by Stephen Parsons
One of the things that is constantly changing in the world of safeguarding and abuse is the vocabulary used to describe it. New categories or expressions that are used to describe all the different forms of abuse appear all the time. The studies and reports of today are resourced by the results of research in varied disciplines and the language they use. Two examples of this refined language come immediately to mind. One is the expression ‘coercion and control.’ Whatever the precise history of this expression, it gave to lawmakers in Britain, in 2015, the ability to describe and sanction non-violent forms of control in a domestic situation which was criminal. It has now become a common expression to describe other examples of pressurised control and is used in contexts beyond the domestic sphere. The addition of ‘trauma-informed’ into the discourse also allowed all of us who were concerned for the victims of abusive behaviour to understand the ongoing and lasting consequences of spiritual abuse. Even the word safeguarding itself is of relatively recent origin. When writing about power and its abuse in the Church during the 90s, I never had cause to use the word.
With the arrival last year of a new book by Tom Wilson, Safer Faiths, Safer Followers, I am once again reminded how thoroughly out of date my own research has become. This new book deserves to be widely read by those who want to understand more on the safeguarding theme, not only in Christian contexts, but right across the religious map of Britain. This post I am writing here is not intended to be a review of Wilson’s book, which I have enjoyed for its many insights. I am, however, unashamedly wanting to mine a single word from his book which I find to be enormously useful in my understanding of the dynamics of church power abuse. Power abuse in a religious setting, as we need to remind ourselves, manifests itself in many forms. The single word introduced into Wilson’s discussion, which I find helpful for my own thinking, is ‘agency’. For Wilson, agency is what is taken from an individual when subject to spiritual or any other kind of abuse. Losing one’s agency sums up the post-abuse sense of humiliation and demoralisation that typically overcomes the victim of a degrading episode. That loss of confidence in one’s decision making and one’s ability to be in control of one’s own life is often, as readers of this blog will know, the lasting legacy of abuse of whatever kind. We see the most obvious, as well as most extreme, example of loss of agency in the experience of enslavement. Slavery is a situation of total disempowerment where one person is forced to submit to the will of another. It is not only defined by physical shackles. The individual becomes a slave psychologically when they learn to accept a situation of their total subjugation to another. There are many forms of bullying and dominance which try to crush an individual. Torture, rape and threatening behaviour also, in their different ways, deprive the abused individual of their freedom and their agency. They have become in effects slaves of another or, maybe, of an abusive institution.
We have explored very briefly how losing agency is a good description of the situation that many abused individuals find themselves in after an abusive episode has taken place. Such abuse or coercion that leads to a long-term loss of agency does not have to be violent or sexual. Wilson’s book explores the case of a teenage boy who came under the influence of an Anglican parish priest, Timothy Davis. The intensive spiritual mentoring that Davis offered was clearly unhealthy and harmful. While, in this case, no physical or sexual activity was involved, the relationship was such that the 15-year-old was clearly in complete thrall to the older man. The language of agency loss was not in fact used to describe this case, but it fits the situation well. Peter Ball, Mike Pilavachi, John Smyth and Jonathan Fletcher could all be said to have held their chosen mentees in a similar state of slave-like dependency. It is clear that, whatever else may have been going on within these relationships, the victims were all having their self-determination attacked to gratify the psychological needs of their abuser. The Davis case reached a conclusion in 2018 when he was found to have abused ‘spiritual power’ and authority over the boy and was removed from ministry.
