Texas megachurch faces exodus of worshippers after a sex abuse scandal set off a summer of turmoil | CNN
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Summer was off to a tumultuous start when allegations of child sexual abuse surfaced on a blog dedicated to Christian survivor stories. This time, the man involved had gone on to lead one of America’s largest megachurches.

Robert Morris, who founded and led Gateway Church for nearly 25 years in the affluent Dallas-Fort Worth suburb of Southlake, Texas, resigned after the scandal came to light in June. His exit sent thousands of evangelicals into a season of struggle that has lasted months.

Last week, a pastor who oversaw all of Gateway’s campuses departed amid an undisclosed “moral issue,” becoming the latest in a series of changes for the church: The cancellation of its annual conference. The departure of Morris’ successor. The renaming of its Houston campus and an exodus of worshippers.

At each weekend service, worshippers continue to face reminders of the scandal, with interim or guest pastors kicking off their sermons saying “I’m sorry,” talking about grief or finding hope in difficult times. They’ve noticed people who have sat and prayed around them for years are once again not showing up for service.

The church has seen a decrease of 17% to 19% in weekend services attendance, a church spokesperson told CNN.

  • sumguyonline@lemmy.world
    3·
    3 months ago

    What’s scary is the Federal US gov, as well as the 5, an I think 7 eyes nations, have been working on projects for 40yrs to have victims of sexual abuse registered as sex offenders themselves. The claim being, if you’re raped, you will rape in the future. Poor kids like this will be registered sex offenders for life, they wanted to call them sexnoffenders until they “offended” or some such nonsense. It would still cost them jobs, and single them out as victims. Fed bastards only want control at this point. They could care less about facts. People need to stop pretending this is Democrat vs Republicans…40yrs. Both parties had a chance to make things better in 40yrs. We only pay for bailout after tax break. They never fix anything just scrambled for ways to stay in power.