Evangelical Pastor Returns after Absence over ‘Inappropriate’ Relationship

A prominent pastor in Texas has returned to the pulpit after taking an absence over an “inappropriate” online relationship, The New York Times reported.

The prominent pastor of a Southern Baptist megachurch in suburban Dallas received a standing ovation as he returned to church yesterday, more than three months after abruptly announcing an indefinite leave. 

Matt Chandler, the lead pastor of the Village Church, faced a packed church and apologized for vaguely defined online misbehavior he repeatedly referred to as “my foolishness.”

The massive evangelical church attracts about 4,500 attendees to its main campus and has spun off independent congregations in the region. 

Chandler is a revered national figure within evangelicalism. He is well known for his dynamic preaching style. 

Three months ago, he told his congregation in August that he had been involved in a relationship online with a woman who was not his wife. 

The relationship was not “romantic or sexual” but “unguarded and unwise,” he said then, and included “coarse and foolish joking that’s unbefitting of someone in my position.”

He departed with cloudy circumstances. 

And it came at a. Moment of uncertainty for many American evangelicals. 

Churches are struggling with persistently lower attendance since the Covid pandemic and are divided by cultural and political conflicts that the Village Church has generally attempted to avoid. 

Many evangelicals are disillusioned over a series of scandals involving prominent leaders including the evangelist Ravi Zacharias and the megachurch leader Bill Hybels.

The scope of Chandler’s misbehavior is unclear, complicating issues of redemption and forgiveness.

In August, a woman approached him at church to confront him with concerns over direct messages he sent one of her friends on Instagram. Chandler said he immediately went to church leaders, who commissioned a law firm to review his messaging history and later placed him on a leave of absence that the church said was both “disciplinary and developmental.”