Bethel Church in Redding, Calif., announced in early April that it would hire a third-party investigator to look into clergy sexual abuse allegations against Ben Armstrong.
Photo by Clayton Young / Google Photos
Bethel confirmed that Sintra Group Investigations would be conducting a third-party investigation into allegations against Armstrong, the church’s Prophetic Ministry director and former Bethel School of Supernatural Ministry Revival Group pastor.
Armstrong was placed on leave in February after a video containing serious allegations of clergy sexual abuse came out, and he will remain on leave until the investigation is complete, Bethel said.
According to its website, Sintra Group has been conducting professional investigations since 1997 using investigators who are retired law enforcement or fire service officers.
The firm specializes in background investigations of applicants and administrative investigations “to handle such issues as harassment, hostile work environments, or embezzlements.”
It has provided services to government agencies, school districts, health care agencies, and law firms.
MinistryWatch was unable to locate any mention of investigations into clergy sexual abuse allegations with churches on Sintra Group’s website.
Steve Bowman, Sintra Group’s principal partner, was a former assistant police chief with the Ventura Police Department, and is a licensed attorney in California.
Sintra Group did not reply to a request for information about its experience with clergy sexual abuse investigations before the time of publication.
Armstrong’s removal came just weeks after Bethel Church leaders Kris Vallotton, Bill Johnson, and Dann Farrelly asked for forgiveness for the way they handled Shawn Bolz, platforming him as recently as 2019 despite allegations of sexual harassment and false prophecy made against him.
“We platformed him because we believed in him, and when he failed, and failed to repent, it was our responsibility to tell people that we no longer trusted him in order to protect them,” Vallotton wrote.
In 2025, Bethel leadership released a statement addressing allegations of sexual harassment that an employee made against Bolz. When confronted, Bolz acknowledged the behavior but said it had stopped, the leaders claimed. They then recommended those affected to seek a remedy through the justice system. They also took a “step back” from their ministry connection with Bolz.
Bethel also said it would hire an expert to review its governance, leadership structure, and culture.
“We want to ensure we have established clear accountability structures, prioritized the safety of all those engaging with Bethel, and upheld the standards that Scripture calls our leadership and culture to reflect,” an April 2 announcement on Bethel’s website said.
Reporting Abuse
Bethel Church also mentioned its Safe Church platform and channel for reporting inappropriate or harmful conduct. Reports can be made anonymously through a third-party provider, Miratech.
The process for handling reports was described as follows:
- Report submitted via Miratech’s platform.
- Bethel Church’s designated site administrators receive the report and a Safe Church team member will reach out for more details if contact information has been provided.
- If the team deems an investigation is needed, members of the Safe Church team will determine the appropriate response, possibly including contacting law enforcement and conducting interviews with the reporter and other witnesses.
- The findings will then be communicated to the reporter.
- “As necessary,” the outcome will also be communicated to Bethel leadership.
“If a violation of community standards has occurred, a process of discipline, and if needed, legal action will take place concerning those who have violated the standards,” the website explains. “Additionally, if a threat to the safety and wellbeing of the church community and those connected to us is determined, and the process of investigation does not produce repentance, the church community will be informed on an as-needed basis in an effort to ensure transparency.”
The website cites examples of the kinds of incidents the Safe Church team will investigate, including verbally or physically abusive behavior, sexually harassing behavior, spiritually “confusing or coercive” behavior.
Bethel Church did not respond to questions about why it chose Sintra Group to conduct the investigation, whether its report would be released publicly, who sits on the Safe Church team, or when the Safe Church processes were developed and put into place.
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