Willow Creek elders respond to new Hybels accusations
[Bert Perry]I’m trying get clear on what your view really is. What’s been coming from you has been mostly characterizations of what others supposedly believe.Maybe you could address something I’ve actually said, Aaron.
So, should I take it that you believe (1) crowds sometimes get angry for bad reasons and (2) notions that come from them have to be sifted?
Views expressed are always my own and not my employer's, my church's, my family's, my neighbors', or my pets'. The house plants have authorized me to speak for them, however, and they always agree with me.
Joe, first, you seem to believe every icky story you hear. That’s just sad.
As for me, I neither believe nor disbelieve stories that are none of my business. It’s tremendously liberating. You should try it. I don’t mean to be judgmental, it’s just that my hands are full with the responsibilities that have actually been given to me. I have little time or interest in things that are not my responsibility (and that I have no power to change in any case).
As for all the horror stories, even if 100% of them are true (I have no idea, but doubt it), they are examples of churches and other organizations not doing what they’re supposed to do. What this proves is that they ought to do what they’re supposed to do. It proves nothing about who has authority to try to make them change or how change could be brought about. (If there is a path to change, its a path of persuasion, not a path of coercion. Teaching, not arm-twisting.)
Now I’ll concede — already have several times — that sometimes public pressure ends up being at least partly helpful. The fact remains that God has designed the church to work a certain way and all the wishing in the world can’t change that. I, for one, would not presume to have a better idea than God on the subject… so I have no wishing at all.
The way He has designed it to work is that congregations follow His commands and that if they do not, they answer to Him at the judgment.
That’s all there is. There are “the powers that be” in Romans 13, and there is the congregation (too many passages to list here). There isn’t anything else.
The parachurch ministries are a different thing, but it works as well as anything can (quite imperfectly) for ministries to handle ethics problems the same way most ethical businesses do: in a manner fully compliant with the law, establish good ethical standards and discipline employees according to those standards.
If that isn’t good enough, the public has the option of not donating, not attending, not buying, etc. They also have the option of protests and all of that.
It remains the responsibility and prerogative of the business/ministry to weigh the options and the feedback and handle things as it chooses.
Yes, sometimes this will fail. This is life on planet earth until the Prince of Peace establishes His reign.
It’s so unhealthy to continually obsess over things none of us has either the power or the calling to change.
There are many applications of Matthew 7:1. One of them is that the more we busy ourselves with finding fault with other persons and groups, the less attention we pay to judging ourselves and what we need to do about the guy in the mirror. I for one, have plenty to concern me about that guy, and Hybels, and Hyles, and everybody else are only barely on the outer edge of my radar.
I encourage readers to give this a fresh ponder: https://sharperiron.org/article/allure-of-scandal
There are days when I’m tempted to establish an indefinite ban on all news stories or discussions on scandals of any kind. I’m pretty sure two things would be true: a) Nothing of value would be lost from SI and b) the problems we’re pontificating about would be in no way affected.
Views expressed are always my own and not my employer's, my church's, my family's, my neighbors', or my pets'. The house plants have authorized me to speak for them, however, and they always agree with me.
teve Carter, teaching pastor at Willow Creek Community Church, resigned Sunday after new allegations surfaced against founding pastor Bill Hybels.
Carter, one of Hybels’s two successors at Willow, had previously apologized for the church’s handling of accusations against Hybels, who resigned earlier this year after allegations of misconduct.
Earlier on Sunday, one of Hybels’s former assistants accused the Willow Creek founder of repeatedly groping her. Pat Baranowski told The New York Times that Hybels allegedly touched her breasts repeatedly and rubbed against her, had oral sex with her on one occasion, and once asked her to watch porn with him as a research project.
Baranowski told her therapist about the incidents, according to the Times. She also told another pastor at the church, but asked him to keep silent until now. She is the tenth woman to accuse Hybels of misconduct.
Hybels told the Times that the allegations were not true.
