You may have seen reports that earlier this year Barnabas Aid appointed an independent law firm to conduct an impartial investigation into allegations made by multiple whistle-blowers against the Barnabas founder, Patrick Sookhdeo and other senior leaders within the organisation.
In April each of these individuals were suspended pending the investigation. In August the law firm shared with us an interim report. In mid-October the law firm produced their final reports, and like the interim report, this has been shared with the Boards of all the Barnabas Family of charities as well as the appropriate authorities, including the UK Charity Commission.
The UK Charity Commission announced on 3 October its own statutory inquiry into the Barnabas family of ministries. The senior management of Barnabas are working closely with them and the other statutory bodies now involved in this matter.
We welcome the Charity Commission’s announcement and their decision to investigate. We will comply with both the letter and the spirit of order and instructions given by the Charity Commission. This will further reinforce confidence that donated funds will be used to help suffering and persecuted Christians, in line with our charitable objectives. This will require additional administrative challenges, but the entire Barnabas Aid team are committed to continuing our important work throughout this difficult time.
We have already shared a copy of the August interim report with the Charity Commission.
The final report has found:
As a result of these reports, the four chairs of Barnabas Aid in Australia, New Zealand, the USA and the UK wrote to Patrick and Rosemary Sookhdeo (International Director and International Director Emeritus), Caroline Kerslake (International Director of Projects) and Prasad Phillips (Deputy International Director) requiring them all to resign from all Barnabas Family entities. They have refused to do so.
Former CEO Noel Frost had already been dismissed from his position in June.
Patrick Sookhdeo and people close to him have been asked repeatedly to engage with the independent investigation, but they have refused to do so.
We now have new management – including people who have faithfully served this ministry for years – who are committed to steering Barnabas through this difficult process.
Thank you for your continued support and prayers at this time. Please stand with us as we endure a painful period in our history as a ministry.
To help supporters and interested parties we have put together this FAQ to address the questions many valued supporters have and provide as much clarity as possible about the current investigations and status of operational/financial processes and safeguarding of ministry employees.
We deeply regret that Barnabas supporters have received confusing correspondence from "TBF Trust", and we apologise for any distress caused. Anything from TBF Trust has not been sent by Barnabas Aid.
TBF Trust is run by the founders and former directors of Barnabas Aid. They were suspended from Barnabas, pending an independent investigation. The final report of the investigation has found serious and repeated contraventions of internal policies, the creation of a toxic work environment, and serious financial impropriety. Barnabas Aid now has a new management team – including people who have faithfully served this ministry for years – who are committed to steering Barnabas through this difficult process.
As with previous letters, those responsible are in possession of a historic mailing list, which we believe is from more than 10 years ago, and are using it without permission. We take your data privacy and security very seriously, and for that reason we have reported this incident to the Information Commissioner’s Office (ICO). You have the right to report this to the ICO, and can do so by contacting them directly.
We welcome this small administrative hurdle placed on us by the Charity Commission that will provide even greater confidence for our supporters that since April 2024 all donations have been used for their intended purposes. The independent investigation (initiated by Barnabas) has found clear evidence that prior to April the founders were spending Barnabas Aid money on items that were not consistent with our charitable objectives.
Spending on Barnabas Aid projects will not be affected. We will need to seek approval from the Charity Commission for each transaction over £4,000, but as long as it is in line with our charitable objectives our work will continue. We remain committed to serving our persecuted brothers and sisters around the world and will ensure aid continues to be delivered through our trusted partners every day.
The independent investigation that Barnabas Aid commissioned has uncovered evidence of theft and misuse of funds. The accountants are still doing their work and investigations are ongoing. To ensure the safety of your donations, we have taken steps to significantly strengthen our oversight and financial controls. There is now an unprecedented level of scrutiny on our financial processes to ensure transparency and accountability and you can trust that any money donated to us will be used to help persecuted Christians.
Please rest assured that we are confident that we will recover any misused funds and use them as appropriate to help our suffering and persecuted Christian brothers and sisters.
For both moral and legal reasons, we wanted to wait for the interim report before making these issues public which we did in August.
We are committed to making sure that any money that has been given to a restricted fund or project will reach its intended audience and destination. If any donations have not done so at this time, we will make sure this is rectified and reported on as swiftly as we are able. At this stage we believe that where there has been shortcomings on some projects and we will be able to quickly put it right.
The investigation has shown that a number of individuals in key leadership positions have been found to have misused funds. These individuals are no longer working for Barnabas Aid. You can trust that any money donated to us will be used to help suffering and persecuted Christians, either through the funding of projects or the meeting of legitimate expenses associated with those projects.
While the independent investigation is ongoing, we removed our financial reports while they are being reviewed. We do not wish to mislead our supporters in any way, and this information will become available once again when we are confident the information is correct at the conclusion of the investigation.
This is a figure that was used by (now suspended) senior leaders. It does not appear that it was ever accurate.
Nexcus is not an external company and they have not taken over the running of Barnabas Aid.
Barnabas has national offices around the globe (e.g. UK, USA, New Zealand and Australia) as well as an international office. Nexcus International is the name of Barnabas Aid’s umbrella organisation and serves as the international office of Barnabas’ ministries. Nexcus International’s board is made up of the four national chairs of Barnabas in the UK, US, New Zealand and Australia regions, demonstrating that it is a Barnabas entity and not a third-party organisation.
Nexcus itself was created by Patrick Sookhdeo in November 2020, and he was until April of this year its Chairman.
Colin Bloom is an experienced leader, a committed follower of Jesus and someone with the abilities and temperament to lead us through these difficult times and beyond. The Board have full confidence in him, and so do the Senior Leadership Team.
Before being asked to come into Barnabas Colin had a long career in Government and Politics. He is the author of the Bloom Review – a report into how Government engages with faith communities. He worked in No. 10 Downing Street as a Senior Advisor to the UK Prime Minister; he has a long history of being a champion of the freedom of religion or belief. Last year the King made him a Commander of the British Empire.
No decision has been made regarding the future of the library. In October, the role of the librarian was made redundant.
The senior leadership team take the duty of corporate repentance very seriously. In Joshua Chapter 7, Achan takes gold and silver and from ruins of Jericho. The Lord holds all the people of Israel accountable for breaking the covenant made between Himself and His people, even though the people of Israel didn’t know that Achan had taken the spoils. In the same way, while team members at Barnabas Aid did not know or participate in financial misconduct, we must collectively repent of any evil that has happened, placing our faith in the finished work of the Lord Jesus Christ.
