The Makin Review, which was published in November 2024, showed that many Christian leaders failed to act rightly in response to John Smyth’s abuse of boys and young men.
Smyth’s criminal misconduct is summarised in the review as follows: “John Smyth was an appalling abuser of children and young men. His abuse was prolific, brutal and horrific. His victims were subjected to traumatic physical, sexual, psychological and spiritual attacks. The impact of that abuse is impossible to overstate and has permanently marked the lives of his victims.” The abuse was first disclosed in 1982, but the police weren’t informed until 2013. For three decades, Smyth was protected by the silence of Christian leaders.
The failure to report Smyth not only meant that he evaded justice, it also enabled him to abuse many additional victims after he moved to Africa. A 16-year-old boy named Guide Nyachuru died in highly suspicious circumstances at a Smyth-run camp in Zimbabwe in 1992. The Smyth scandal bears comparison to the worst examples of Roman Catholic abuse scandals, both in the nature of the abuse itself and in the negligence of leaders who knew about it but didn’t report it.
Unrepentant Christian leaders
Since the Makin Review was published, very few British Christian leaders have publicly admitted personal wrongdoing in connection with the scandal. Although Justin Welby resigned as Archbishop of Canterbury following the review’s publication, he effectively protested his own innocence when he told the House of Lords, in a conspicuously lighthearted speech, that sometimes resigning is necessary “whether one is personally responsible or not”.
From a Bible-believing perspective, what’s most disturbing is that none of the conservative evangelical leaders who failed to report Smyth have apologised. It’s the absence of their personal apologies that explains the title of this article.
Apologies don’t remove the need for due discipline. An apology unaccompanied by necessary discipline is worse than silence. Nevertheless, the absence of apologies from conservative evangelical leaders is a striking phenomenon. It instantly shows the lack of true accountability in what is primarily a conservative evangelical scandal.
This article will refer to the Makin Review as “MR”; the Appendices to the Makin Review as “AMR” (page numbers refer to the 245-page PDF file); the Winchester College Review as “WCR”; the Titus Trust Documents as “TTD” (page numbers refer to the 26-page PDF file); the Titus Trust Culture Review as “TTCR”; the executive summary of the Scripture Union Review as “SUR”; Bleeding for Jesus (2nd ed.) by Andrew Graystone as “BFJ” (page numbers refer to the Kindle edition); the Coltart Report as “CR”; and the Ruston Report as “RR” (I don’t know who wrote the introductory note in the linked copy). Citations refer to section numbers where possible.
These sources – like any sources – may not always be accurate. For example, I think the Makin Review is mistaken when it says there’s little evidence that Smyth was forced to emigrate (see the relevant section below). But the sources listed above, together with national media reports and the documentary See No Evil, constitute the public record. For that reason, we must assume they’re accurate unless evidence exists to the contrary. Anyone with evidence disproving claims made in this article is welcome to send it to me via my contact page. I’ll then revise the article accordingly and note any major corrections at the end.
A previous version of this article can be read via this link. It was replaced by this updated version in June 2026. Among many other changes, the article now includes a section about the Titus Trust and a completely rewritten section about Church Society. Although the article is long, I hope readers will find each section necessary and as concise as possible. The following links can be used to jump to particular sections.
A Conservative Evangelical Cover-Up
A Personal Apology from the Author
The Inadequacy of the Church of England’s Judicial System
Unapologetic Conservative Evangelical Organisations (Introduction)
The Lawyers’ Christian Fellowship
Unapologetic Individuals (Introduction)
Read it all at Sixty Guilders