Former leader at Willow Creek Church and one of the parties referring the disturbing allegations to leadership, John Ortberg, speaks out on his blog regarding the investigation of those allegations (link here).
Please read Ortberg’s entire statement as I believe it is well-written and makes important points about how the church ought to better handle people who are brave enough to speak up about (alleged) sexual impropriety by church leader(s).
[I wrote about the matter of allegations of sexually improper behavior by Rev. Bill Hybels here.]
I get two main take-aways from Ortberg’s statement:
First, John Ortberg took no joy in bringing up the allegations regarding Bill Hybels’ possible behavior as I read him. Ortberg writes,
“I was approached over four years ago with disturbing information that I did not seek out.”
This does not sound like he is out to ruin Rev. Bill Hybels’ reputation. It sounds more like he tried to do right by those women (or woman) who came to him with this difficult information.
Second, the investigation that cleared Rev. Bill Hybels was tilted to advantage the management. It was NOT independent and impartial. Ortberg states,
The firm chosen to investigate (more than a year after the first report) is one that, as stated on their website, “exclusively represents management.” Of course, both sides of an accusation deserve a hearing and fair representation, but a firm that is retained by one side, and whose principal work is to represent one side in such disputes, cannot be considered independent.
This whole matter makes the evangelical church look bad in my opinion. I hope Willow Creek Church leadership reassesses this matter and commissions an ACTUAL independent investigation instead of engaging in what appears to be damage control.
