Josh Benner

Tag: church

  • Willow Creek fallout continues as pastor and elders all resign

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    Willow Creek church was formerly the third largest church in America. A trailblazing church over the past 40 years under the visionary leadership of Bill Hybels. Hybles planned to retire later this year but this past spring, the Chicago Tribune reported about accusations of sexual misconduct. In the fallout, Hybels retried shortly after. The reigns left to Willow pastors Heather Larson and Steve Carter.

    This past week, a new story of multiple instance of groping a former secretary, and one sexual act between Hybels and the sectary were reported in the New York Times. On Sunday, Carter resigned.

    Last night, at a special meeting, Larson resigned and the elder board of Willow has also announced their resignation. (more…)

  • More allegations, more problems for Willow Creek

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    Bill Hybels is one of the most influential Christian leaders of the past generation. Earlier this spring he stepped down from his position at Willow Creek, the church he founded, in the wake of a number of allegations stretching back several years of inappropriate contact between Hybels and women connected to the church and leadership team of Willow Creek.

    From a Chicago Tribune article from March:

    The alleged behavior included suggestive comments, extended hugs, an unwanted kiss, and invitations to hotel rooms. It also included an allegation of a prolonged consensual affair with a married woman who later said her claim about the affair was not true, the Tribune found.

    –Chicago Tribune 

    This week, a story broke in the New York Times about a former secretary who accuses Hybels of inappropriately touching her on multiple occasions in the mid 1980s. Her allegations include mentioning an instance of sexual activity, something that previous accusers had not said.

    In the aftermath of that revelation, Willow’s teaching pastor resigned on Sunday, effectively immediately. Part of Carter’s reasoning is Willow’s handing of the situation.

    Since the first women came forward with their stories, I have been gravely concerned about our church’s official response, and it’s ongoing approach to these painful issues. After many frank conversations with our elders, it became clear that there is a fundamental difference in judgment between what I believe is necessary for Willow Creek to move in a positive direction, and what they think is best.

    –Steve Carter 

    The leadership of Willow had been informed about these allegations four years ago and did very little to take them seriously. They did an internal investigation, but internal investigations can be hard when their is an internally vested interest in clearing someone of wrongdoing.

    Willow Creek was a trail blazing church. Scot McKnight is a New Testament scholar at Northern Baptist Theological Seminary in suburban Chicago. He attended Willow Creek for a decade and has responded to these events.

    Earlier this summer, McKnight said in a blog post:

    I believe the women on the basis of what I have learned. I am, as I said at the outset, often asked about the Willow situation and I have done my best to discern the facts. What I do know is this: Bill Hybels and Willow Creek’s leadership have undone forty years of trust for many. A church that has stood valiantly for women in ministry, that has always stood for Christian grace and truth and forgiveness for repenters, that has supported #metoo in various places, that then responds to women as they did to these women unravels the thread Willow has woven for four decades. Many of us are asking why Bill Hybels and Willow Creek’s pastors and Elders slandered the women, calling them liars and colluders, and still refuse to offer them apologies.

    It’s unfortunate. It’s unfortunate for the women who were put in uncomfortable situations or approached inappropriately by someone they trusted. It’s unfortunate for this church and the many faithful attendees and people who have given of their time, talents, and treasures to help build this church up as one that has had a positive impact on so many lives. It’s unfortunate to the many young adults who are drawn to Willow Creek who had never previously been to a church that felt like a place where they could belong, and who are now left with more questions than answers as another church leader is brought down by scandal. It’s unfortunate for the Church. The failures of people within the church poorly reflect what the church is supposed to do to an increasingly secular and skeptical society. More ammunition is given.

    May we not lose heart when people fail. People will because all sin and fall short of the glory of God. We are imperfect and willingly sinful. But we have a great savior who came and died so that all who believe in him would never die. So that those who are dead in sin can be made alive to God.

    Aside from Jesus, the prominent people in the Bible all failed. Peter denied the Lord Jesus three times before Jesus was crucified. The Apostle Paul persecuted Christians and had them killed. David cheated on his wife and then had her husband killed to save himself. That’s not to justify any of these things. They were sins. But God still accomplishes his purpose with as sinful as humanity is.

    But there are consequences. McKnight has suggested that Willow Creek will need changes in leadership going forward. That the people who showed poor leadership for the last few years and who made half hearted attempts to investigate the allegations cannot continue leading in the future.

    Will Willow Creek be able to right the ship? Time will tell. If I had to make a prediction: with all of the bad publicity, with the poor leaderships, with the loss of their visionary founder, the ship will keep sinking until it’s swallowed up by the sea.

