Simon Cox Blog: News: Allegations of Sexual Misconduct by Famous Chinese Evangelist Span 24 Years

Friday 15 July 2016

News: Allegations of Sexual Misconduct by Famous Chinese Evangelist Span 24 Years

New GRACE report examines student’s claim against Yuan Zhiming in wake of accusation by Chai Ling.

Following her father’s suggestion in early 2013, a Christian university student contacted China Soul for Christ Foundation—a top evangelistic organization for the global Chinese church—asking to apply for an internship.

Across two days in September, she met in Paris with China Soul’s famous founder Yuan Zhiming, expecting an interview. But the first time they met, the 23-year-old student alleges she found herself in bed with Yuan, watching a soft porn movie in an airport hotel room. She realized something had gone horribly wrong and left the hotel.

This woman’s story of surviving sexual misconduct is laid out in a new independent investigation from GRACE (Godly Response to Abuse in the Christian Environment), which has produced other reports about abuse at Bob Jones University and New Tribes Mission.

The investigation was undertaken at the request of Chinese Christian Life Fellowship (CCLife), a publishing and discipleship ministry founded in 1996. An earlier report, published by CCLife, found that four people alleged misconduct by Yuan. But the GRACE report focuses on just the university student’s account.

During their next meeting the following day, she again was in Yuan’s hotel room late at night alone with him and was asked to spend the night. “He started saying that he was lonely and that he needed to have company,” she told GRACE. She refused to stay, yet agreed to hug him before leaving.

“While he was hugging me, he was again asking me to stay and not to go and I said, ‘No, no, no.’ I was refusing [to stay]. In the end, I was struggling.” She said that as she left the room Yuan offered her 50 euros ($66). He never offered her an internship.

GRACE ...