The leader of one of Canada's largest megachurches has stepped down following sexual misconduct allegations.
The leader of one of Canada's largest churches has resigned after being accused of sexual misconduct. On Thursday, The Meeting House in Toronto held a special online meeting in which they announced the megachurch pastor Bruxy Cavey was resigning from his leadership role. A third party investigation found that the megachurch pastor had a year long sexual relationship with a church member who had sought counseling.
According to the Religion News Network, Cavey's resignation came just days after a former part-time pastor at the church, Danielle Strickland, also left the church, going on Instagram to explain in a lengthy video that she felt the church did not adequately advocate for the victim. She went on to call the relationship between Cavey and his victim "clergy sex abuse."
"Some years ago, I had an extramarital affair," Cavey wrote in a confessional blog post on Wednesday. "This adulterous relationship is my greatest failure, my darkest sin, and I take full responsibility for my actions."
Strickland disagreed with Cavey's labeling of the relationship as "adulterous," instead arguing that "The whole truth needs to be told. To not name what it is is not to care for and help the victim. It is to re-victimize people because you refuse to name it."
According to the Christian Post, the chair of the church's overseers board, Maggie John said in a statement that the investigator determined that Cavey had "maintained a sexual relationship with the victim, an adult woman, in violation of The Meeting House policy and the Handbook of Faith and Life of Be in Christ Church of Canada."
The investigator also found that the relationship had "constituted an abuse of Bruxy's power and authority as a member of the clergy, and amounted to sexual harassment." Because of these findings, The Meeting House "unanimously" decided to ask Cavey to resign "effective immediately."
Cavey then submitted his resignation on March 3, which the church leaders accepted. The 57 year old megachurch pastor, who is also the author of "The End of Religion: Encountering the Subversive Spirituality of Jesus," was responsible for launching The Meeting House into its megachurch status in recent years. The church has up to 5,000 members in 19 campuses in the Toronto metropolitan area.
In a statement, Cavey admitted that he was "irresponsible" in his role as a "spiritual leader and Christian clergy, which involves dynamics of power and influence and an expectation of exemplary conduct that makes me doubly accountable."
The megachurch pastor also admitted responsibility and regret for his actions. He issued an apology and expressed worry that his adultery and abuse of power case would push people away from the ministry. Cavey urged people to continue to support The Meeting House and said his "heart is broken" over his "heavy burden" of leaving the church behind.
Cavey pledged to work on his spiritual and psychological healing and urged others to look at his situation as the result of ignoring the presence of Jesus Christ in one's life.