One thing that is helpful about Wilson’s analysis is the way that, by using the language of ‘agency’, the observer can see clearly how the actual moment of abuse is not necessarily the worst part of the narrative. At the heart of Wilson’s understanding is the idea of the long-term diminishment that is the likely result of any abuse committed by one individual against another. The important question that now should be asked in every abuse episode is not just the detail of an act of abuse, but whether it has created trauma and the long-term undermining of the victim’s agency. Obviously, this notion of impaired or weakened agency will have a whole variety of manifestations and meanings, according to the precise nature of the abuse that has been perpetrated. For example, the experience of ‘gaslighting’ may well undermine the ability to know one’s mind or make decisions. This type of behaviour is likely also to have devastating destructive effects on the ability to feel safe. It will take a careful sensitive approach to reveal this damage to the agency of the individual who has been abused. Whoever is given the task of uncovering the truth of an abuse event will need wisdom and sensitivity of a high order, together with a questioning that understands the ways that a victim may have had the core of their being undermined. Damage that leads to a loss of agency is always serious. Having read Wilson’s sensitive exposition of what it means to lose agency through an experience of an abusive event, one longs for this level of awareness to be present in every core-group or safeguarding body so that they are always alert to this experience of loss that is encountered by many victims of power dominance or abuse. The old Latin tag directed at medical doctors, Primum, non nocere (first, do no harm) should always be applied to those meeting and responding to survivors. A failure to be alert to loss of agency among abuse survivors puts such survivors at risk of additional suffering. The evidence points to many occasions where the process of investigation proves to be a additional source of suffering, sometimes far greater than the original wrong.
Our brief discussion about ‘agency’ and the way that it can be damaged or removed by an act of abuse of some kind, leads into another reflection. Briefly stated, it is this. If a negative abusive event care can result in loss of agency, how does the Church try to ensure that proper care is in place which will seek to build up the agency that has been lost in the abusive episode and its aftermath. My response to this is first to look back on my own ministry over many decades and look at what I believe were my aims as a parish priest/pastor. I would want it to be true that all my pastoral relationships were about supporting and enabling, in Wilson’s language, the agency of everyone for whom I had a pastoral responsibility. The parish priest has a commission to build up the sick and encourage the broken and the bereaved. All this, involving frequent visits to the homes of parishioners, could all be described as ‘agency work’ and we must not forget how it is also found in the teaching role of the clergy. Reaching an ‘aha’ moment with adult confirmation candidates (less easy with teenagers!) was one of the highlight moments of parish ministry. Helping the bereaved, the sick and the demoralised to recover their hope was always a crucial part of the daily visiting tasks. By modern standards the strong emphasis on home visits, that was drummed into us curates in the early 70s, might be frowned on in today’s safeguarding culture. I cannot imagine being a parish priest where visiting was not the core activity. After retirement I was privileged to act as a ‘bank’ chaplain at a local hospital. It was good to return, briefly, to role of encouragement and the task of helping patients to recover hope in the face of serious fears and vulnerabilities.
I am grateful to Tom Wilson for introducing me to the notion of ‘agency’ in the middle of his discussion of the contrasting and often destructive and damaging forms of ministry conducted by Jonathan Fletcher, Peter Ball and others. I have in this post attempted to turn around the word to look at its meaning when used in a positive perspective. By thinking of parish ministry as the task of recovering and restoring agency in every member, we find that we are thinking of ministry in a quite distinct way. This is a style of ministry that actively promotes agency, hope and spiritual growth without any of the shadows of authoritarianism and control so often found in churches today. Many of us are deeply uncomfortable at the adulation given to the larger-than-life charismatic personalities on the stage who are, for logistical reasons, unable to get to know their ‘sheep’. This kind of ministry is strong on entertainment but sits lightly on the importance of increased agency and spiritual maturity. The question for ministry now becomes: ‘Is the congregation individually and corporately able to increase its agency?’ Answering this question successfully will require us to have a fuller understanding of what it might mean to have agency in the Christian life. Wilson’s book tackles the important question of how agency is taken away by various examples of manipulation, bullying and other forms of spiritual abuse. So far the full description of what it means to have full agency and be supported in obtaining it has not been mapped out. Perhaps this short piece may help us to start thinking afresh, not about abusive ministry, but about supporting parishioners to live out the Christian life with greater abundance and agency.
Timely.
The language of Safeguarding.
Tomorrow, I, and a victim survivor are being sent a diocese response to their claims, as a child, of being subject to ‘Conversion Therapy’ by exorcism. It has taken the diocese the best part of a year to complete their report.
I am informed it is called a Safeguarding Risk Assessment Report?!?! This language focuses entirely upon the protection of the church, and entirely ignores the horrific nature of the claimed abuses.
