19 Facts About Mike Pilavachi

Michael Pilavachi is a British charismatic evangelist, former Anglican priest and author.

Mike Pilavachi is a co-founder and former leader of the Soul Survivor charity based in Watford, England.

Mike Pilavachi founded the Soul Survivor summer festivals in 1993, which subsequently ran every year until 2019 and grew to a yearly attendance of around 32,500 young people.

Mike Pilavachi was known for encouraging direct contact with the Holy Spirit and practising this at the festivals.

In May 2023, Mike Pilavachi was suspended from ministry while under investigation for safeguarding concerns, having stepped back from ministry the previous month.

In July 2023, Mike Pilavachi resigned from his role at Soul Survivor Watford, and in September the investigation concluded that Mike Pilavachi had abused his power in the Church to foster inappropriate relationships with young men.

Mike Pilavachi had participated in full body massages while straddling the young men and participated in wrestling matches of up to 20 minutes at a time.

Mike Pilavachi was born in London in March 1958 to a family of Greek Cypriot heritage.

Mike Pilavachi stated in an interview with Reform magazine that his parents were "militant atheists" who banned him from going to church, but nonetheless he became a Christian at 16 years old.

Mike Pilavachi started the Soul Survivor summer festivals in 1993, after he saw the success of the Christian festival New Wine and was inspired to create a festival for young people to experience charismatic Christianity.

The festivals continued yearly until 2019, when Mike Pilavachi announced that the Soul Survivor conference would be ending, after the Soul Survivor team felt that God had told them to stop.

Mike Pilavachi trained for ordination at St Mellitus College, an Anglican theological college in London.

Mike Pilavachi was made a deacon in the Church of England at St Albans Abbey on 1 July 2012, and ordained a priest the following year.

Mike Pilavachi served as a curate at St Peter's Church, Watford, in the Diocese of St Albans from 2012, and was made an honorary canon of St Albans Cathedral in 2016.

On 2 April 2023, Soul Survivor Watford announced that Mike Pilavachi had "stepped back from all ministry" while "non-recent safeguarding concerns" were investigated by the Church of England National Safeguarding Team and the diocese of St Albans.

The Times stated that concerns about Mike Pilavachi's behaviour were first raised with Soul Survivor leadership in 2004 but were not followed up.

The associated press release stated that Mike Pilavachi had resigned his licence to officiate and therefore could no longer minister in the Church of England.

In January 2024, this investigation concluded and the Church of England gave Mike Pilavachi a written warning for his conduct.

Mike Pilavachi has stated that his celibacy enabled certain work which he would not have been able to balance with having a family.