Willow Creek Church’s Lead Pastor and Board of Elders Resign

So very sad! Let us pray for these victims! Political slant has nothing to do with it, we've recently seen the fall of both conservatives and liberals to the consequences of their abusive behaviors. Power is the common thread between these appalling cases, people corrupted by their own power who thought they could get away with harassing and using others. It's awful that these things happened, but at least more of these cases are being brought to light, more abused people are finding the courage to speak up. If nothing else, I hope these problems discourage those in power from engaging in such atrocious behaviors, and makes those in the church/politics/pro sports/Hollywood more accountable for their actions. Yes, tragically, it happens even in "organized religion," as with every other human institution. But the Church itself is not a human institution, and I pray and trust that Christ will bring healing, and ultimately that He will be glorified, despite what we sinful people errantly do in "His name". God's blessings!

There is so much about this that saddens me. First is to see another man's career and reputation annihilated by allegations. I don't know if Hybels acted inappropriately, but he was cleared by two investigations, including an independent one. Is #metoo about using hearsay to destroy lives, or about finding legitimate justice and reconciliation after due process? If the latter, then we must accept that sometimes the man isn't the chauvinist pig we want to think he is. If the former, then it is only a new kind of witch hunt. The second is the widespread misunderstanding of Christian theology - we condemn a man for not being perfect, though Christianity is precisely about man's inability to be perfect. But third, and worst of all, is the judgmental vitriol in these comments, which smack of the same stereotypical fallacies that I'm used to seeing in Trump supporters. There is so much disgust, against Hybels, men, clergy, faith, and Christianity that it makes me despair of every having a civil conversation about serious topics again.

Ms. Dyer's comments about voluntary repentance sort of miss the point. Most human beings do not repent voluntarily. They repent because God (sometimes working through other humans) turns up the pressure. A person who repents at the first sign something is wrong needs to be thought of as a saint. The example is commendable but human nature means it will mostly go unheeded.

Scandal after scandal after scandal, what is common, the willingness of the leaders to refuse to believe the victims and support of the abuser. But how they can continue to ignore the abuse when the victims keep appearing I will never understand.

Please see if the pastors who resigned, including Bill, are still on payroll/ receiving pensions. I wouldn't be surprised at all if they are financially covered for life.

Ah, the joys of organized religion! You start a church, siphon off boatloads of money, than chase the earthly pleasures with abandon while expecting the sheep to look the other way. The pattern is predictable and disgusting.

All these problems in various sects of organized religion are awful, aside for the most obvious reason, which is that they would be awful abuses anywhere, but also because they are perpetrated under a facade of good will. I am in no way, not one single bit, shocked though. Maybe that's because I grew up in a strongly religious, rural community where there was immense pressure to join church and demonstrate "faithfulness." I'm not surprised that predators recognize this and leverage that brainwashing to their advantage, and will continue to do so until religious communities recognize they don't have to put such social pressure on people for those people to participate in organized religion. ...Or if churches do need to exert that kind of heavy manipulation to stay in the black, maybe its time to downsize. This is all just a symptom of the larger sickness. These heavy manipulations of the congregation also drive as many people away as they retain. Another example: every summer I went to religious camp and we would play a game called "Persecution," where we all bonded by pretending we were being pursued by the forces of evil, as if we, as Evangelical Christians, weren't one of the most dominant political forces in American Politics. Hypocrisy! What's up with that? No thanks! Things like this go a long way to explain where we are as a country.

Bill Hybels is a Democrat and the church is not big Trump fans, per se like alot of other Evangelical Churches are.

“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. I believe there is a map. It's called, the Golden Rule. It's called the Ten Commandments. It's called the Holy Bible. Follow it and it will provide the guidance on how to behave.

This is the best action the church cd take given the horrible circumstances. I think Bill Hybels is too arrogant and sick to ever apologize and/or seek restitution.

Had to wash the slate clean? How about the congregation?

No gays. Just a few people of color so they don't seem bigoted. Donald Trump is the new Jesus. And politicians who chase minors or have sex with them get a pass as long as the magic R is next to their name on the ballot. And of course, never mention how much money the showmen (excuse me, ministers) make to bring you into a personal relationship with Christ. And of course, make sure your parking lot is huge so that as many people as possible are saved by using the above formula. Am I missing anything?

