Another major US based ministry has cut ties with Exodus International, the largest organization which claims to help people “leave homosexuality.” An event earlier this year caused us to check the Exodus affiliate listing to see if mega-church Willow Creek of Barrington Illinois, a suburb of Chicago, was still listed there. They had been an Exodus affiliate for years but were indeed no longer listed.
Willow Creek Church
A question to Alan Chambers concerning their affiliation with Willow Creek received no response, so we contacted Susan DeLay, Media Relations Manager for Willow Creek. The following concise response came through Scott Vaudrey of their Elder Response Team:
After a recent review of our affiliations we determined that, moving into the future, we no longer intend to be affiliated with Exodus International.
Willow Creek is an interdenominational, Evangelical Christian mega-church with satellite campuses throughout the country. With a 24,000 member congregation, it is the third largest church in the US and has been called the “most influential church in America” according to a poll of pastors over the past few years.
A church with such success and respect tends to be a bellwether for the Christian Church in general, certainly in this country. The trend of major ministries disassociating themselves from Exodus may indeed be on the increase. Combined with what appear to be dismal economic times for them, Exodus may have an increasingly rough road ahead.
This certainly is a contrast to the heady predictions of just a few years ago. In 2008, Exodus predicted they would have 10,000 churches in their network by 2010 — ambitious to say the least. Their current enrollment of approximately 135 falls somewhat short of that goal.
Taken with the odd departure of Exodus Vice President Randy Thomas and the lateral promotion of Jeff Buchanan to fill his position, one could say the Exodus message is ringing untrue with an increasing number of the faithful. Of course, Exodus will likely see this as “straying from the Biblical truth” or an attempt to “tickle the ears of the sinful” but then that’s always the case, isn’t it?
Such focus on homosexuality is an expensive and rather wasteful kind of folly. There really SHOULD be serious scrutiny of why it deserves it at all.
I can imagine congregants who have family members on drugs, or some other addiction, or even a mental illness. Or whose marriage disintegrated because of economic downturns. After a fashion, a person might start wondering why all this focus on gay people’s attribute, when that attribute didn’t cause OTHER problems, and doesn’t even RESEMBLE them. Indeed, one might look at their gay child, or neighbor or sibling, and start begin to wonder that they are worried or about to give them up for something NOT so serious after all.
Why should Exodus, make a profit in changing gay people, when changing someone’s attitude about METH use would be more important. The gay kid that sings in the church choir doesn’t HAVE a problem, so much as perhaps another kid who hasn’t attended church who is taking up with skin heads or some other thug situation.
One in 25 is a sociopath (an exceptionally dangerous person who cannot empathize or feel anything for another) and one in 115 have autism spectrum disorder. Imagine the families with people like THAT in them. Or someone trying to care for an elderly relative who is slipping into dementia or Alzheimer’s.
Perhaps people ARE getting it, finally, that homosexuality ISN’T a dysfunction and the gay folks known in the area are perfectly good people doing whatever everyone else does and struggles with OTHER things more pressing as others do.
I”m certainly hoping this is the case. Churches have THEIR work cut out too for ALL of the aforementioned reasons.
And if this makes Exodus disappear from society, so be it. Their priorities are so very twisted and wasteful.
There ARE better things people could and SHOULD be doing with their time, energy and money than worrying about making more hetero people in the world. As IF 90% isn’t enough?
I remember reading the other day that membership of Exodus is only $50 a year. Times must be hard if a church as rich as Willow Creek is ducking out.
it might not be about money, Dave. which is a very good sign.
maybe it has to do with Don Schirmierer of the Board of Exodus Who is one of several “anything but” c hristians behind the law in Uganda best described as the holocaust of gays law. Along with a few other notorius christians.
these people are nothing but relgious nazis who would have done well in Nazi Germany working in the death camps where Gays, as well as Jews etc were mass murdered.
Maybe the church has awakened to what some parts of christtianity are all about – little different then Islam.
BTW, it was southern USA christians who were the bullwark of slavery, and gave us the KKK and segregation.
Now they have a new victim group
Tks Regan for your comments . gay people need a lot of str8 people to get brave and in a sense come out of the closet of fear of supporting gays in their quest to be treated as just another part of God’s wondrous creation
Great news. My first visit to Willow Creek was in the late 80’s after I’d heard of it at an evangelists conference in Amsterdam. After that I used to organise pastors study tours to the US and always included Willow Creek on the itinerary. I actually introduce Ps Bill Hybles ministry to Australia and he was well received. When I resigned from the ministry knowing I could never be straight Ps Bill called me from the US to see how i was going. Several years later when I resolved the issues of my faith and sexuality I tried to reconnect with Bill to see where the church was at on the gay issue. this proved a frustrating exercise which lead to personal disappointment. I am thrilled to hear about this new move. Whilst WCCC might not be gay affirming at this stage distancing themselves from Exodus is a good step in the right direction and is a statement about their journey.
@Regan DuCasse
People are people hurting and looking to be loved. As Christians, we are called to love and share the good news. We are not to turn our backs on people in sin whether that sin attraction to the same sex or gossiping.
You have to realize society is either pulling or pushing people into the gay lifestyle and those individuals looking not accept it; needs the church.
What is your sin? What is your issue? What if the church knew your sin/issued and asked you to leave the church? Where do you go? What do you do?
With all due respect, that is a profoundly naive statement, even without the “gay lifestyle” canard.
The Church and it’s ancillary organizations are not just sitting there nicely waiting to help the few people who simply can’t or won’t integrate their sexuality with their faith. They fervently work to maintain a world where doing so, or simply living as an average gay member of society, is difficult and painful. And the methods by which they make the attempt are dreadful. To be sure, there are a few exceptions and we can pray that they continue to grow, but for now they only serve to prove the rule.
I am not prone to grandiose pronouncements, but the Church most assuredly has blood on her hands for this, and long ago gave up the role as a safe place to deal with such things — if ever that were true. And to blame these actions on God is perhaps the last straw.
Thank you David, I couldn’t have said it better. Which is why straight people like me, or Christians, or anyone who claims a compassionate interest in gay people…must DEFER to the experiences and needs that gay people have AS gay people. Which are not different from the needs of hetero people.
As long as a Christian or anyone else refuses to do that, their assertions are insincere and empty.
I’m frustrated by the word ‘lifestyle’ as well. Being Christian is a lifestyle choice that one can engage to whatever degree or not at all if one wants to.
A person will be gay or hetero, if they never have sex in their lives. And when it comes to discrimination, such as in the case of the Boy Scouts or other aspects of organized inclusion, a sex life doesn’t have to be in evidence to be discriminated against or fired from a job.
THAT is the essential point of why Christians who participate in civil and political action against gay people for the purpose of discrimination, demonstrate their selective bigotry in doing so.
@billy wingo
Now I do like how you have commented, Billy. Thumbs up for stating what is my desire…to see more straight people ‘come out of the closet’ (as you say) and affirm gays as a wonderful creation…no different to straight individuals.