Tag: meeting house

Disgraced former megachurch pastor Bruxy Cavey no longer has to fear being imprisoned after Crown prosecutors withdrew his final two sexual assault charges, bringing this chapter of his life to an end.

While prosecutors were set to begin trial next week, they chose not to proceed after concluding there was no reasonable prospect of a conviction. They admitted they could not conclusively establish whether or not Cavey’s alleged victim gave consent for their sexual encounter, making further legal action futile.

Cavey is one of Cana’s most recognizable religious leaders. Far from being orthodox, he is also a false teacher who denies penal substitutionary atonement, biblical inerrancy, the eternality of hell, has an unbiblical view of the sin of homosexuality, and displays an affinity for open-theism. For more information on Cavey’s many false beliefs, click here.

The embattled former pastor was released from his position at The Meeting House, a 5000-member multi-campus megachurch in Oakville, ON, one of Canada’s largest, after being arrested and charged with sexual assault, with the elders saying one of his victims was a minor. Further investigations would reveal that the church has an endemic problem, with a third-party investigation revealing that there have been nearly 40 different reports of sexual abuse against four pastors within the church.

Last month, Cavey had one sexual assault charge against him stayed after the prosecution took too long to bring him to trial.

Since the beginning, he has denied sexually abusing anyone but has admitted he engaged in adulterous affairs and consenting sexual encounters.

In related news, his former megachurch is no more. After being unable to find abuse insurance following the 40 different reports of sexual abuse against their church pastors, The Meeting Place announced they were shutting down for good.

The church has struggled to survive since the initial arrest of Cavey, with giving down and several satellite churches shuttering down or consolidating. In an email sent to members, the church explained that because they’ve had so many allegations of sexual abuse over the years, so far resulting in three civil lawsuits from abuse victims demanding $5 million each in damages, their insurance company doesn’t want the liability.

As a result, The Meeting House cannot get anyone to insure them and don’t dare operate without, lest one of their leaders is revealed to be another molester (not an insignificant concern, given their history), opening them up to even further lawsuits and financial risk. Instead, they announced on their website:

It is with sadness that we are required to bring the public-facing ministry of The Meeting House to an end as of August 29. Going forward, there will no longer be churches operating programs or doing ministry under the banner of The Meeting House….We are pleased to announce that as of September 1, new missional church communities will be launching in many locations across Ontario as part of a new initiative called the BIC Church Collective.

Cornerstone Church, a 5000-member multi-campus megachurch in Oakville, ON that serves as one of Canada’s largest had a meeting on Tuesday to update the congregation on where they were with the investigation of sexual abuse by Bruxy Cavey, one of the country’s most recognizable religious leaders who was recently arrested and charged with sexual assault, as well as give an update on the state of the church and where they were with the investigations at large. They only reserved 10 minutes for the Q&A and did not answer many specifics, suggesting that it would come after they’ve had a chance to listen to everyone first.

Describing this as a “kind of like an excavation season” church leadership told the gathering that “this sounds crass, but it’s like we need to dig up the bones in order for us to plant a garden with beauty in life.” They recount that at this point there have been nearly 40 different reports of sexual abuse against multiple pastors within the church, explaining:

“To date, our victim advocate Melodie has received 38 inquiries. She’s documenting each story and is committed to advocating on their behalf. The inquiries are not all unique or separate, but they do represent allegations, disclosures and concerns relating primarily to clergy sexual misconduct, harassment and abuse by Kieran Naidoo (youth pastor charged with possessing child pornography in 2012, and later charged with sexual exploitation in 2021 as a result of an incident from 2002-2004) Dave Churchill ( a youth pastor church charged with sexual assault and sexual exploitation in 2014) Bruxy Cavey (multiple allegations of sexual abuse and relationships, some which he has admited) and Tim Day (served as senior pastor of the Meeting House for 14 years, unspecified allegations of sexual misconduct and abuse)

The cases of Naidoo and Dave Churchill have gone to court and convictions were laid. And as you’re aware, we’re currently underway with two investigations where Bruxy Cavey and Tim Day have been named.

Additional disclosures have been brought to Melodie where previous leaders and staff engaged in sexual misconduct, adultery, and troubling emotional abuse. In almost all of the responses, individuals have suffered spiritual harm.”

They continue that one trend they’ve seen over and over is dismissing the victim of abuse and siding with the offender through ‘restoration; which they suggest has been incomplete and wrong-headed.

We’ve also heard stories of brave individuals who have tried to address the culture of immorality in the past and they felt shut down and alienated by the church…these aren’t new or recent incidences of harm and they do come as a surprise to the overseers

“One trend we’ve identified is askew is prioritizing the care and well being of offenders over victims…there are multiple stories of victims who felt shamed and rejected by the Church, while the offender was supported through so-called ‘restoration.’

And finally:

The most treasonous of all treasons was committed against an innocent and unsuspecting child of God. What once was a place of respite became a place of hyper-vigilance, and safety became the gauntlet of danger. What once held hope, now held sickness and disease. What once made sense became an unsolvable puzzle. What once held innocence, now accused of guilt and shame. This is not a fluke, a fall or a human mistake. This was an act of aggression perpetrated person after person after person.

To those who are still in the fog of trauma caused by confusing and disorienting acts, and by the church, you are not alone. We are deeply sorry for the abuse and harm that has occurred, be it sexual, emotional, or spiritual, in our church family. We are deeply sorry for how many of these stories have been handled in the past. We continue to be humbled to now be the stewards of those stories.

The church closed out by announcing that given all that has happened, both with the abuse allegations and with the pandemic, they are only at between 60-70% of their financial intake compared to last year. Given that they have 20 campuses, some very close to each other, they have drawn up plans to restructure and consolidate some of their locations.