The Church of England has offered an unreserved apology after a former priest was found guilty of indecently assaulting young women who attended his evangelical church in Sheffield. Christopher Brain was convicted on 17 charges of indecent assault against women who attended the Nine O’Clock Service between 1986 and 1995, following a trial lasting more than seven weeks.
The jury acquitted him on 15 further charges of indecent assault and failed to reach verdicts on four additional indecent assault charges and one charge of rape. In a statement, the Bishop of Sheffield, the Right Reverend Pete Wilcox, said: “What happened was an appalling abuse of power and leadership that should never have occurred. Where concerns were raised in the past and were not acted upon properly, that was a failing of the church. For those institutional failures I offer an unreserved apology.”
The Nine O’Clock Service, which began at St Thomas’s Church in 1986, presented itself as a progressive force, holding services with live music and an atmosphere closer to a nightclub than traditional worship. It later moved to a leisure centre to accommodate a congregation that grew to around 600 people. The Church of England celebrated its success, and the then bishop, David Lunn, described it as a “new development in the way we understand the Christian religion”.
During the trial, the court heard that the service became a cult in which Brain exerted control over his female followers, isolating them from friends and family. Some victims told police they felt “brainwashed”. Young women were recruited to a “home base team” to look after Brain and his family; witnesses described them being referred to as the “Lycra lovelies” or “Lycra nuns”. Brain claimed any touching was consensual and that his “direct Yorkshire style” may have been misinterpreted.
The Church of England fast-tracked Brain’s ordination in 1991, and “large sums of money” were spent on robes worn by Robert De Niro in the film The Mission. The Nine O’Clock Service collapsed in 1995 after women alleged sexual abuse, and Brain admitted “improper sexual conduct” before resigning. Survivors came forward again in 2021, leading to this prosecution.
The Bishop of Sheffield said the church would commission an independent review of its “safeguarding responses, culture and processes” to identify lessons and strengthen best practice. He expressed deep sorrow for the harm suffered by those assaulted and said the church was committed to supporting them.
