By closing their doors, LexCity Church takes the cowardly way out amid sex abuse scandal | Opinion
In the Christian faith, the crucifixion of Jesus Christ is one of the cornerstone principles of the entire religion. Had Christ not died upon the cross for the sins of mankind, and later resurrected, the whole of Christianity would crumble.
Could Christ have avoided his own crucifixion? Certainly. He even called out upon the cross asking God why his Father had forsaken him.
Yet Christ called down no army of angels, neither when he was arrested nor on the cross, to come save him. He endured the pain and humiliation so the sins of man could be placed upon his shoulders and ultimately forgiven.
Jesus Christ did not take an easy way out. He did not turn tail and run away like LexCity Church has.
Zachary King, a former pastor at LexCity Church, was arrested earlier this month and is facing charges of alleged first-degree rape, third-degree rape and first-degree sodomy among others.
According to his arrest citation, King resigned after being confronted by church staff in reference to allegations of an inappropriate relationship with a minor.
King consented to an interview with a detective and admitted to raping a 15-year-old, beginning in January 2023 and lasting until April 2024, at his home, the minor’s home and at the former pastor’s church, according to court documents.
His case was sent to a Fayette County grand jury after he and his lawyer waived their right to a preliminary hearing. King is currently being held at the Fayette County Detention Center on a $250,000 bond, according to jail records.
The church’s response? Close up shop.
In fairness, the church’s leadership team, in a statement posted on their website, say they are closing the church “due to the continued effects of the financial situation our church inherited several years ago and the impact of the ongoing investigation of a former staff member.”
It would not be the first time LexCity, formerly Quest Community Church, has faced financial problems. Shoot, it’s not even the first time this church has faced a scandal.
It’s worth asking what church staff, and leadership, knew and how long they knew this was happening. King confessed to molesting a child at the church (I’ll note here that the crimes King has been charged with are allegations and a court has yet to hear his case); any reasonable person would think someone in church leadership had an inkling of what was going on.
Well the good news is Brian Classen, the lead pastor, and others in church leadership gave it some “thoughtful prayer and heartfelt tears” and decided they didn’t want to come to terms with any of this uncomfortable stuff and decided to call it quits.
It’s sheer cowardice.
Classen and the rest of the church’s leadership should be made to stand behind the pulpit and beg for forgiveness from King’s victim, and let us hope it is only one, from their church congregation, from God and they should have to do that for a very, very long time.
Instead they are removing the possibility for reconciliation and taking the easy way out.
Church leadership chose to forsake the whole of their congregation because they could not, perhaps, face up to the inaction on their part. Or, perhaps even worse, come to terms with how they chose to willfully ignore it. This now leaves a 15-year-old victim in the wake of a pastor’s harmful actions and a whole congregation of people without a church community.
Maybe this was the best course of action. Some may say it’s better to close the church entirely because nothing can be truly done to rebuild, and I’m sympathetic to that argument. Maybe that is the only thing that can be done to give some small comfort to those who have been hurt by these actions.
But Christ did not remove himself from the cross when the physical pain of it became too much to bear, so those in power at LexCity Church should not get a free pass to leave and pretend like this never happened.
If the finances are truly a problem I’ll cut a check right now, I’ll start a GoFundMe, I’ll get a small loan for you to help out. Pass the offering plates around and take up tithes to go toward organizations like The Way Home, which helps denominations, churches and victims of spiritual abuse find a way to heal and recover.
Open those doors back up and carry your cross the way you should. Otherwise, the leadership should consider a job outside of the ministry.
This story was originally published July 12, 2024 at 12:23 PM.
