Christchurch Durham is facing mounting pressure to commission an independent review following serious allegations of abuse of power against the pastor, who left last December.
Tony Jones, senior pastor at the independent Anglican church until his resignation last year, has been accused of abuses of power and governance and presiding over a ‘culture of fear’.
Several whistle-blowers said the alleged abuses ‘bear a striking similarity’ to patterns of behaviour and governance highlighted in recent high-profile reports into abuse at Emmanuel Church Wimbledon and The Crowded House, Sheffield.
It is understood more than 15 people have so far written to the church’s leadership with their concerns.
In a letter to the church trustees and other church officers in May 2021, the whistle-blowers expressed ‘long-held concerns’ at Jones’ ‘use of power and specifically domineering leadership, coercion and control’ against a backdrop of a ‘sizeable’ power imbalance.
They highlighted the lack of transparency and accountability, leading to a pattern of behaviour that was too readily missed or dismissed. There was no suggestion of sexual impropriety or physical abuses.
Christ Church Durham was set up outside both the Church of England and the GAFCON-affiliated Anglican Mission in England (AMiE). But Martin Morrison, a bishop in REACH-SA, the Reformed Evangelical Anglican Church in South Africa, was asked to provide a form of oversight.
In light of concerns raised, Bishop Morrison recommended that an independent external review be undertaken. This was repeatedly rejected or ignored by Jones and some of his fellow trustees, prompting the resignation of two trustees and all but one member of the Council of Reference (CoR) (whose role includes ratifying new trustees).
Bishop Morrison, who also resigned, told en: ‘Having responsibility without authority is obviously untenable.’ He added: ‘The trustees failed to understand the gravity of the situation.’
He said he had been unaware of any leadership issues relating to Jones until mid-2021. Jones then attempted to blame ‘unfortunate and complex’ historical issues in such a way as to ‘largely discredit the complaint and the complainant’.
As the number of complaints multiplied, Bishop Morrison said it became clear the complaints, including some distressing allegations, were far more serious than merely leadership style or mild grievances.
Simon Pilcher was one of the CoR members who resigned, expressing fear for those who made complaints. In his resignation letter, he accused the trustees of not listening to the advice of the CoR chair (the late Melvin Tinker, who also resigned) and criticised their refusal to acknowledge any failures around the church’s culture.
In a statement last September, Pilcher said: ‘It is clear that these [complaints] are not simply historic grievances as some may wish to depict them.’
He also highlighted the ‘culture of fear in relation to Tony Jones personally, and the fact that previous complainants had been brushed aside by a trustee body that was required to show unwavering personal loyalty to him’.
The church leadership was ‘ok’ with accountability in theory but not in practice, he added.
Pilcher also warned: ‘We should never confuse apparent fruitfulness with faithfulness.’ Since the church was established nearly 20 years ago, the church has seen significant numerical growth with hundreds turning to Christ under Jones’ ministry and spawning a new church plant at nearby Newton Hall. This has now joined AMiE and is not linked to the allegations in any way. It is reported that many converted under Jones’ ministry have since gone into full-time ministry.
At the church’s AGM on 29 September, the concerns raised against Jones were allegedly largely passed over and members not permitted to ask questions. A few weeks later the trustees decided to allow members the opportunity to ask questions at individual ‘Growth Groups’, which led to the trustees conceding only that there were communication failures.
Meanwhile, a petition calling for an external review of the church’s leadership has been signed by more than 166 people, including several widely-known evangelical figures. The preamble states: ‘It is a matter of deep concern when a church’s leadership ignores their own chosen accountability structures, and even more so when they remove the possibility of being challenged.’
Christchurch Durham has not responded to an enquiry from en as to whether an independent external review has been commissioned.
Jones was curate at St Ebbe’s Church, Oxford from 1999 to 2003. He was recently inducted as a pastor at Immanuel Leidy’s Church, an independent church in Souderton, Pennsylvania. He did not respond to requests for a comment.
