, although the offences may have fallen short of being criminal, there was in the minds of members of his own church a case to answer. It is worth pointing out that although the church and other senior leaders have known about the allegations for two years, it is only now that they are offering support to those who may have been affected.
A third story or anecdote, no doubt provoked by the Telegraph story, was the publication of a photo showing a programme from one of the Iwerne public school summer camps dating back to 1982. This showed John Smyth as a speaker on the same day as Jonathan Fletcher. These two men obviously knew each other well. Clearly also the networks of people who supported the Iwerne camps and their work were well known in Emmanuel circles. It is hard or impossible to imagine that Jonathan Fletcher was left in the dark about John Smyth’s crimes and the reasons for his sudden departure for Africa. This Iwerne/Emmanuel nexus would have had enormous power and influence. We should not underestimate how much power seems to have accrued personally to Jonathan Fletcher as the man in charge of Emmanuel and a key player in Iwerne circles. Any suggestion of wrongdoing by this superstar of the evangelical universe is highly embarrassing, not to say highly destructive, to the wider evangelical world. Jonathan’s power reached out not only to those who were personally caught up by his charisma but he had institutional power, wielded through his participation in committees and other structures of influence. John Smyth’s crimes have already cast one heavy pall over the legacy of Iwerne and the hundreds who passed their formative years within its orbit. Silence on the part of those who knew about Smyth’s crimes has made the eventual effect of discovery far more serious and painful. A similar silence protecting Jonathan over the same period of years has also been allowed to exist. Whatever Jonathan is or is not guilty of, the silence maintained by many who knew allegations against him has made a bad situation far worse.
A final fragment of this complex story is the suggestion online that Jonathan Fletcher has been a member since 1983 of the exclusive dining club, Nobody’s Friends. This club which emerged into public awareness during the IICSA hearings in March last year has a membership group of 60, all elected by the club itself. Each of the members is chosen from either the church, politics or one of the other distinguished professions. Jonathan’s place among this elite group is no doubt in part the result of being born into a family of eminent politicians, his father having served a member of Harold Wilson’s cabinet. But apart from this family background, someone in the church must have seen him to be an important up and coming church person. Thus, in his 40s, he was honoured to sit among Deans, Bishops, and the like, not to mention the crème de la crème of the political establishment. Perhaps as importantly there was another group represented in the club, public-school headmasters, the supporters of Iwerne camps.
Mention of this dining club, Nobody’s Friends, links us back to the establishment network that played an important part in the Peter Ball story. We catch a glimpse of a well-connected group of people who were able to pull many strings, partly because of whom they knew. Jonathan Fletcher was right there in the middle of it all. In other words, like Peter Ball, he knew and was known by enormous numbers of movers and shakers in British society. Also, as with Peter Ball, if the accusations of ‘spiritual manipulation’ are true, then many people would have been affected. Peter Ball’s world was the high church networks so well represented in the Chichester diocese. Jonathan Fletcher’s world is the evangelical nexus represented by the conservative parishes of REFORM. Here we find considerable wealth, privilege and power. Jonathan’s potential capacity to do good and provide a positive influence was enormous. Equally his ability to create harm was extensive. The story, as we have it, is in fragments but we are hinting that the joined-up version we have now points sadly to the latter scenario. As with Peter Ball’s story, the discrediting of an admired hero in an institution goes far further than simply among those who knew the hero directly. It spreads out to many others who expected the highest standards of their leaders.
It is unfortunate that twice in one week we are reflecting on the influence of single individuals on vast numbers of other Christians in our church. Any attempt to deny the influence of these two prominent Christians on others would be a distortion of history and would also dishonour the pain of betrayal that abused victims may often feel. If Jonathan Fletcher is indeed shown to be guilty of spiritual manipulation, then we can be sure that the number of his victims is large. Also, whenever a sense of betrayal is found within an institution, it has a tendency to infect the whole. The healthy mutual interdependence that would have operated so well in evangelical fellowships would be weakened if a miasma of suspicion and fear starts to flow through these networks. That situation is indeed what we seem to be beginning to witness. Failures of trust have no good endings. In the same way we need rebuilding of integrity and openness and an end to the networks of secrecy and privilege which flow through this story. It is a story of four fragments but when drawn together it becomes a story of power abuse, dishonesty and harm. Directly or indirectly this story affects us all.
Very insightful. Abusers such as Smythe and Fletcher do not occur in a vacuum – that there were numbers of such men in itself is a reminder that it is a great mistake to focus solely on the horror of his behaviour. Such men also have contexts, paradigms of power, and a culture around them in which they find cover, prey, and power. It is vital that people explore the links between Fletcher and his friend, Smyth – and the Iwerne/Titus Trust context, and the churches that surrounded and flowed from these sources. Somehow that investigation needs to be conducted by people who are not themselves been anointed princes of the empire Fletcher reigned in.
Stephen, check out https://walkingwith.uk/EMAStatement.pdf
Jonathan Fletcher was an influential speaker when I was a student. He spoke at our CU and Christian Medical Fellowship. He was one of the key people I looked up to.
Judging by the descriptions of abuse in the above statement, I had a lucky escape, in this instance.
Thank Anon for linking to this document. I found it earlier this morning and it brings things up to date quite dramatically. It names the abuses that JF is accused of and raises questions about who in the con-evo world knew what when. The story has further to run.