Such labelling, categorising, actually re-traumatises, if not re-abuses victims and survivors. If it gave them agency and centred them in the process, it would be called something appropriate.
Perhaps, ‘Victim/Survivor Report, Diocese Response to Claimant’ would at least centre them as the focus, reason, and need for a diocese safeguarding investigation in the first place.
I was genuinely horrified to see how the DSO had labelled their report, about as insensitive and calloused as I could imagine, yet it accurately identifies the Church of Englands priority.
Another post could be written on the way that safeguarding words re-traumatise survivors. Thank you Chrissie for pointing this out. I am still trying to work out why core groups rate ‘risk assessment’ so highly when survivors are looking for accurate analysis of abuse and the apportionment of responsibility. Risk assessment, if it is about anything, is about serving the institution, not the damaged survivor waiting patiently for vindication, justice and the means to get on with their life.
The emphasis on “recovering and restoring agency in every member” is important.
Take an example: it is the weekend of a number of festivals aimed at Christians. One is Wildfires where the theme is “revival and renewal,” focusing on spiritual depth, prayer, and inclusive community. There is no culture-war framing, no “defence against cancel culture,” and no silence on justice issues. It has an impressive and balanced line up of speakers including Pete & Sammy Greig (24-7 Prayer), Danielle Strickland (known for social justice and anti-trafficking advocacy), Dr. Belle Tindall-Riley, and Ken Costa (sometime churchwarden of HTB). It is sold out and next year has a wait list.
Another festival operated by Revitalise Trust has coded framing: “Reconstruction” and “Confidence”. This aligns with themes and language used in the “anti-woke” rhetoric ARC Conferences. For example in “Age of Reconstruction” at ARC 2025, Douglas Murray (an ARC advisor) called for an “Age of Reconstruction” for Western nations. The festival agenda heavily emphasizes “rebuilding,” “recovering confidence,” and “standing firm against cultural deconstruction.”
This is not standard evangelical language; it is a direct adoption of culture-war framing used by a political party. Several break out sessions focus on “free speech” and “religious liberty” not in the context of global persecution, but as a defense against domestic “cancel culture.” This reframes UK equality laws as an existential threat to Christians, a core tenet of that political party’s narrative. The festival platforms a specific ideological view while marginalizing others. The Rodent noted no social justice sessions, and no climate sessions. The festival is attracting less people each year, so at at an increasing loss and apparently reliant on subsidises from CRT where a member of the political party is both a Trustee and a significant donor. In this arrangement great care needs to taken not use charitable funds for for political purposes, and in respect of clientlism.
Very interesting that the HTB Revitalise Focus festival/conference, on their website, or anywhere else appears to detail either speakers or subjects being covered. So much for transparency and safeguarding
‘Autonomy’ might be a much better word than ‘agency’. Bullying-abuse-harassment often has an acute on chronic character. Severe maltreatment of people, in acute bullying episodes, is often devastating. But do lots of victims-witnesses-whistleblowers later remember earlier prodromal signs things were not right in a Church or other organisation?
Yes, agency is a valuable word, pregnant with implications. Looking back at my upbringing, agency, as it is being thought of now, wasn’t encouraged at all, quite the reverse! After all, they already had all the answers, which required no real agency to learn.
In the business world too, at high levels there are similar almost cult-like cultures where again agency is not required. I had the dubious honour of being recruited to one of the Big 4 audit firms, and our capabilities where simply completely overtaken in service to the institution. Agency that deviated in any way from the central command, was at best ignored.
I’m thinking too of intern schemes, like the Soul Survivor survivors, whose skills were wasted stacking chairs all week, or discovering that they weren’t actually called by the Lord at all, but left at best wasting a year or two at their own expense, being gaslit, felt up or otherwise abused.
Agency is difficult to appreciate if you’ve never had it, or been systematically deprived of it. Recovery includes finding ways of owning your own life and decisions. This is hard enough to do for yourself, and even more of a challenge to work out what having agency could mean for another. Nevertheless I’m very much in favour of doing the work of elucidating it.