“I never had an inappropriate physical or emotional relationship with her before that time, during that time or after that time,” he told the Times in an email.
Those accusations were the last straw for Carter.
“The new facts and allegations that came to light this morning are horrifying, and my heart goes out to Ms. Baranowski and her family for the pain they have lived with,” he wrote on his blog, announcing his resignation. “These most recent revelations have also compelled me to make public my decision to leave, as much as it grieves me to go.”
In a Monday email to the Willow church family, lead pastor Heather Larson—Hybels’s co- successor alongside Carter—responded to the Times article. “As I read the words, I was heartbroken, and I felt deep sadness for Ms. Baranowski. This was new information, and I can’t imagine how difficult this must be for her,” she wrote.
Regarding Carter’s resignation, Larson wrote, “We had been processing together with Steve for a few weeks, and our team was hoping and working towards a different outcome.” She acknowledged that many members have questions. “We will give you a fuller update as soon as we can, and I know it is urgent.”
The new allegations and Carter’s resignation come days before the annual Global Leadership Summit (GLS), which opens this week at Willow Creek and simulcasts worldwide.
Hybels’s shadow lingers over the event, since he hosted the GLS for more than two decades. The controversy over his past conduct has led to more than 100 churches and other organizations canceling their plans to host a GLS viewing site.
Willow Creek investigates Hybels as pastor quits over new allegations
Willow Creek Community Church announced it will commission an independent investigation of sexual harassment allegations against founding pastor Bill Hybels, a day after one of the two pastors who succeeded Hybels resigned over the church’s handling of the matter.
Heather Larson, lead pastor at the influential evangelical Chicago-area megachurch, announced the investigation Monday (Aug. 6) in an email to church members. The inquiry will be led, Larson said, by an advisory council of Christian leaders from across the country and funded by an anonymous outside donor.
Steve Carter, who was named lead teaching pastor alongside Larson in April, announced his resignation on his blog Sunday (Aug. 5) over differences with how the church has handled the allegations against Hybels. Carter did not appear at Sunday services at Willow Creek’s main campus in South Barrington, Ill.
“At this point … I cannot, in good conscience, appear before you as your Lead Teaching Pastor when my soul is so at odds with the institution,” Carter wrote.
A March investigation by the Chicago Tribune and later reporting in Christianity Today documented several women’s claims that Hybels had invited them to hotel rooms, commented on their appearance and in one case given a former co-worker an unwanted kiss. The Tribune also reported allegations against Hybels previously had been investigated by Willow Creek’s elders and an outside law firm, but he was cleared of wrongdoing.
Carter blogged about some of his concerns in late June and offered an apology for the church’s initial response, writing, “I recognize that I am not blameless in this.” (Larson, who has co-led the church with Carter since Hybels’ resignation, also apologized then in a written statement.)
Carter reportedly gave church leadership notice of his intent to resign several weeks ago and was asked to continue in his role until they decided how to make his resignation public.
But he said that he was compelled to resign immediately by a “horrifying” report that appeared Sunday morning in The New York Times detailing new allegations against Hybels by a former executive assistant.
The sad story Jim links gives a lot of points of reference for the just-commissioned independent investigation to look at, and the answers to those questions are going to tell us a lot about whether—and how and when—staffers looked the other way at signs that something was very wrong. Putting a once valued staffer in a broom closet sounds like one of those obvious “um, what’s up here?” moments. I also have to wonder if Steve Carter’s resignation was in part a gambit to get the board to do that independent investigation.
In light of this, this might be worth a read.
Aspiring to be a stick in the mud.
Well, at this point we don’t need to worry about getting the word of two or three witnesses because we are up to what, seven or eight?
"Our task today is to tell people — who no longer know what sin is...no longer see themselves as sinners, and no longer have room for these categories — that Christ died for sins of which they do not think they’re guilty." - David Wells
Entire board resigns with specific apologies made. More from Christianity Today.
Aspiring to be a stick in the mud.
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