Stephen, I would agree that more will come to light. There is a video of a session from yesterday at the EMA available on Vimeo. They are reading this document verbatim, and I bet it was written by the QC. The whole thing looks like a carefully stage-managed PR exercise in an attempt to control the narrative.
Statements from Emmanuel church indicate that concerns were first raised about JF in early 2017, and Southwark diocese cancelled his PTO in late 2017. None of this was announced back then. I can understand them wanting to first trace and help his victims, but I can’t see why they didn’t go public this time last year. I get the impression that (despite the denial in the document) their hand was forced by the Telegraph report and a YouTube video from Anglican Unscripted which made allegations consistent with those reported in the document. JF appears to have manipulated a number of men into naked massages, which has to have a homosexual nature.
As a straight man, I can’t imagine myself ever stripping naked and giving/receiving massages to/from another naked man in any situation, let alone if the man was a vicar. It suggests homosexual inclinations in both JF and his victims, which seem to include at least one clergyman (Andy Lines), possibly more. This is very embarrassing for conservative evangelicals given their very public condemnation of homosexuality.
The document says that some disclosures have been of “more serious” behaviour. What does that mean? Beatings? Sexual acts? And the amount of power and manipulation on JF’s part must have been huge. We’ll just have to wait and see what more is disclosed.
I don’t think it necessarily implies homosexual inclinations on the part of the victims, any more than in Ball’s or Smyth’s victims. A clever abuser can groom people and induce them to do, or submit to, all sorts of things against their natural inclinations. And these were young men when Fletcher first knew them, and boarding school alumni. There would have been all sorts of emotional and psychological factors in play.
But yes, the homoerotic element is deeply ironic, in a part of the Church so much opposed to LGBT relationships.
You suggest the beatings suggest homosexuality. That would be a scandal. indeed it is not the most likely explanation by far.
The most plausible explanation is surely that sado masochistic abusers use Iwerene/Titus Camps as feeding grounds to nurture dependent, idolising, controling relationships with young public school boys. The context is a dream come true for the predator – days on end of sports, small group and one to one talks, intense conversations about personal sins and fears and hurts…. It’s high class grooming for professional abusers. Then the boys reach the age of 18 and the abuser can urge them to become a school teacher or c of e minister – the two coveted careers for a Iwerne lad. The abuser keeps close tabs on him- visits and letters and weekends away. And by this point the abuse can begin in a physical way. The minister won’t ever tell as it’s too embaressing – and anyway – Fletcher has so many of his boys in c of e positions (bishops and big student and city churches) and schools round England that there are wonderful jobs as rewards for any who serve him satisfactorily. So – dont worry. It’s not about homosexuality – it’s just child grooming, sado masochism, deception, blackmail and jobs for the boys. This was all explained at EMA by the minister who J Fletcher helped appoint to his brothers plum job.
Sorry, but have you read the EMA document? Here is the relevant bit:
“Further disclosures since March 2019 have largely related to a different practice of one to one massage, ranging from partially clothed massage to massage where both men are said to have been fully naked throughout and to have taken turns to massage each other. Again, this conduct seems to have become a regular part of the relationship between Jonathan and certain men over a period of time.”
Two naked men massaging each other has got to have a (homo) sexual aspect.
There’s nothing there about beatings, which I simply suggested later as a possibility given that the document also says some things were worse.
I think these incidents do more harm than good. It would have been better for all churches and denominations to publicise these problems when they are proved to be true. The churches only destroy themselves from within when they try to hide these issues in a closed shop.
One must also think of the damage it does to other honest people that are left in the churches?
There are always some bad apple’s in societies.
We are Christians and we must learn to forgive. As long as people are found guilty, they must have a chance to reform under supervision.
I stole things when I was young and were punished for it. I wanted to join a Church and I spoke to the vicar and explained every wrongful thing I had done in my life. That vicar was brilliant and helped me on my way, and I was so thankful for that help. I will never forget that, and it shows that you can have problems in your life and get through with Gods help. Some people will always need to be under supervision.
May I interject a very personal note here, and ask my on-line friends to remember me and my family in their prayers. My dad died earlier today. He was 93, and had been in and out of hospital for some years. It was sudden, which is a shock to my mum, but not really a surprise. No tragedy, then, but they had been together for 70years, which leaves a mighty big hole. Thanks.
Thoughts and prayers EA. Sorry to hear your news
Sorry to read this, Athena. You and your family are in my prayers.
Gods Blessings be upon your Father and Family Athena.
I know how you feel Athena, I have lost three family members within the last six months. As you know, it is a difficult time and l hope God can bring you peace in this time of grief.
God Bless.
That is very difficult indeed. I’ll include you also in my prayers.
Thanks Terry. I’ll pray for you, too.
So sad to hear your news Athena. Seventy years is such a long time, it is hard to imagine the pain of that loss for your mum and it is hard for you having to be strong for her while you also grieve.
Take care
Yes, a difficult time for you Atehna. I hope the next few weeks go as woo as they can.
That should be as well as they can. Apologies for the typo.
I am so sad to read this post.
I knew Jonathan from 1969 to 1973 at university, during which time he was a good friend and mentor to me. I particularly recall tea and toasted teacakes one afternoon when I was feeling low: they cheered me up greatly. I also appreciated his advice.
The story is a reminder of Paul’s advice, if you think you’re standing firm be careful you don’t fall, turned into a fine song by Ishmael. Remember him?
This is interesting
http://www.swlondoner.co.uk/prison-comic-place-world-former-brixton-prison-inmate-reflects-time-behind-bars/