28 But I say unto you, That whosoever looketh on a woman to lust after her hath committed adultery with her already in his heart. 29 And if thy right eye offend thee, pluck it out, and cast it from thee: for it is profitable for thee that one of thy members should perish, and not that thy whole body should be cast into hell. 30 And if thy right hand offend thee, cut it off, and cast it from thee: for it is profitable for thee that one of thy members should perish, and not that thy whole body should be cast into hell. Matthew 5:28-35 KJV

A big problem with these independent, "non-denominational"(ie. Evangelical-fundamentalist and Pentecostal) churches, be they small storefront "Temples" or mega-churches with multiple "campuses", is that, unlike mainline denominations, there are no outside checks and balances. The founding minister, is the end all and be all, and becomes synonymous with the church.

If Willow Creek had done the moral thing and admitted the wrongdoing and apologized to the affected women and their congregation for it that would have been appropriate. Greed in the church is nothing new for mega chuches so the cover up was necessary from the pulpit. It will be interesting to see where they are 5 years from now. Immorality in the church is sadly how evangelicals can and will continue to turn a blind eye in their support of a non Christian like 45. Truth from the pulpit now in the age of 45 can be heretic....just think of the pastor who recently prayed for 45 not being attacked by jungle journalists.

It seems like Christianity would be well served to adopt the Jewish prohibition of seclusion. In Jewish religious law (halakha), the laws of yichud (Hebrew: איסור ייחוד‬ issur yichud, prohibition of seclusion) is the prohibition of seclusion in a private area of a man and a woman who are not married to each other. Such seclusion is prohibited in order to prevent the two from being tempted or having the opportunity to commit adulterous or promiscuous acts. Rabbi Joseph Newfield

The whole church membership is complicit in this. They ignored the signs that their pastor was a sex offender. Instead they attacked the victims. There is not Christ in their "Christianity." Conservative and Christian do no go together.

Well, anyone surprised, maybe shocked, just shocked! A common theme of these religious cults, as well, the never ending Roman Catholic abuse!

Fallibility appears to be a human trait, and self-interest seems to go hand-in-hand with organizational success. So as long as we have humans running large, successful organizations, we're likely to have problems such as this. So it seems either a role for Artificial Intelligence or something more humane...like saints. Francis Asbury, who tended to early Methodists with super-human devotion and unbelievable time in the saddle, strikes this Quaker as the sort of exemplary model for what is needed. He showed that it is possible to hold self-interest in check in a growing religious institution. The sacrifice is considerable, but it probably comes with the territory. And he didn't focus on a mega-church, but a healthy arrangement of assemblies and conferences. Twelve million American Methodists today are his living legacy. Open doors, hearts and minds - not a bad gift to the future. And he died without so much as a whiff of scandal.

20 years ago my then husband had an ongoing affair, which he denied. He was in the music ministry of a very large evangelical church and both the head pastor and the music pastor refused to believe me and wanted me to appear before the all male board of elders to “prove my case”.I just wanted my husband to step back from the ministry and admit he was having an affair. I knew that no one would believe me, so I left the church and have never returned to organized religion since. As stories have come out in the last 20 years, I have never regretted my decision to leave organized religion. On the upside, my ex husband and I have a very good relationship now, which is to the benefit of both me, our children and my new husband. My ex husband has also left organized religion which can be very toxic because it demands people pretend they aren’t struggling with real problems.

So. the false prophets that we find mentioned in the Bible have had to fold up their tent. Don't worry. They'll find a new congregation of the gullible very soon.

Imagine no religion it's easy if you try No hell below us Above us only sky J. Lennon

Shocked. Shocked, I tell you.

Well of course they do. Because we are just women and we are here at their service. They know what’s best for us. That’s why we can’t choose to do what we want with our own bodies. Hypocrites all of them.

There's a great overlap between the GOP base and Evangelicals. Why ?? Is it willful ignorance, lack of real education, a propensity to be duped and scammed ??? This "church " will get a new cast of performers, and continue raking in the Cash. TAX FREE CASH. And that's the real problem, a license to scam. Seriously.

To paraphrase Karl Marx "Organized religion is the opiate of the people".

Love it. Get rid of all these "religious" hypocrites who are in reality nothing more than common hucksters. Good riddance.

These megachurches are Evangelical Christianity which preaches making more money to realize your full potential. When traditional denominations and even religion in general began to fade so much in the late 50's and 1960's, protestant churches did makeovers to be more relevant to contemporary life than the actual 1st century life of Jesus was. These New Age Preachers redegined preaching the gospel to maximize your entreneurial energy and grow well off if not downright rich. In addition, "pastors" began to get advance training in psychological counseling without the training that real psychologists get in recognizing and keeping your own emotions (especially sexual urges) in check or resigning and assigning patients to other psychologists. Such Ministers have very intimate friendships with those they "counsel" but the code for their behavior is enforced only by themselves. The more powerful the "pastor" the more likely he/she is to have sexual relationships with his/her "sheep." Taking sexual advantage of underlings is typical of all faith-based beliefs. We need to clarify what religion means in the Constitution. The practice of "religion" has changed so much today than it needs some sort of checks and balances to protect innocent, and often young, adherents.

