Causeway Coast Vineyard (CCV) and Vineyard Churches UK and Ireland have collectively earmarked £15,000 each to address historical allegations of spiritual abuse directed at former pastor Alan Scott.
The decision follows an update of an interim review - expected to be published in full later this year – which identified “repeated patterns of behaviour” including “manipulation, inappropriate comments, narcissistic behaviour and certain occurrences of public shaming” as well as “spiritual abuse” by Scott.
As both organisations communicated the findings to supporters in July, they also apologised to those “who have been hurt” acknowledging the church “did not have sufficient structures in place to ensure complaints came to the attention of trustees”.
The apology was read by Peter Lynas, who is a trustee of CCV and John Wright, the national director of Vineyard Churches UK and Ireland.
Now, Causeway Coast Vineyard (CCV) and Vineyard Churches UK and Ireland church's annual accounts show both organisations have allocated £15,000 to cover the cost of the review and "counselling to those impacted".
Scott led CCV until 2017 before becoming the leader of Vineyard Anaheim – a congregation he has now taken out of the Vineyard movement and which now operates independently under the name Dwelling Place. He argued, him and his wife had felt an invitation to take a "step of faith into the unknown" and took the decision to leave "reverently in the fear of the Lord".
However, his exit triggered an ongoing legal battle, as a group of former Vineyard Anaheim church and board members alleged that Scott misled other former board members to wrongfully acquire the church property.
There are 120 Vineyard churches in the UK and Ireland and about 1,500 worldwide.