A recent review found that senior leaders at New Wine failed to ensure that Mike Pilavachi was fit for youth ministry at both the New Wine and Soul Survivor festivals.

An independent investigation last year revealed that Pilavachi, 66, used his position to control people, form inappropriate relationships, and engage in abusive behaviour with young people, including wrestling and massaging male interns.

In response, New Wine launched a review to examine what went wrong, whether its leaders were aware of the abuse, and why more action was not taken.

This review was conducted in addition to a report commissioned by Soul Survivor Watford, which was also written by Fiona Scolding KC. 

New Wine was founded by Bishop David Pytches and Barry Kissell, vicar of St Andrew’s Chorleywood. Pilavachi joined in 1987 as a youth worker, forming a close relationship with Pytches, who became his mentor. In 1989, Pilavachi took charge of youth work at the New Wine Festival. As the youth meetings grew, the decision was made to launch a separate youth event, Soul Survivor, in 1993.

Soul Survivor, initially promoted through New Wine’s materials, gained popularity quickly. Although Soul Survivor became independent, it retained close links with New Wine in governance, staffing, and finances.

Until 1996, it was overseen by the New Wine Trust. After that, it was managed by Soul Survivor Ministries, with Pilavachi still attending New Wine Trustee meetings. By 2003, New Wine continued to mention collaboration with Soul Survivor, highlighting their shared goals and youth events.

However, when allegations against Pilavachi emerged, New Wine initially downplayed the relationship between the two organisations, later apologising for this. Now, the review has described it as one of "parent and child", noting that Soul Survivor was "clearly born out of New Wine, both in terms of its personnel and finances, but also in terms of its philosophy and theology". 

Although the two organisations distanced themselves in the early 2000s, the review concluded that "more consideration should have been given to discerning whether Mr Pilavachi truly was the best person to lead Soul Survivor."

The review also highlighted the absence of an accessible mechanism for raising “low-level concerns” about Pilavachi's close relationships, which were also noted at New Wine. It further highlighted that while the government issued safeguarding guidance in 1993 ("Safe from Harm"), it was unclear whether Soul Survivor fully applied these policies, particularly concerning young people like Matt Redman.

New Wine was also found to have a responsibility to continue monitoring Pilavachi’s ministry: "We accept that, once Soul Survivor operated under its own trust, primary responsibility fell to that trust. However, New Wine was effectively promoting Mr Pilavachi’s ministry during this period and so retained secondary responsibility for him. Many of Soul Survivor’s trustees were also New Wine trustees and anything Soul Survivor’s trustees knew about Mr Pilavachi’s conduct should have been passed on to New Wine."

The review concluded that Pilavachi's inappropriate behaviour was "probably known" by New Wine.

It added: "If it was not known by New Wine, we think it would have been had New Wine exercised the oversight it should have." 

Speaking to Premier on the review's findings, Bishop Jill Duff, chair of New Wine’s trustees, said: "We made a statement that was not correct, and we apologise. What has helped us is inviting darkness to come to light. We’re on a journey, and I’m pleased we’re on it."

So far Pilavachi has not apologised or admitted wrongdoing. Contributing to the initial Scolding review, Pilavachi “denied some of the specific allegations put to him" but "accepted that too many people had commented on this behaviour for there not to be some truth in it". He also accepted that he "has made mistakes and not treated people well”.

"I personally think he should apologise," Bishop Jill added. "Repentance is key to the Kingdom of God, and it releases people in ways that can’t be imagined. I’m really sad there hasn't been an apology for unacceptable behaviour." 

In response to the review's findings, New Wine has committed to enhancing safeguarding through safer recruitment, a system for monitoring concerns, a governance review, and fostering a culture of feedback and transparency. 

To hear more on the allegations facing Soul Survivor and its founder, Mike Pilavachi, check out Premier's Soul Survivors podcast.