Archbishop of Canterbury withdraws Mike Pilavachi award

The Archbishop of Canterbury has withdrawn an award given to Soul Survivor founder Mike Pilavachi after an investigation confirmed safeguarding concerns.

Pilavachi received the Archbishop of Lambeth Award in 2020 in recognition of his “outstanding contribution to evangelism and discipleship among young people in the United Kingdom”.

The Soul Survivor movement was founded by Pilavachi in 1993 and reaches thousands of young people each year through its summer music festivals.

In awarding the award four years ago, Archbishop Justin Welby said Pilavachi had “built a spirituality and discipleship for generations of young people where the primacy of worship, evangelism, provision for the poor, service in the power of the Holy Spirit and love of Scripture are non-negotiable “.

“This award for evangelism recognizes that, above all else, Soul Survivor has been the place where tens of thousands of young people have found their faith. Moreover, Mike exercised this ministry with exemplary humility, humor and self-sacrifice.”

Last April a number of men presented themselves in a Telegraph investigation to allege inappropriate behavior by Pilavachi, including lengthy wrestling matches, massages in underwear, controlling behavior and spiritual abuse.

Pilavachi stepped down from the ministry while a safeguarding inquiry into the allegations was conducted. He later resigned after the Church of England’s National Safeguarding Team concluded that the claims were substantiated.

Earlier this year, cult leader Matt Redman, who co-founded Soul Survivor with Pilavachi, spoke about his experience under Pilavachi and said he was “subjected to significant emotional, spiritual and physical abuse in a situation where I didn’t know how. to get out of”.

“I’ve spent years trying to heal since then. I’ve forgiven Mike, but I still feel the impact today,” he said.

Commenting on the withdrawal of Pilavachi’s award, the office of the Archbishop of Canterbury said in a statement: “Following the conclusion of the Church’s internal investigation into Mike Pilavachi, which substantiated safeguarding concerns against him and the strong testimony of survivors, the decision to withdraw was made. Mike Pilavachi’s Lambeth Award, the Archbishop of Canterbury has written to inform him of the decision.”

The announcement follows a petition launched in April on Change.org that called for his award to be revoked.