The Evangelical Council for Financial Accountability (ECFA) suspended the membership of Chicago-area megachurch Harvest Bible Chapel after blogger Julie Roys reported lavish spending by fired Pastor James MacDonald. “Given the emergence of new information, we have concerns the church may be in serious violation of ECFA Standards,” the organization said in a statement Friday.
Independent investigators found that the accusations of inappropriate conduct by Willow Creek Community Church founder and pastor Bill Hybels were credible and would have warranted discipline had he not resigned last year, according to a report released Thursday by the church.
When Malcolm Yarnell read the Houston Chronicle’s devastating investigation into sexual abuse in Southern Baptist churches in mid-February, he grieved for the survivors and received an unexpected phone call from his mother: “I need to talk to you.”
Yarnell, a professor at Southwestern Baptist Theological Seminary in Fort Worth, Texas, has also been a Southern Baptist minister for decades. Shortly after his ordination, his mother left the Baptist church and became a Roman Catholic.
Sexual Abuse | Sexual abuse in churches isn’t new, but Southern Baptists face a fresh crisis over an old conundrum: How can they hold autonomous churches accountable?
