Bethel Church leadership has issued a public letter acknowledging past mistakes in how the church handled concerns related to Shawn Bolz, including communication around serious allegations of false prophecy and sexual misconduct.
The letter, authored by senior leaders Bill Johnson, Kris Vallotton and Dann Farrelly on behalf of Bethel’s leadership team, reflects on the church’s internal processes and expresses regret for shortcomings in transparency and accountability.
We’re writing to you today to share about some of our mistakes and failures in the way we navigated our responsibilities to the global Body of Christ. We ask for you to cover us with grace as we seek the Lord for forgiveness in the face of some grievous mistakes. These actions were taken by us (Bill Johnson, Kris Vallotton, and Dann Farrelly) along with Danny Silk. We would like to clarify that our other leaders and staff members, including Brian and Jenn, and the Bethel Music team, were not updated on the allegations or the details of the process. We take responsibility for the fact that we did not properly and fully bring discipline, closure, or clear and timely communication regarding the gravity of our concerns with Shawn Bolz. This was someone we platformed to preach and prophesy in our house and with our teams on many occasions up until 2019.
We are clear that we are not responsible for Shawn’s sin, he is. But we are equally clear that we are responsible for our sins, actions, and inactions after the fact. James 4:17 states, “So whoever knows the right thing to do and fails to do it, for him it is sin.”
The church leaders also took accountability for their own shortcomings in handling the situation.
The truth is, we have hurt and scared people because we did not tell the truth enough, early enough, long enough, or loud enough, and this is a just criticism. Our hearts are grieved, and embarrassed. When we sin or mess up publicly as we have, it’s important to take responsibility publicly, to listen as people share their frustration, sadness, fears, and corrections. We have been hearing a lot of this, and expect to hear more in the season ahead, as sometimes it takes a while for the frustration to land, and for people to really trust you’ve heard them. We are not rushing past this.
They further noted this was “not the end of the process” regarding healing from this situation.
We want to especially thank our alumni, by God’s grace, there are 18,000 of them all over the earth, and many right here in our church. Frankly, it was their communication and agitation 18 months ago, and since, that drew our attention back, and subsequently other national voices, to the necessity of finally and appropriately addressing this. They were calling us to live up to what we taught them: calling out the gold in us.
We recognize this letter is not the end of this process, nor are we putting a bow on things and moving on. We have had a lot of key conversations this year and expect to continue to have many more. But this is the beginning of making things right as we move to increased accountability and transformation. As you all know, it is not our mistakes or sins that define us, but what our Savior does and how we respond to His amazing grace.
To read the entirety of Bethel’s statement, including messages from Kris Vallotton and Bill Johnson, click here.
Prepared by Charisma Media Staff.