This is an absolutely heartbreaking story. The truth is, what makes it all the more tragic, is that Willow Creek is an organization that has done tremendous work. It's easy to read a story like this and assume that this is a toxic place that is finally getting what it deserves. I can speak from personal experience that this isn't the case. What happened with the resignations was necessary and I'm glad they made this bold of a move. But let us lament that it was necessary, not rejoice. Praying for Steve Carter and Heather Larson. And of course, for Bill Hybels.

Another hustler bites the dust.................

These apologies, although long overdue, are nearly worthless. They promote the belief that the issues of this church can be solved with the removal of a particular leader or two. Note that they have apologized only to those who came forward, but not to those in their midst, or no longer in their midst who did not come forward (but were harmed, nonetheless). The true apology needs to be to the whole congregation for promoting a form of religion that stifles dissent and discussion and allows bullying to be tolerated. Nothing in their apology suggests to me they will move beyond charismatic and unchecked leadership. It isn't just sexual harassment, but harassment. This is a church where people feared coming forward because they feared they would lose a place within the community. There's no godliness here.

These megachurches are as phony as tv preachers. Unfortunately, according to some sources, they not only prey on people for money, they are often involved in highly illegal things like money laundering and pedophilia.

Typical of the "cult of personality" that evangelical churches cultivate. They make their pastor an ersatz Jesus. Disgusting.

What a bunch of sanctimonious hypocrites.

Evangelical "Christians" and other Trump admirers in the Republic party would do well to study "Faust" and to assimilate its message.

After repenting he will ask his flock to forgive him and open their wallets again. This is what happened with Swaggert. Such hypocrisy is only to be appreciated by fools.

That last quote: Haha, like anyone's surprised to hear that. Sometimes elders run the church rather than the pastor, but even then, an unhealthy dynamic can creep in to their group as well as come from the pastor. Christians accept way too much bad behavior from their leaders. All that acceptance does is tempt abusers and predators into their groups. These bad-faith actors know they won't be caught out or penalized for doing what they want. Their flocks won't be able to tell who is sincere and who is abusive and predatory, much less eject people like that from their midst. The real marvel here is that sometimes a church leader is a decent human being--not that so many of them aren't. I'm just glad Christians' stranglehold on American culture has diminished to the point where these stories can run at all. This stuff has always happened; Christians just ensured nobody heard about it.

Sadly, these charlatans delude and exploit vast numbers of decent, well meaning people who merely are seeking a moral compass and a larger meaning. Their transgression and hypocrisy damage not just those they grope but millions of other only touched by their words and deceits.

The great difference between Protestants and Roman Catholics is that the first chase women and the second chase young boys. Add to that abstract nonsense preached by both and we have Christian religion.

As a 20 something young mother in the seventies, I was a member of the Evangelical Presbyterian Church in Annapolis. It grew rapidly, spawning other congregations. Fast forward several decades. James Dobson had "promised" "Train up a child in the ways of the Lord and he will not depart there from "( somewhere in Psalms or Proverbs). My children now in their forties are indeed thinking for themselves and are not in lock step with the Evangelical movement of today. Compounding the difficulties exemplified in Willow Creek, is the stark prospect facing members and former members that 80% of White Evangelicals profess to this day to support Trump.

This story makes me really sad. I'm not a member of the church, but I've heard Mr Hybels preach and attended a conference there. This church is the real deal. It's not a pinwheel eyed right wing collective. My impression was that it was a really thoughtful, intelligent group of grown ups searching for meaning and community in our secular world.

Over and over and over, I just wish there were not so much blind acceptance of the moral leadership of people whose leadership needs to be questioned rather than just accepted.

Churches like this are not interested in the truth; they are only interested in the appearance of being morally right so they can look down upon others.

Like Swaggert and other hypocritical religious hucksters, Hybels will say “So sorry” and will be back again preaching salvation by donation. That’s the beauty of religion, just “repent” and the slate is all cleared up. What would be a life altering crime for most is just a bump in the road for hucksters like Hybels.

I guess this sort of explains why the evangelists so fully support Donald Trump.....they are more like him than previously believed.

In the great tradition of evangelical skirt chasers, here's another one. Sin and redemption all in one package.