    Josh Benner is the associate pastor at Cornerstone Evangelical Free Church in Fergus Falls, Minnesota and has a Master of Divinity from Trinity Evangelical Divinity School. He enjoys writing about faith and culture. He lives with his wife Kari in Minnesota.

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  • The Church: serving together in the Mission of God

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    What this is saying is that we have one body but our body has many parts to it.
    In 1 Corinthians 12, the Apostle Paul gives a fantastic illustration for the church. It functions like a human body. Everyone in the church is part of the body and has a purpose within the body. If a part of the body is unhealthy or is not functioning properly, that effects the rest of the body.
    The church exists to spread the gospel, to make disciples, and to support each other as the body of Christ on earth.
    The church is called to work together for the mission of God.
    I love the practicality of Paul’s illustration.
    For the body does not consist of one member but of many.If the foot should say, “Because I am not a hand, I do not belong to the body,” that would not make it any less a part of the body.And if the ear should say, “Because I am not an eye, I do not belong to the body,” that would not make it any less a part of the body
    -1 Corinthians 12:14-16
    If the foot should say, “because I am not a hand, I do not belong to the body,” that would not make it any less a part of the body.
     Feet.
    Kind of smelly.
    Often times out of sight. The foot isn’t nearly as glamorous as a hand.
    A hand brings pizza closer to your mouth.
    And so Mr. Foot might be tempted to feel like he’s not contributing much.
    But he helps you keep balance and to walk. The foot matters.
    “And if the ear should say, “Because I am not an eye, I do not belong to the body,” that would not make it any less a part of the body.”
    The ear.
    Might be tempting for the ear to also be insecure.
    It’s not an eye.
    People get complimented for their eyes. “Oh you have such pretty eyes.”
    If someone has ears that are worth mentioning, it’s not for a good reason….
    But ears are important. They’re part of the body. They funnel sound in. They hold on our glasses.
    Everyone in the church has a place, has a role. You have an area where you fit. You’re part of the body. You have a way to serve that is valuable for the church.
    Verse 17 gets at the idea that it’s necessary for there to be differences of parts within the body.
    If the whole body were an eye, where would be the sense of hearing? If the whole body were an ear, where would be the sense of smell?
    -1 Corinthians 12:17
     Imagine that.
    Just a big eye rolling around.
    Not only are there different parts, but there need to be different parts.
    We don’t all need the same gifts. We don’t need everyone to be a preacher.
    What a nightmare that would be!
    God equips us with gifts for his own glory. And the church flourishes when people are living on a mission and committed to living lives to serve God.
    Verse 20 is somewhat of a summary verse to this entire passage: “As it is, there are any parts, yet one body.”
    Verse 21 is affirmation from the passage how every part of the body needs every other part of the body.
    The eye cannot say to the hand, “I have no need of you,” nor again the head to the feet, “I have no need of you.”
    -1 Corinthians 12:21 
    Every part matters.
    In the world of theater, they have a saying “there are no small parts, just small actors” and the point is that everyone ni a production is still important to the story.
    Or I think about when I would play football with my friends as a kid. My friends and I always wanted to be the quarterback or running back or receiver. We never had dreams of being the kicker.
    But a kicker is still part of the team.
    Kickers are important.
    A kicker can win you a Super Bowl
    There’s no reason to be jealous of gifts that you don’t have. Because again, everything is part of serving God’s purposes. And those are eternal purposes. Because of his goodness and grace, God allows his people to be part of his mission in the world.
    Are you serving your church for the Mission of God today?
    Josh Benner is the associate pastor at Cornerstone Evangelical Free Church in Fergus Falls, Minnesota and has a Master of Divinity from Trinity Evangelical Divinity School. He enjoys writing about faith and culture. He lives with his wife Kari in Minnesota.

  • Politics in the religious arena: VP at Baptist meeting

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    Vice President Mike Pence spoke at the annual meeting of the Southern Baptist Convention this morning.

    The speech hit on some political themes. Newly elected SBC president J.D. Grear later took to Twitter and said: “I know that sent a terribly mixed signal. We are grateful for civic leaders who want to speak to our Convention—but make no mistake about it, our identity is in the gospel and our unity is in the Great Commission. Commissioned missionaries, not political platforms, are what we do.”

    Some attempted to raise motions to block the speech. A Virginia pastor suggested cancelling the speech in favor of a prayer time. The SBC is the largest Protestant denomination in America. Over the last generation, Southern Baptists have overwhelmingly voted republican.

    But it’s also a time of some turmoil within the denomination. One of the most influential Baptist leaders of the past generation, Paige Patterson, was recently removed from his role as the president of Southwestern Baptist Theological Seminary. This was related to improperly handling rape allegations from a student when Patterson was president at Southeastern Baptist Theological Seminary. Patterson had also made various other statements about women which were extremely controversial, such as insensitive comments about a woman who remained in an abusive marriage, after counseling the woman to stay in the marriage, Patterson saw her with two black eyes:

    “She said: ‘I hope you’re happy.’ And I said ‘Yes … I’m very happy,’ ” because her husband had heard her prayers and come to church for the first time the next day.