Volunteers more generally, as well as interns.
For example when the Rodent, a volunteer at ChurchX many years ago, found out about Smyth from ClergyPersonY (the name is in the Makin report) the Rodent was told they could no longer volunteer at ChurchX and was sent to counselling. ChurchX sent the Rodent to counselling with WKB. The Rodent left after one session and WKB then told ClergyPersonY.
So no agency and maybe a breach of professional ethics. Not that any of these types of examples are in the Makin report, and the Rodent therefore deduces nor are all the clergy names.
This type of pattern could affect other scenarios which is why having transparency of who is speaking and topics to be discussed is important for safeguarding. As is having a safeguarding policy with contact names at the top, like the Wildfires policy suggested as good practice. Less good for instance would be a policy dated 2025 if it is now 2026 as it implies there may have been no lessons learned from the previous year or annual review.
This sort of “counselling” sounds Orwellian. It’s certainly unethical. I’ve had similar experiences.
Very true – excellent article! There is much that resonates with my own experience. I feel the pastoral support I have had over the years, when trying to recover from spiritual abuse, very rarely – if at all – addresses the issue of restoring a person’s agency. The sort of damage described in this article was either not understood or not addressed. Indeed, I would argue the care was either authoritarian and/or simply inadequate.
I am currently reading Lucy Sixsmith’s book about Soul Survivor, and some of her insights resonate with this. It suggests to me that the loss of agency created by a power imbalance is inherent in the practice of evangelical ministry.
This all takes us into very painful territory for the Anglican Church. Younger people are now far more intolerant of bullying, abuse or harassment. Middle-aged or older adults have also got accustomed to new standards of quality. Our current era, in secular institutions or workplaces, has seen far greater respect for diversity develop. So what we see in the Anglican Church frequently drives people away. A lot of people, a vast great throng, go quietly without any fuss. Two close female friends were hugely into Scripture Union as students. But both quietly left after seeing horrible male chauvinism. So the acute abuse or savage bullying crises are important, and they do attract headlines. But a lot of damage is done by restricting adult autonomy, or trying to coerce people in a totally unreasonable fashion. This happens quietly-off camera so to speak-there being no show of hands on church direction or practice. People deprived of a meaningful vote or influence, and facing manipulative bullying or coercion, simply ‘vote with their feet’. The great race to plant new churches is ever so trendy. But there is no appetite for an honest analysis of why so many people have been leaving churches. The truth hurts-and our Anglican bishops have no appetite to let ‘leavers’ express their observations or opinions.
As to not having a [meaningful] vote some churches insist on a commitment to one of the following:
2A. I am a member of the Church of England or of a Church in communion with the Church of England and am resident in the parish.
2B. I am a member of the Church of England or of a Church in communion with the Church of England, am not resident in the parish, [but have habitually attended public worship in the parish during the preceding six months] [and would have habitually attended public worship in the parish during the preceding six months but was prevented from doing so … ]
But – back to safeguarding – there are good reasons why someone who has had negative experiences with the Church of England would not want to associate themselves with the wider Church of England. For other types of church the membership is to the local church or congregation, not to some more distant national body. So this structure disenfranchises people who have “habitually attended public worship in the parish during the preceding six months” in a way that disproportionately effects those who have such bad experiences, and whose voices are needed too.
The Rodent reckons 2B should be simplified to “I am not resident in the parish, [but have habitually attended public worship in the parish during the preceding six months] [and would have habitually attended public worship in the parish during the preceding six months but was prevented from doing so … ]” but those in a position of power to change it choose not to do so.
Today’s Radio 4 programme with Giles Fraser (the third and final episode of ‘Church going’) is possibly worth listening to. The pandemic and the internet have changed things hugely. The ‘resident’ or ‘regular worshipper’ status may not mean so much as it once appeared to.
The bishop-priest-deacon model, plus a lower tier of parish church officers, vestries and voting congregants, can look good in theory. But contemporary experience of Anglicanism suggests how human dignity or autonomy are often not cherished and protected. Giles Fraser refers to numbers on pews and money on the plate. Relationships and spirituality can be crushed out by a fixation on buildings and finances.
