FirstLadyB | Connecting Faith and Hollywood
Willow Creek church needs a fresh start, according to its Lead Pastor, Heather Larson and board of elders.
In a statement the board of elders and Larson explained that they were stepping down to give the Chicagoland Mega Church a fresh start after sexual misconduct allegations against founder Bill Hybels weren’t handled properly.
In recent days and weeks, it has become clear to me that this church needs a fresh start. The staff, this staff that I dearly love, they also need a clean running lane to heal, to build, to dream, wrote Pastor Larson.
Bill Hybels resigned back in April after numerous reports of sexual misconduct with female parishoners. Hybels denied the reports, but according to the statement from the board, they believe the women, and have even issued an apology for the way they handled the situation.
While Bill Hybels was our founder and pastor, he was human, broken, and self-admittedly sinful. We believe that his sins were beyond what he previously admitted on stage, and certainly we believe that his actions with these women were sinful. We believe he did not receive feedback as well as he gave it, and he resisted the accountability structures we all need.
To all of the women who have come forward, the church should always follow in Jesus’ footsteps to help the wounded find healing, and we are sorry we added to your pain. That was not our intention, and we regret that it has taken us this long to acknowledge that. While we will probably never know with certainty everything that’s true about each of your stories, we have no reason not to believe you. We are sorry that our initial statements were so insensitive, defensive, and reflexively protective of Bill. We exhort Bill to acknowledge his sin and publicly apologize.