    These comments were met by an open letter from Baptist women, but Patterson did not issue any sort of apology until a similar letter by men within the SBC was sent. The treatment of women, how things like abuse and sexual assault are talked about and handled within the SBC have also been hot button issues at the meeting.

    There’s a lot going on within the SBC.

    It seems that another significant question among Baptists is the role of politics within the church.

    Christian historian Thomas Kidd traces politicians addressing the meeting. There was a resurgence of American Protestants to the GOP in 1979. Richard Nixon addressed the Southern Baptists in 1956 when he was vice president. In 1976, Gerald Ford was the first sitting president to speak at the meeting. Jimmy Carter in 1978. Ronald Reagan while he was running for president in 1980. George H.W. Bush in 1991. His vice president Dan Quayle in 1992. George W. Bush in 2002.

    There’s a history to it.

    So it isn’t shocking that vice president Pence would address the meeting this year. And the fact that his speech delved into both faith and politics should not be a surprise. That’s always going to be the case with any politician.

    I guess a question that I have would be, “what’s the purpose of a politician addressing the meeting?” It’s always going to be something that gets used for political purposes by the speaker. There are enough things that churches divide over. It seems unnecessary to add political viewpoints into that mix, especially in the current polarized climate. There are a lot of important gospel issues that the SBC is addressing. Having a political at this time seems like an unnecessary spectacle with respect to more pressing issues.

    The fact that there was some opposition to Pence speaking, some look at as a political shift among some in the SBC. Perhaps, to a small extent. However, with he size of the denomination, given what we’ve seen in other American Protestant denominations, I think it’s more likely that some (relatively small number with respect to the size of the denomination) churches would start walking away from the SBC before there be a major political divide within the denomination.

    I love the SBC, and I do hope and pray for what’s best for the denomination.

    Josh Benner is the associate pastor at Cornerstone Evangelical Free Church in Fergus Falls, Minnesota and has a Master of Divinity from Trinity Evangelical Divinity School. He enjoys writing about faith and culture. He lives with his wife Kari in Minnesota.

  • D-Day teaches us about faithful service

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    What do baseball hall of famer Yogi Berra, legendary actor Henry Fonda, “Catcher in the Rye” author J.D. Salinger, Obi-Wan Kenobi (Alec Guiness), and Scottie from the original Star Trek (James Doohan) have in common? All were part of the Normandy invasion.
    74 years ago today, Allied forces invaded Normandy, France which had been occupied by the Germans.
    156,115 men from the United States, Britain, and 11 other countries landed in Normandy during D-Day. More than 4,000 lost their lives. It was, and is – and hopefully always will be – the largest amphibious assault ever undertaken.
    The D-Day victory was crucial for the Allied Powers and helped set the stage for eventual victory in Europe. The invasion was so crucial because it it gave the Allied Forces a good access point into continental Europe.
    It’s interesting to think about the famous men who had roles in the Normandy invasion. None of them are famous because of Normandy. And unless you’re a huge World War II buff or have a relative who served in that battle, you probably struggle to name anyone who fought at Normandy.
    We live in such a “look at me” culture.
    But doing great things is not always about the recognition.
    Today there are too many people who want glory for its own sake. Not because they necessarily want to do something great but because they want to be thought of as great. There are people who want to be famous for its own sake.
    But there are also many who are doing great things. There are doctors who are making new discoveries which impact our health. They’ll never be household names. There are teachers whose names we’ll never hear but who are making differences in the lives of students and impacting students who will impact others and the ripples of that service will be felt in the next generation and in the generation after that. There are innovators who are working to change the world.
    Some of these people we obviously will hear about.
    But many we won’t.
    When kids play backyard football, no one ever pretends to be an offensive linemen. It’s all about being the quarterback, running back, or wide receiver. But to win, you need the whole team. And everyone matters to the team.
    I think about this in the church as well. We all have ways to serve. We all have ways how God has gifted us for the sake of building up his church. But everyone has a unique way to fit in. As the Apostle Paul draws an analogy to the human body, everyone in the Church is a part of the body. And the stakes are eternal as we work to spread the gospel, to make disciples, and to challenge, love, and encourage one another.
    How are you using the ways how God has gifted you today?
    Josh Benner is the associate pastor at Cornerstone Evangelical Free Church in Fergus Falls, Minnesota and has a Master of Divinity from Trinity Evangelical Divinity School. He enjoys writing about faith and culture. He lives with his wife Kari in Minnesota.