Willow Creek Association releases resource on ministry and #MeToo
RNS There are a lot of abuse survivors who don’t feel safe in church – and a lot of abusers who do, Rev Dale Ingraham of Curtis Baptist Bible Church in Campbell, New York, told a room of Willow Creek Association staff and Christian leaders last month. Whether the abuse happened at home or in the […]
IN DEPTH: WHAT’S NEXT FOR WILLOW CREEK?
As a summer of new allegations against founding pastor Bill Hybels, of resignations and apologies and plans, draws to a close, the once-promising future of Illinois-based Willow Creek Community Church appears uncertain. EMILY MCFARLAN MILLER, of Religion News Service, reports…
Willow Creek names NAE head, three others to oversee Hybels investigation
Chicago, USRNS Jo Anne Lyon, general superintendent emerita of The Wesleyan Church, and Leith Anderson, president of the National Association of Evangelicals, will lead a new investigation into allegations of sexual misconduct against Bill Hybels, the retired founding pastor of Willow Creek Community Church. Lyon and Anderson will co-chair the four-person Willow Creek Independent Advisory […]
WILLOW CREEK: FORMER PASTOR STEVE CARTER BREAKS HIS SILENCE ON HYBELS ALLEGATIONS
EMILY MCFARLAN MILLER and BOB SMIETANA, of Religion News Service, report from Chicago on one pastor’s response to the crisis at Willow Creek…
ESSAY: HOW WILLOW CREEK EXPOSED OUR SINS
KYLE STROBEL, an associate professor at Talbot School of Theology, and JAMIN GOGGIN, a pastor at Missions Hills Church in San Marcos, California, say recent events at Willow Creek Community Church and other churches show the evangelical church in the US is at a “tipping point”…
WILLOW CREEK: LEADERSHIP SUMMIT GOES ON DESPITE MASS RESIGNATIONS
EMILY MCFARLAN MILLER, of Religion News Service, reports from Willow Creek’s annual Global Leadership Summit…
Willow Creek investigates Hybels as pastor quits over new allegations
RNS US-based 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 […]
Publishers stop printing Hybels’ books amid allegations of inappropriate behaviour
RNS Several publishers have stopped printing books by former Willow Creek Community Church pastor Bill Hybels as the Chicago-area megachurch he founded investigates new allegations of his inappropriate behaviour toward women. Rev Hybels has denied the allegations. Tyndale House Publishers has suspended publication of Rev Hybels’ Everyone Wins When a Leader Gets Better, set to […]
Willow Creek responds to new allegations against former pastor Hybels
RNS As the allegations against former Willow Creek Community Church senior pastor Bill Hybels mount, his congregation is trying to cope – spiritually and practically. During services on Sunday, Steve Carter, the church’s lead teaching pastor, recalled standing onstage less than two weeks ago with church elders and praying over Rev Hybels, who has denied […]
Megachurch pastor Bill Hybels resigns, calls sexual accusations ‘flat-out lies’
USA Today The pastor of a powerful Chicago-area megachurch has resigned after a series of sexual misconduct claims he described as “flat-out lies.” Bill Hybels, 66, founded Willow Creek Community Church more than four decades ago, building it into an eight-campus evangelical Christian megachurch with a 7,000-seat worship centre. Rev Hybels has been dogged in recent […]