Vonda Dyer, a former Willow Creek Community Church staff member who was called a liar by the church’s embattled founder, Bill Hybels, after she joined multiple women to publicly accuse him of sexual misconduct in March, rejected an “apology” that church elders issued this week in which they admitted to making some missteps.

“I’ve been in contact with an elder from Willow recently and was aware of this gesture. Willow is fully aware of what ownership would and should look like if they were to come clean on these matters. Reaching out to me may have also been only a gesture. If it was partially well meaning, it still lacked any intention from Willow Creek to reveal what they are hiding. I have spoken my heartfelt thoughts about the chasm that lies between the allegations and Willow Creek leadership’s longstanding, inadequate investigations in my responses to this elder who reached out, and who happens to also be a 20-year friend in ministry,” Vonda Dyer said in a statement on Facebook Thursday.

“As far as I can tell from their statement, they have not moved to say they…

Most Protestant churchgoers believe that giving 10 percent of their income is a biblical requirement they should follow but they define the practice of tithing in a variety of ways, a new survey shows.

About half say they can give their tithes to a Christian ministry instead of a church. One in 3 say tithes can go to help a person who is in need. And more than 1 in 6 say their funds can go to a secular charity.

“For many churchgoers, tithing is just another term for generosity,” said Scott McConnell, executive director of LifeWay Research in Nashville, Tenn., of the findings released Thursday (May 10).

The evangelical research firm surveyed 1,010 Americans who attend a Protestant or nondenominational church at least monthly. It also queried 1,000 Protestant senior pastors.

Pastors are less likely than people in the pews to view tithing as a continuing biblical command.

While 83 percent of churchgoers say tithing is a current requirement, 72 percent of pastors agree.

Pastors who affirm that tithing is a biblical command don’t agree on how to define it. More than half (56 percent) say it should be one-tenth of an individual’s gross income. Seventeen percent say it should be one-tenth of net income. Eleven percent say it is “whatever amount a person regularly sets aside to give” and 7 percent say it is “whatever amount a person actually gives.”

Among…

A Baptist pastor and founder of the G3 Conference believes there are three main types of pastors who hinder, rather than help the Christian church. He recently outlined the characteristics of pastors that believers should be wary of.

Josh Buice, senior pastor of Pray’s Mill Baptist Church in Douglasville, Georgia, and founder and director of the theological G3 Conference, first identified “the entertainer” as someone who is “a hindrance to the local church’s sanctification and growth in grace.”

“The entertainer is really a pragmatist at heart. Whatever the people want, they will get it under the leadership of an entertainer,” Buice said Thursday on his DeliveredByGrace blog.

“Today it’s not at all uncommon to have pastors dressing up in costumes to “perform” their sermon rather than preaching the text. This approach to ministry will often be very successful, but it’s not spiritually profitable,” he added, without naming names.

He explained that while this type of pastor may leave people excited about the sermon, it doesn’t leave them knowing God in a better way.

“In most cases, the entertainer is paralyzed by the need to be liked by his congregation, and sadly he places more emphasis on pleasing people rather than pleasing…

At the close of Turkey’s second trial hearing against US pastor Andrew Brunson, his lawyer has sharply protested the Izmir court’s reliance on secret prosecution witnesses against his client.

Jailed for the past 19 months, the 50-year-old Evangelical Presbyterian minister was sent back to his cell in a maximum-security prison for another 10 weeks, until the third hearing set for 18 July.

“This secret witness issue is absolutely outlandish. It is not just related to our case; the secret witness issue has a very serious problem,” his lawyer, Ismail Cem Halavurt, told a Deutsche Welle reporter after the hearing.

“This case cannot proceed by just relying on secret witnesses’ testimony,” Halavurt said.

“Supporting evidence must come alongside these allegations. Our Supreme Court decisions regarding this are very plain: witness testimony claims are not sufficient to prolong a jailed person’s detention. In spite of reminding the court of this repeatedly, [Brunson’s detention] is being continued. This is not acceptable.”

“There is not a single piece of evidence,” he added, referring to the latest sensational allegations thrown against his client just that morning by a secret witness called ‘Serhat’. The witness claimed Brunson was plotting to set up a Kurdish Christian state, helping transfer US weapons to a Kurdish militia in Syria with…

Archbishop of Canterbury Justin Welby, who is the leader of the Anglican communion, urged people to stop “wandering away” from Jesus Christ as he launched the Thy Kingdom Come initiative, which Christians around the world are joining.

“Come back to Him today. Turn around if you’ve been facing the wrong direction; turn that walk into a run if you’re already heading towards Him,” Welby said on Thursday, Ascension Day, which marked the beginning of the 10-day initiative.

“Now, pray for those friends whose lives would be utterly different if they joined you in running to Jesus, instead of wandering away from Him.”

Churches from various denominations, along with individual believers, are being urged to join the global prayer movement in the days leading to Pentecost. Participants are specifically called to pray “for more people to come to know Jesus Christ.”