“If another believer sins, rebuke that person; then if there is repentance, forgive.”
-Luke 17:3, NLT
Nancy Ortberg and the Willow Creek Church Elders’ “Efforts” to “Reconcile”
The scandal continues to brew at Willow Creek Church in Chicago over Rev. Bill Hybels conduct with women over the years. I have written about this controversy before (here, here, here, here, here, and here.)
Elders at WCC are reaching out the women accusers in an effort to “reconcile.” Nancy Ortberg has shared a very biblical and clear statement as to why such “reconciliation” in premature. It is entitled, “Sequence Matters.”
The gist is the WCC elders have not formally repented of calling the accusers liars. Also, they have not repented of covering up the clearly ungodly behavior of Hybels. In fact, Ortberg says the elders labeled their efforts “missteps.”
To quote Ortberg:
Yesterday afternoon, May 23, I received my first contact from the church in a voicemail from two WC elders wanting to ‘rebuild trust in the midst of having regrets about some of their missteps.’
…
There was no apology for any of the accusations that followed the March 23 article or any clarification regarding which women were telling the truth and which were lying.
I continue to find it curious that the elders frame this situation more by corporate image language–e.g. “missteps”–than theological language–e.g. “sin.”
Also, this sounds more like they are bemoaning the image damage as if they were misunderstood as opposed to having done something wrong. You can make a misstep in rolling out a PR campaign. This wasn’t a misstep; it was sinful to slander–theologically speaking–sisters in the Lord as liars.
The verse from Jesus in Luke is instructive. Repentance must proceed forgiveness and reconciliation among believers.
I completely agree with Nancy Ortberg that reconciliation efforts are premature. Repentance begins with owning sin, and I do not see such honest owning of sin in the WCC leadership.
I see a Public Relations campaign in damage control mode.
The WCC elders have been rebuked publicly. However, the jury is out whether they will repent or not.
I hope they learn from previous “missteps” owning their sins more explicitly and do right by these brave sisters in the Lord.
