Key points
- Investigators cite deep governance flaws and weak financial control. Branches ran bank accounts with little central oversight.
- Interim manager steps in to restore control and governance. His lengthy tenure carries significant professional costs.
- Regulator issues a freezing order to protect at-risk funds. Trustees later complete a mandated reform plan.
The Charity Commission for England and Wales has concluded that Mountain of Fire and Miracles Ministries International in the UK failed to keep proper financial control.
The inquiry says trustees could not show adequate oversight of more than one hundred branch bank accounts. It adds that funds were at risk across the network, which led to direct intervention by the regulator.
The Commission also flagged structural issues that made independent governance hard. It found that the church’s old constitution gave the General Overseer powers over appointing and removing trustees, and that some trustees were also paid staff until this was corrected in mid-2024. Recent church governance headlines offer context, including a nun dismissal misconduct claim.
What the regulator found
The inquiry describes a complex branch system with limited reporting, weak checks, and ad hoc procedures. It says branches opened bank accounts, made major property decisions and entered leases without timely board approval.
A freezing order was made in February 2022 to protect funds held in one account where the purpose was unclear.
Costs, filings and reforms
An interim manager was first appointed in August 2019, later varied by a tribunal to work alongside trustees. He was discharged in September 2024 after reforms, with total time costs exceeding two million pounds but a discounted final charge of just over one million plus VAT.
The Commission notes late filings over several years and now says trustees have completed an action plan on governance and policy changes.
In a press statement, the Commission said it found serious financial mismanagement and risk to donor funds. It also said it had taken action to freeze assets and support governance change.
“The trustees’ fundamental failure to maintain financial controls meant donor funds were at serious risk,” said investigations head Amy Spiller.
The charity’s 2023 accounts show total income of about two point seven million pounds and a net surplus of just over half a million pounds, with unrestricted and restricted reserves reported.
The accounts also note the interim manager’s discharge in September 2024. The church says it is restructuring and improving controls while worship continues across branches.
Wider debates about faith oversight and public policy continue to surface. One recent example is a sermons approval rule in Niger, which drew mixed reactions from clergy. Such stories show how governance, law and religion often meet in public view
