Leaders of the Village Church said missionary needed to consult with elders before ending marriage to husband with child porn addiction.
The leader of one of America’s most influential megachurches plans to apologize during worship services this weekend for failing to show kindness and compassion to struggling church members.
Matt Chandler, pastor of the Village Church, a multisite church based near Dallas, said elders there had been “domineering” in their approach to church discipline in a handful of cases.
That was wrong and unchristian, said Chandler, who also leads the Acts29 church planting network.
“We have sinned against some people—and we are owning that before God and specifically before the people we have hurt,” he told CT in a phone interview.
“Our desire is always to be loving and caring. It is clear that we have not communicated—in multiple cases now—the gentleness, compassion, and patience that our elders are called to walk in.”
Chandler declined to comment on specific incidents of church discipline due to privacy concerns.
His apology was prompted in large part by public criticism of the church’s handling of the case of Karen Hinkley, a missionary who faces church discipline for ending her marriage earlier this year.
Her former husband, Jordan Root, was fired as a missionary with SIM, an international missionary agency, after admitting to viewing child porn for years.
Loading ...