The dramatic next chapter in the story of Evangelical megachurch Willow Creek's efforts to address allegations of sexual misconduct by its founding pastor, Bill Hybels, was written yesterday when Lead Pastor Heather Larson and the entire Board of Elders announced their resignations.
As we discussed on Monday, one of the two pastors appointed to succeed Hybels, Lead Teaching Pastor Steve Carter, had resigned effective immediately, blogging that he has been "gravely concerned" about how the church leadership was handling the allegations against Hybels. Now Carter's co-successor, Heather Larson, announced yesterday she also is resigning. What's more, the entire Board of Elders, which has struggled for several years to investigate the accusations against Hybels, also will be resigning, apparently in staggered shifts from now through the end of the year.
In the short term, Steve Gillen, the pastor of Willow Creek's North Shore branch, will serve as Interim Pastor. It seems that an independent advisory board will be formed to recruit and hire new leadership for Willow Creek.
This Daily Herald video, less than five minutes in length, features Larson, Board member Missy Rasmussen, and Gillen speaking with church members last evening. Their messages are interesting, and it's also interesting to hear the reactions of the congregation to their statements. The video also features interviews with a few Willow Creek church members after the announcements.
https://www.dailyherald.com/news/20180808/willow-creek-elder-board-lead-pastor-larson-we-will-all-step-down
Earlier this week, Jacob Lupfer, in a Religion News Service opinion piece (h/t Jim McCrea), had predicted that "Willow Creek and the leadership training seminars that bear its name will soon cease to exist without Hybels." It's difficult to assess whether these waves of resignations will help or hinder the faith community to survive the tumult unleashed by the downfall of its founder.
Makes me think a little bit of Garner Ted Armstrong. Donate know if his congregation is still going or not.
ReplyDeleteI hate auto correct! That was supposed to read, "Don't know if..."
DeleteDon't worry, Katherine. I think we're all learning to read autocorrect.
Delete"Donate now" would have been a happy autocorrect-generated malaprop. Guess they're still perfecting the technology ...
DeleteYes Garner Ted's church is still in biz. The Armstrongites are an interesting study in schism, something that seems to flourish in these little sects.
ReplyDeleteOften the schism among evangelicals has less to do with theology than personality. This seems to be the case at Willow Creek, and was certainly the case with Garner Ted and his father.
Guess I'll have to google Garner Ted. Have no idea who he is, but it sounds as though I haven't missed much.
ReplyDeleteYou didn't miss much. He was a televangelist back in the 60s and 70s. It was a family enterprise but his father disfellowshipped him, and he went off and formed his own church.
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