Post by RNorm on Aug 10, 2018 10:09:20 GMT -5
"The lead pastor and the entire board of elders resigned on Wednesday night from Willow Creek Community Church, one of the nation’s most influential evangelical congregations, saying that they had made a mistake by failing to believe the women who accused the Rev. Bill Hybels, the church’s founding pastor, of sexual harassment.
“To all the women who have come forward,” said Missy Rasmussen, one of nine elders, speaking to the hushed congregants, “we are sorry that we added to your pain.”
“We have no reason to not believe any of you. We are sorry that our initial statements were so insensitive, defensive and reflexively protective of Bill,” she said, while some in the church’s cavernous auditorium, in South Barrington, Ill., wept openly. “We exhort Bill to acknowledge his sin and publicly apologize.”
It was a shocking blow for a church that has cast itself as a model of effective leadership for churches worldwide, and it comes at a particularly fraught moment for Willow Creek’s international network of supporters.
On Thursday, the Willow Creek Association’s annual Global Leadership Summit, watched by nearly 700 churches and half a million people worldwide, began in the same auditorium where the resignations were announced. Until this year, Mr. Hybels had hosted the event.
The event, which every year draws thousands of Christians from around the world, began with a confession.
“There is no map for the journey that we’ve been on. We’ve had missteps, mistakes, slip-ups, blunders,” said Tom DeVries, president of the Willow Creek Association, which organizes the leadership summit, in his opening address. “We are sorry for the places where we could and should have done better.”
On Wednesday night, the church’s lead pastor, the Rev. Heather Larson, said she was stepping down because “trust has been broken by leadership and it doesn’t return quickly.”
“There is urgency to move us in a better direction,” she said.
She turned the leadership over to Steve Gillen, who has been on Willow Creek’s staff for 20 years, most recently as lead pastor at the church’s North Shore site. Ms. Rasmussen, the elder, said the church has also hired an outside expert to conduct a “robust” review of its governance."
Willow Creek Church’s Top Leadership Resigns Over Allegations Against Bill Hybels
“To all the women who have come forward,” said Missy Rasmussen, one of nine elders, speaking to the hushed congregants, “we are sorry that we added to your pain.”
“We have no reason to not believe any of you. We are sorry that our initial statements were so insensitive, defensive and reflexively protective of Bill,” she said, while some in the church’s cavernous auditorium, in South Barrington, Ill., wept openly. “We exhort Bill to acknowledge his sin and publicly apologize.”
It was a shocking blow for a church that has cast itself as a model of effective leadership for churches worldwide, and it comes at a particularly fraught moment for Willow Creek’s international network of supporters.
On Thursday, the Willow Creek Association’s annual Global Leadership Summit, watched by nearly 700 churches and half a million people worldwide, began in the same auditorium where the resignations were announced. Until this year, Mr. Hybels had hosted the event.
The event, which every year draws thousands of Christians from around the world, began with a confession.
“There is no map for the journey that we’ve been on. We’ve had missteps, mistakes, slip-ups, blunders,” said Tom DeVries, president of the Willow Creek Association, which organizes the leadership summit, in his opening address. “We are sorry for the places where we could and should have done better.”
On Wednesday night, the church’s lead pastor, the Rev. Heather Larson, said she was stepping down because “trust has been broken by leadership and it doesn’t return quickly.”
“There is urgency to move us in a better direction,” she said.
She turned the leadership over to Steve Gillen, who has been on Willow Creek’s staff for 20 years, most recently as lead pastor at the church’s North Shore site. Ms. Rasmussen, the elder, said the church has also hired an outside expert to conduct a “robust” review of its governance."
Willow Creek Church’s Top Leadership Resigns Over Allegations Against Bill Hybels
