Original Summary

BBC/Jon Jones/Nine O'Clock Trust / Chris Brain led the Nine O'Clock Service from 1984 to 1995 In the detailed written instructions given to the young women who worked without pay in the then-Reverend Chris Brain's house, there was a revealing demand. The homebase team, as they were known, were to "do anything" the Church of England priest asked of them. Routine tasks - assigned on a rota 24 hours a day, seven days a week - included cooking, cleaning, ironing, shopping, looking after Brain's young daughter, and walking his dog. This housework was intended to free Brain for his mission of leading the Nine O'Clock Service (NOS), a radical congregation of hundreds of young people drawn weekly to a Sheffield church in the 1980s and 1990s by a fusion of rave culture, live music, environmental activism and liturgy. But the lengthy list of homebase team duties did not spell out other demands Brain made in the attic bedroom of his family's end-terrace house in the suburb of Crookes, heard jurors at his retrial on charges of rape and indecent assault. On Friday at Inner London Crown Court, the 69-year-old was found guilty of raping one woman in his congregation and four indecent assaults against three others. He had already been convicted of 17 indecent assaults in August 2025 but faced a retrial as jurors could not reach verdicts on five further counts. Brain will be sentenced later this year and has been told he is facing a custodial term. His sentencing will conclude a dramatic and protracted downfall for a preacher who at one point been preparing to take NOS global with expansion to the US. The charismatic and domineering preacher, seen by many followers as a prophet, would routinely summon members of his congregation to "put him to bed" with sensual massages, jurors heard. Often Brain would strip to his underwear and expect kissing and sexual touching with the women, who feared being ostracised - or even damned - if they refused, the court heard. "By displeasing Brain, you were displeasing God," explained one woman, who gave evidence last month during her former vicar's sexual assault trial. NOS outgrew St Thomas's, and in the early 1990s moved to Ponds Forge (pictured above in 1998) The movement took root in the early 1980s when Brain, his wife Lynne and small group of like-minded Christian friends joined St Thomas's church in Crookes. These dozen or so new worshippers - clustered around a band called Present Tense - were devout but disillusioned with traditional Anglican worship. Brain, their bassist and de facto leader, railed against "fancy golf club Christianity" which did not connect with them culturally. In 1984, the church's vicar Robert Warren gave the group an opportunity to run their own experimental service, every Sunday at 21:00. The band - who had played gigs across the north of England and performed before U2 at the Christian festival Greenbelt - ditched their evangelical rock songs in favour of a new sound influenced by Sheffield's burgeoning electronic music scene. NOS was a sensation - attracting a youthful congregation of up to 600 people with an innovative blend of cutting-edge music, video, prayer, and dancing. "It's the most entertaining church I've been to. It's the best dance night in Sheffield," one worshipper told a 1990 BBC Radio 4 programme, which reported how NOS was "bridging the gap between the church and the people". One NOS member put it more bluntly in a TV documentary five years later: "We were sticking two fingers up to normal, middle-class church ways of behaviour." The Diocese of Sheffield, thrilled by the sight of students queueing down the road to worship to the pulsing sound of house music, fast-tracked Brain's route to priesthood despite the reservations of his ordination tutor. The Archbishop of Canterbury told Brain he would be happy to see a NOS in every town and city in Britain. The services, which later moved to a larger space at Ponds Forge leisure centre, were a huge production involving a crew of up to 150 volunteers - among them musicians, sound technicians, designers, security, and a trucking team. A new multimedia service was planned each week, with volunteers working unpaid throughout Sunday into the early hours of Monday morning to pull it off. Warren, who had oversight of NOS in its first years at St Thomas's, told the court he initially believed Brain's"controlling" nature helped to get things done. But as the popularity of NOS grew, the vicar noticed "cult-like elements" emerging. Brain's congregation seemed to look at him "almost as a guru," Warren said in evidence at Brain's first trial. NOS members were expected to live simply and pay at least 10% of their income to the tight-knit and passionate community, though the court heard many gave more. Some handed over their inheritances and even houses. Brain, meanwhile, had a modern car, a mobile phone, designer clothes and went on expensive holidays. In 1994, he moved his family to live in a renovated Peak District farmhouse which had been donated to NOS, jurors heard. "He seemed to be living a luxurious lifestyle when other people are scrimping and scraping along," one NOS member told the court. Another, who estimated she had given £40,000 to NOS over seven years, recalled the "manipulative" Brain persuading her to skip her brother's wedding in South Africa and buy van for the community instead. Nine O'Clock Trust / Brain's ordination was fast-tracked as a result of the popularity of the NOS NOS members told the court they were expected to cut ties with family and friends outside the community. Jurors were told that one woman was reprimanded by Brain and other NOS leaders for going home to see her family on a weekend: "There were messages to the point of, 'This is your family now. Sacrifice now, for the greater good'." Women gave evidence that Brain would "groom" them by pulling up to them on the street in his car and inviting them for a drive. On some occasions during this "Chris-nappi

中文概览

中文标题： 强奸犯牧师如何利用魅力虐待其“类似邪教”的会众

BBC报道称，Chris Brain在1984至1995年领导九点事工，让年轻女性无薪承担家务；他在重审中被判强奸一名会众并猥亵另外三人，此前已因17项猥亵罪名被定罪，等待量刑。

  • 情报分类：综合情报
  • 分类依据：司法与宗教社会新闻，不属技术、职业、商业、项目、服务器或硬件类别。
  • 信息来源：英语新闻 / BBC News Top Stories
  • 发布时间：2026/10/3 14:01:15