Dodgy Church Pastor

[observant79]

Since last year June I have been attending a church local to me in Leicester and think the Pastor runs it like his own personal business. AIBU to think that a charity/religious church shouldn’t be run by a range rover driving, designer clothes wearing, council house living, 3 trips a year to South Africa taking, no other job/jncome having “man of God”?

I can’t help but feel the charity commissioner needs to investigate this man.

The church ks completely run by him and his wife and they collect tithes and offerings weekly and emphasise no one will be blessed if they don’t give to the church.

Different dates, the accounts are to December 24, the new trustees started in January 25

Maybe the trustees serve a fixed term

To me, ministers (except in the political sense) would be always ordained.

I’d call ‘pastors’ in your sense, counsellors.

They often prey on very vulnerable people. One in London was forcing a woman with four kids whose husband had just died and who had mental health and learning difficulties to keep paying. Awful. There should be better regulation.

There are regulations. How would you improve them?

It's not UCKG is it?

Well yes he sounds like a complete scamster

I voted YABU because you keep attending a church where tithes are collected. It's just a blackmailing, money-grabbing scam that plays on people's vulnerabilities. Don't enable it.

As a relative of a pastor, I know wages were very low. He worked a 50 hour week and was constantly on call (even Xmas day and nights) with his wife offering additional unpaid days each week.

If you have any concerns about finances talk to the denomination head office.

Worked for the church 50 hours a week (deprived area, lots of issues to support in the community)

Here's the link to the form where you can raise concerns directly with the Charity Commission. What you've said here would definitely be within their remit to investigate; they'll want to know if you can share any evidence with them (eg copies of leaflets or videos etc) as well as your own observations, but if you don't have that you can still outline your concerns and what you've seen and heard. Raising Concerns - Charity Commission for England and Wales

Here is a similar form for the Fundraising Regulator:

https://www.fundraisingregulator.org.uk/service/complaints-and-investigations/complaints-process

Coercive control is hard to spot.

But how would you improve the regulations we already have?

And so very easy to sense.

It's the charity no, "tel" was a typo I'm assuming.

This is not a church, it's a cult. Run far far away.