Funny, I learnt a really odd lesson after professing faith in my middle years. There was interest, and also welcome discussion, with all kinds of agnostic and atheist contacts. There was a warm welcome to church from convinced believers. But some of the harshest criticism I ever received was from nominal attenders (turn up and put a fiver on the plate people, don’t take religion seriously).
Vestries certainly are elected. It looks like wholesome democracy in action, at least from a distance. But their role is around fixtures and fittings, and the vicar often directs major decisions I suspect. You are certainly right about the horror of diocesan control in some instances. The scale of bullying which some dioceses get involved in could be the subject of a horror film.
I recently had another look at my (now almost 30 year old) MPhil thesis on ‘Charismatic Healing Ministries and the Sexual Abuse Survivor’. The techniques I described – including the exorcism of survivors – far too often involved what we might now describe as depriving the survivor of agency. For instance, Wimber-style ‘power healing’ focussed on the power of the healer, not the one being prayed for. Jay Adams’ ‘nouthetic healing’ approach, which is Bible-based rather than charismatic, involves imposing on the counsellee Bible verses chosen by the counsellor, and insisting the sufferer accept and submit to them. These and other methods are hugely damaging.
In contrast, I used to have an excellent sacramental Methodist spiritual director whose mantra was, ‘never take power away from a survivor’. Much more effective as an approach to healing.
Incidentally, does anyone know where and how I could get my thesis digitised, so that others can refer to it?
That topic is temporarily in the spotlight locally. Belfast BBC’s Lyndsey Telford has written this online report: ‘Delivery from demons’ among accounts in clerical child abuse report (BBC News NI 22 July 2026). The report opens: ‘Warning: This story contains distressing details’
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Thanks, Mr Google, for that very comprehensive reply. My thesis was researched and written on floppy disks in the 90s, so I no longer have it on my computer. (Every time I get a new computer, I lose more of my old stuff due to incompatible software and storage methods – only what’s on paper actually lasts.) I have two hard copies, one hardcover and one ring bound. I was hoping I could find a firm who it would digitise for me, but my local computer centre won’t.
It looks like the only way is for me to photograph each page on my iPad. I doubt that will produce clear copies though, because my arthritis makes it very difficult to hold the camera steady. I’ll give it a try.
My late father published a textbook with a floppy disk in a pocket in the inside back cover with some computer program on it. I never understood any of it, but noted a complainant on Amazon reviews annoyed that he’d had to purchase a separate floppy disc drive, in order to read the files on it.
If you still have the floppy discs and could purchase such a drive, maybe you could still access your digital data and collate them into a modern document without having to scan them and without leaving your desk?
Apologies in advance if my techy friends here think this is a non-starter!
Thanks for the suggestion, Steve, but I binned the disks when I found they were obsolete and couldn’t be read.
Hi Janet – maybe ask your university? You don’t say which, but if it was in Yorks there’s the White Rose Thesis Repository. For my (Newcastle) MPhil I consulted Robin Rees’s 1991 Sheffield PhD – and met Robin himself.
There may be similar resources to White Rose elsewhere, of course – and I’m impressed by Mr Google’s suggested initiatives! Kieran.
Thanks, Kieran. It was Manchester University, and I’m now on the other side of the country. However, I could ask them if by any chance they’ve digitised old theses.
Could SC host it as an initial tactic in a post? Or is 10,000 to 20,000 words problematic?
It’s 60,000 words, and the SC limit is around 2000. And even for a very short chunk, I’d have to retype it all.
Paperback publisher needed………………..?
Hi Janet. Apologies if you already know this…
If your thesis is on 3″ floppy disks, drives are available – they connect to more modern computers via the USB port. You should be able to save your earlier work to a modern ‘hard drive’, and indeed share it with others.
All the best people write a 60k-word thesis… mine (finished in 2002) is still available at Newcastle University and on my laptop as WORD documents – separate chapters, because some files can be big (especially if they contain images) for emailing to other people.
