An international church-planting movement has stripped the son of a well-known evangelical abuser of his leadership role with them.
Following the publication of the Mullen Report, the Advance Movement has required P.J. Smyth, son of disgraced QC John Smyth, to forfeit his post within the organisation. The report, based on an investigation by author and victim’s advocate Wade Mullen, has given five key reasons for this decision.
Speaking separately to en, a church safeguarding expert said P.J. needed counselling to help him process his own childhood trauma.
The Mullen Report says that firstly, P.J. Smyth made false statements and did not fully disclose important information about his knowledge of John Smyth’s history. The report illustrates how involved he had been in the accusations against his father and the significant number of interactions, correspondences and negotiations in which he participated. Secondly, it states that even if this lack of disclosure and transparency were a consequence of trauma he had suffered, those actions have had significant adverse consequences for Advance, the church he led then and the church he leads now.
Thirdly, the report makes it clear that P.J. has not been ‘above reproach’ in these matters. Fourthly, the report highlights that he has not consistently lived out the ethics and values that Advance collectively agreed on and together publicly taught. He has refused to be accountable and transparent. And finally, the investigation cites his anger and defensiveness. Mullen stresses there were a number of legitimate concerns regarding his ‘trustworthiness and consistency in communication and anger and defensiveness when confronted’.
In the light of these findings, Advance said: ‘It is both right and appropriate that P.J. Smyth step down from all forms of ministry for an undetermined period and we would also counsel against him assuming a leadership role in any local church.’ Evangelicals Speaking exclusively to Now, Simon Bass of Church Safeguarding Consultancy said: ‘The decision to ask P.J. Smyth to step down following Wade Mullen’s independent assessment report is commendable. This is not simply about the sins of the father being heaped upon the son; it is about integrity. Mullen focuses on what P.J. Smyth knew of the abuses his father John Smyth perpetrated against young boys at camps in Zimbabwe. It demonstrates that P.J. Smyth was aware of the concerns expressed about his father in 1993, which is contrary to the public statements he made in 2017.
‘The report demonstrates that he was placed in an unenviable position when in Zimbabwe, and that he is only today beginning to understand his own childhood trauma at the hands of his father. Whilst it is right that he steps down from ministry, it is important that he receives suitable trauma-informed counselling to bring about healing.’
The Makin Report for the Church of England into John Smyth is expected in 2022, some three years after it was commissioned.
