Is Bethel Church’s ‘culture of honour’ protecting predators?

The prominent Californian megachurch, Bethel, has come under intense scrutiny in recent months following serious allegations of clergy sexual abuse against their pastor Ben Armstrong, as well as scandals surrounding the prophetic ministry of Shaun Bolz, who Bethel have previously endorsed and platformed.

Most recently, the church officially distanced itself from prominent prophetic figures who have been accused of serious abuse, including Bolz. 

In the aftermath of Armstrong being placed on administrative leave following allegations against him, some have accused Bethel of creating a system in which spiritually gifted Christian leaders are honoured - and therefore protected - at all costs. 

Critics of the church suggest this ‘culture of honour’ is partly to blame for the scandals. Leaders who should have been disciplined or corrected have instead been overly ‘honoured’.

Writing for The Christian Post, journalist Susanne Maynes suggests Bethel’s culture of honour is really just a “culture of idolatry”, in which senior leaders are not held to account for their sin because of an inherent assumption of “goodness”.

The Roys Report said it was “predator-protecting” by design. Speaking on their podcast, Lance Ford asserted that this culture restores leaders who have persistently committed sexual abuse. He believes this is in direct contrast to God’s desire that leaders “remain in healthy fear to the consequences of their sin”.

So what is a culture of honour, and is it really as destructive as some are suggesting? 

What is a culture of honour?

In my experience of attending Bethel and reading books by those who advocate for a culture of honour, I have seen it described as a relational, prophetic and heaven-orientated approach to relating to other people. It is informed by Bethel’s core value, “honour affirms value”, meaning everyone made in God’s image is valuable and worthy of honour.

It is also underpinned by the theology of repentance and restoration illustrated through Jesus’s life and teaching. In his book Culture of Honour, Danny Silk points to Jesus’ continual treatment of people as God has ordained and called them, rather than how they are currently behaving. This is the bedrock of the culture of honour: to identify the God-given gold within another person and to treat them accordingly.

Risks and rewards

There is a risk that the culture of honour allows sin to manifest more readily, due to a lesser emphasis on external control. Misapplied, it can expedite the restoration of harmful leaders because of the keenness to believe the best about the perpetrator.

But I’d argue that it does have a strong biblical foundation. Jesus’ calling of Matthew while he was still a tax collector (Matthew 9:9-13); his acceptance of a sinful woman’s offering (Luke 7:36-50); his protection of the woman caught in adultery (John 8) and, famously, his restoration of Peter following his betrayal (John 21:1-19).

My own experience of the culture at Bethel was a striking combination of overwhelming love and intense personal scrutiny

In the Old Testament God also used - and restored – people who sinned (including Moses, David, Samson), even during their ‘anointing’ as leaders.

I have recently re-read three books that unpick this culture and, in each, the risks are keenly dealt with. In Dann Farrely’s Kingdom Culture: Living the values that disciple nations, Farrelly states: “People can choose to behave their way out of relationship and connection with us” adding: “Those in authority should not use their leadership to be destructive, manipulative or controlling”.

It is clear that while the practice of honour affirms intrinsic value, “It also lovingly confronts, limits and disciplines”. Farrelly also acknowledges that “sometimes it is unwise and unsafe for a community to extend grace at the same level that God does”.

In Danny Silk’s Unpunishable, he suggests that the Church has fallen more in love with punishment than repentance and restoration.

He goes on to distinguish the differences between how the repentant and unrepentant should be dealt with. Silk illustrates this using Jesus’ approach to the teachers of the law versus the tax collectors and ‘sinners’. The dividing line was repentance.

In the case of the unrepentant, Silk is clear: “Until someone who has violated or betrayed a relationship repents, there can be no reconciliation or restoration”.

In the last few chapters of Unpunishable, Silk recounts a scenario in which his friend, in a position of leadership at a ministry school, was unrepentant following allegations of sexual harassment. Silk describes his own recommendation to his friend’s well-established ministry as: “Accepting his resignation…closing the school, refunding every student’s tuition and compensating every staff member with up to six months of income and counselling services”.

Tough love

My own experience of the culture at Bethel School of Supernatural Ministry (BSSM) was a striking combination of overwhelming love and intense personal scrutiny. It felt safe, but impossible to hide.

I recently came across an interview with Ben Fitzgerald, a past leader at Bethel, on the Let’s Talk About It podcast. In it, he shares a story from his time as a student at BSSM. He had been recognised as gifted, with the potential to become a pastor, but in the process of the appointment, he was asked about his personal struggle with pornography. He admitted that while he had improved, he still struggled sometimes. The response came back by email: “We love you but because we care about your future, you cannot become a pastor right now, because you cannot be trusted with women”.

The values demonstrated within a culture of honour invite us to take the kind of risk that God takes with us. Both in freedom, and in confrontation. These are models of how we, if we dare, could interact with one another and build His kingdom on earth.