My wife (another Janet, recently retired from lecturing at our University) is better than I am at ‘I.T.’ – you’re welcome to contact us directly if we can help. Kieran
Thanks, Kieran. I’m afraid I binned the disks years ago when I could no longer access the contents. I think I’m going to have to scan it a page at a time – but first I’ll have to learn how to use my new printer/scanner!
Thanks for this, Janet.
I find this very validating of my experience. This blog post prompted me to discuss my experience of pastoral care in the church, which I ultimately found to be very disempowering, and I often end up asking the question, “Am I just making excuses for flaws in my personality/character?”
The fact that you wrote this nearly 30 years ago, along with Stephen’s blog, help me realise that, no, I’m not.
for example, I used to have a friend who prayed that he would always have a biblical verse to give someone when he was doing pastoral care. He chose that verse and it always felt silencing and authoritarian.
No, Simon, you weren’t just making excuses. Pastoral care is often flawed in both concept and practice. Often the best we can do for people is to just be there and listen, without trying to fix things. But the urge to ‘fix’ is strong.
Thank you!
My Durham University thesis is automatically uploaded to the e-theses website so is easily accessible.
When did you complete it?
In the process of giving evidence to IICSA, I was surprised as to the amount of agency I felt I had in the process, and how this was invigorating. Of course this disappeared after the Inquiry was concluded, a feeling that many survivors will be very familiar with, but I was nevertheless grateful for the agency I felt I had at the time.
Progress is happening in fits and starts. Good to hear of this!
NATIONAL SECULAR SOCIETY has this 28-07-26 post: ‘NI Survivors of clerical child abuse call for public inquiry-Harrowing report sets out testimony of violent exorcisms and sexual abuse during religious confession’. The JF dissertation may be of interest to some of the campaigners in NI.
They and others, which is why I’d like to get it digitised.
The loss of agency, to powerful elite leaders, stumbles and ends when massive scandals suddenly get revealed. The Bishop Eamonn Casey scandal shook Irish Catholicism in 1992. Are we seeing a similar type of evangelical situation gather momentum in the UK?
My local Oxfam has a neatly attractive section, and it homes multiple shelves of spirituality hardbacks or paperbacks. What staggered me today, even more so than ever before, was how many of the ‘evangelical leadership guru’ authors (especially USA ones) are embroiled in scandal or have already been forced to step down.
Can growth, finances, productivity or brand be pursued excessively, until some massive crisis exposes what in some cases is an empty shell? Radio 4 had a recent three programme series (with Giles Frazer) called Church Going.
An obsession with pew numbers, plate collections and buildings can be destructive. A further thought provoking Radio 4 broadcast today, 1 August 2026, was ‘Gen Z and God: Is the Church Answering Young People’s Prayers? (Lamorna Ash)’.
Bullying-abuse-harassment in the Church could be a lot more destructive than we ever imagine. In an age of atheism, agnosticism, skepticism or indifference, the wider UK population will be repulsed by Church cover up scandals.
The population possibly perceive-“just another cult”- when they see the efforts made to cover up maltreatment of people. This topic can have a very painful personal edge for ex-ministry trainees, who have been savaged or maltreated.
What does a maltreated ministry trainee say to friends, family, colleagues? It can be hard enough to share faith in the current UK conditions. The broadcasts by Lamorna Ash and Giles Fraser raise honest questions about-‘buildings and institution’-based Church.
Thank you Stephen for highlighting Wilson’s book, another I will immediately add to the reading pile. The way abuse and safeguarding systems remove victim agency, and the importance to survivors of reclaiming it, are such important points. We need to highlight examples where this is happening (as well as where it doesn’t.) A diocese that supports a victim to make a video about there experience, for example, is one that respects their agency. A diocese that asks them to sign an NDA does not.
Janet your PHD sounds brilliant and so important, I hope you get the technical means resolved soon as I very much want to read it. Perhaps when completed it can be shared publicly by being made available on websites such as this, House of Survivor and Survivors Voices?
Thank you Chrissie for highlighting the inadequate language around risk-focussed practice – ‘unsubstantiated’ is my personal bug bear. There’s still much to do to expand the risk management approach to one that truly safeguards.