By Yvette Harding –
In What’s So Amazing About Grace, Philip Yancey argued vividly for a church with more grace and less judgmentalism. With endless, compelling anecdotes and a revitalizing thesis, Yancey became an overnight sensation, a beloved hero and leader of Christianity. He sold 15M books.
Philip Yancey just confessed to sustaining and extramarital affair for eight years.
“To my great shame,” started Yancey. “I confess that for eight years I willfully engaged in a sinful affair with a married woman.”
Say it isn’t so.
Yancey announced his retirement from ministry. He says he’s disqualified. He waited until retirement age to come forward with the confession. Apparently, he wasn’t exposed by Christian watchdogs, like the Roys Report.
“My conduct defied everything that I believe about marriage,” says the 76-year-old. He was diagnosed with Parkinson’s in 2023.
What is happening in Christianity? Michael Tait, Robert Morris, Ravi Zacharias, Carl Lentz, T.D. Jakes (alleged), Bill Hybels. All our heroes are being toppled off their pedestals. The church in America is sick.
Big-time ministers probably don’t infringe limits more than small-times one, but certainly the temptations are amplified: power asymmetry, isolation at the top, celebrity culture, weak accountability structures, ministry stress and burnout, higher adrenaline rushes on Sunday followed by steeper let-downs on Monday.
It seems as God is cleaning out his house. 1 Peter 4:7 says, “Judgment will start in the house of God.”
Yancey’s wife of 55 years, Janet, says she will work to preserve their marriage.
“I need to spend my remaining years living up to the words I have already written. I pray for God’s grace and forgiveness — as well as yours — and for healing in the lives of those I’ve wounded,” Yancey wrote Christianity Today.
