SPAC Nation: Rogue Pastors Accused Of Pressuring Youth To Donate Blood For Money For Church Funds

Another young person told HuffPost UK that they had regularly witnessed SPAC Nation members going to donate blood. They did not know which medical trial company this was at.

The teenager, who did not want to be named, said groups of about 11 people would meet in one of the church’s “trap houses” before going to donate. 

Trap houses are safe houses run by the church’s pastors where young people live.

″′Bleeding for seed’, the blood thing, it was like once a week,” the teenager told HuffPost UK. 

“Community unit services are on a Tuesday. Before Tuesday [service] everyone would meet at the Love House trap house, and then a few people would go to donate blood. Afterwards they would go to the service at the Love House.”

She added: “They were donating blood for money, it was a way to get seed.”

The Love House is a trap house in Wapping run by senior SPAC Nation pastor Mariam Mola.

Mola, whose real name is Mariam Mbula, has 13 convictions for offences including 27 for “fraud and dishonesty”, according to The Telegraph.

It is also alleged that pressure was exerted on young people through SPAC Nation’s private WhatsApp groups.

In one case HuffPost UK has been told that Mola actively encouraged young people to donate blood through one of these groups.

A source told HuffPost UK Mola posted in the group saying: “What are you doing for seed?” 

Another person replied: “Going to give blood”. Mola then asked: “Who’s going with him?” and a number of others replied saying “Me, Ma.”

Senior pastors at SPAC Nation are addressed as “Ma” or “Sir” by other members. 

Another female ex-member of the church, who left recently after more than a year-and-a-half, said she had seen WhatsApp posts about blood donations.

“I’ve seen a picture of one of them getting their blood done,” she said. “It was a picture of a pastor. He was sitting down on a chair and it could have been the injection – whatever they use to withdraw the blood, but basically he was sitting in the chair and you can see that he was about to get his blood done.”

Labour’s shadow minister for child protection said he had heard serious allegations first-hand.

Reed told HuffPost UK that two young people, aged under 18, had approached him.

“What they said was that in both cases a pastor pretended to be the young person’s parent, went with them to donate blood for which they would get paid, signed a consent form as the parent to allow the blood to be given and then when the money was handed over they took it for SPAC Nation. It was about £30 a go.”

He did not know which medical trial company the teenagers gave blood at.

The former MP, who is running for re-election to his Croydon North parliamentary seat, continued: “Obviously it wasn’t the young people’s idea to give the blood. It sounds like they were pressured into selling their blood for the church.”

He encouraged the teenagers to report the allegations to police and went with one to Croydon Police Station to do this on November 11 this year.

HuffPost UK asked Metropolitan Police to confirm the report relating to blood donation but had not received a response at time of publication.

Wider concerns persist about the activities of SPAC Nation.

It is alleged the pressure to “give seed” at the church has created conditions where SPAC Nation members are willing to go to extreme lengths to raise money.

HuffPost UK has previously published stories revealing young people have allegedly been pressured into taking out loans of up to £10,000 and donating student loans of up to £5,000 to the church.

Ex-members say this pressure to donate “seed” stems right from the top of the church and pastor Tobi Adegboyega’s own sermons.

Targets for seed giving are reputedly set in the church’s internal WhatsApp groups.

Our reporters have seen a post from one such group chat which says: “The target for this month’s seed is = £1million”, followed by “If this applies to you and you are under one of these lines please send your seed online” before giving names for senior pastors.

The “lines” refers to structures for giving within the SPAC Nation, in which money is donated to pastors who then pass it on up the hierarchy of the church.

One ex-SPAC Nation member said: “Just imagine the pressure people were put under for that target. It’s sad… really sad.”

Another 19-year-old ex-member of SPAC Nation told HuffPost UK the pressure to find cash for “seed” stemmed right from the top of the church. 

“Pastor Tobi said on a Periscope video, ‘I don’t care what you guys have to do to raise your seed – you’re going to raise it’,” she said. “He says it all the time.”

Youth worker Lillian Okolie told HuffPost UK that the relatively small amounts of money involved in donating blood showed the scale of the pressure people in the church are facing.

“This just shows me how desperate these guys are,” she told HuffPost UK. “They’re willing to coerce these young people into giving blood. The amount of money we’re talking about is not a lot of money. They have no regard for people’s lives or future.”