World Vision Reverses Same-Sex Marriage Decision

Categories: Uncategorized

In just two short days World Vision reverses same-sex marriage decision. On Monday the company announced that it would allow “someone in a same-sex marriage who is a professed believer in Jesus Christ” to keep their jobs and on Wednesday under heavy fire from donors immediately reversed it’s decision. Monday, Richard Stearns (President of World Vision) claimed that after many years of prayer the board of directors felt offering employment to married gay Christians was “symbolic not of compromise but of Christian unity.” The agency claims they were facing no outside pressure to take a side on the issue but after much prayer the board was “overwhelmingly in favor” of policy change. Oddly enough after only two days the company, a la A&E and Cracker Barrel, has decided that it made a costly mistake.

The question that many of us must be asking ourselves is after all this prayer by the board why did the company flip flop so fast? Onlookers can’t help but consider the reversal wasn’t based on any theological changes internally but only on a desire to stop donors from pulling their funding. This writer firmly believes that World Visions original decision allowing gay Christians employment was and still is a view accepted by the board and is only being reversed because of the backlash from donors. Money wins. Even if the decision not to hire homosexuals is the right decision, Biblically speaking, the reversal can only be seen as an attempt to stave of a mass exodus of once faithful donors. Nothing has changed within the company in just two days…not after years of prayer.

World Vision’s full statement is below.

Dear Friends,

Today, the World Vision U.S. board publicly reversed its recent decision to change our employment conduct policy. The board acknowledged they made a mistake and chose to revert to our longstanding conduct policy requiring sexual abstinence for all single employees and faithfulness within the Biblical covenant of marriage between a man and a woman.

We are writing to you our trusted partners and Christian leaders who have come to us in the spirit of Matthew 18 to express your concern in love and conviction. You share our desire to come together in the Body of Christ around our mission to serve the poorest of the poor. We have listened to you and want to say thank you and to humbly ask for your forgiveness.

In our board’s effort to unite around the church’s shared mission to serve the poor in the name of Christ, we failed to be consistent with World Vision U.S.’s commitment to the traditional understanding of Biblical marriage and our own Statement of Faith, which says, “We believe the Bible to be the inspired, the only infallible, authoritative Word of God.” And we also failed to seek enough counsel from our own Christian partners. As a result, we made a change to our conduct policy that was not consistent with our Statement of Faith and our commitment to the sanctity of marriage.

We are brokenhearted over the pain and confusion we have caused many of our friends, who saw this decision as a reversal of our strong commitment to Biblical authority. We ask that you understand that this was never the board’s intent. We are asking for your continued support. We commit to you that we will continue to listen to the wise counsel of Christian brothers and sisters, and we will reach out to key partners in the weeks ahead.

While World Vision U.S. stands firmly on the biblical view of marriage, we strongly affirm that all people, regardless of their sexual orientation, are created by God and are to be loved and treated with dignity and respect.

Please know that World Vision continues to serve all people in our ministry around the world. We pray that you will continue to join with us in our mission to be “an international partnership of Christians whose mission is to follow our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ in working with the poor and oppressed to promote human transformation, seek justice, and bear witness to the good news of the Kingdom of God.”

Sincerely in Christ,

Richard Stearns, President

Is the damage done?

World Vision has managed to put itself in a unique situation by alienating not only its conservative donor base but now it’s new LGBT donor base. The agency has an operating budget of almost $1 billion and economic development projects around the world, let’s face it these folks feed the poor…every day. Without our support, this agency and others like it, will not be able to care for thousands of children who depend on them for basic food, water and medical needs. So…