An evangelical church with a special focus on gospel music in France has dismissed its pastor after accusations of sexual abuse and abuse of power.

My Gospel Church in Paris decided to terminate the relationship with its leader, Matthieu Koumarianos, at an assembly on 6 December.

In a statement, Perspectives, the network of churches to which he belonged, explained that the pastor’s “serious moral misconduct” could have occurred over a period of 10 years and that the victims had denounced “manipulation, control, abuse of weakness and multiple sexual affairs”. The church denomination has therefore asked other churches to cut off any ministerial connections with the accused.

Only a week after the dismissal, all the members of My Gospel Church resigned to “dissolve the entity”. Evangelical Focus has been able to verify that both the website and other social media profiles of My Gospel Church are no longer active.

This local church in the French capital was a member of the National Council of Evangelicals of France (CNEF), which brings together 2,500 evangelical churches in the country (70% of all), as well as a total of 34 church federations (including Perspectives).

In an internal communiqué to its members, the CNEF expressed its support for the potential victims and underlined its “commitment to the fight against sexual abuse in the evangelical Protestant churches”.

“Anyone who may have been subjected to the actions of Matthieu Koumarianos should know that they can freely disclose the facts to ‘Stop Abus’, the police or Miviludes [a state platform against sectarian abuses], and begin a process of restoration”, the CNEF added.

‘Stop Abus’

‘Stop Abus’ is an initiative launched by the CNEF in 2022 to prevent such cases in evangelical churches. It has been taken up as a national project by all its members and offers the possibility of anonymous reporting and psychological and legal support.

“In 2023, the ‘Stop Abus’ service handled 38 requests from victims or witnesses”, explained Romain Choisnet, CNEF's communication director, recently. A dozen other requests were referred to other organisations supporting victims.

Myriam Letzel, the ‘Stop Abus’ coordinator, is a marriage and family counsellor and psychoanalyst by training. Speaking to Réforme magazine, she explained: “Once the disclosure has been received by the service, the person who wishes to be contacted is contacted by email or telephone, according to their choice. They are then offered a face-to-face meeting, in their region, with two people from our helpline”.

Prevention and training workshops

The CNEF offers abuse prevention materials on its website, including a 44-page guide to combating sexual abuse in churches.

In November, more than 400 people participated in a webinar of different evangelical entities on “Protecting and acting against violence against children”.

Other training initiatives take place at regional level in churches across France.

Also in other European countries, national representative bodies such as Evangelical Alliances or Protestant Federations have promoted action plans against abuse in church settings.