According to recent reports, a former member of Gateway Church allegedly had her membership revoked and was escorted off the premises by armed guards. Supposedly, the individual was expelled from the church after criticizing Gateway over a lack of transparency and accountability in light of sexual abuse allegations that surfaced earlier this year.
Valentina Hansen, a resident of Grapevine, Texas, and former member and volunteer at Gateway Church, said, “I will say this: in my 47 years of life, I have never had my church membership revoked, dismissed, as they wanted to call it,” The Christian Post reported. “I’ve never had my volunteer opportunities be dismissed.”
Earlier this year, Gateway Church founder Robert Morris had allegations of an inappropriate relationship that occurred with a young woman in the 1980s. Subsequently, Hansen had voiced criticism toward Gateway elder Tra Willbanks for not being transparent about the church’s finances and making false claims about the legal actions being taken. Reportedly, leadership at Gateway Church then revoked her membership, claiming she was sowing “discord and conflict” among the congregation.
A letter from the church’s board of elders addressed to Hansen earlier this month read, “The past three months have been the most challenging in the history of Gateway Church, and it has been a time of entirely understandable concern and appropriate, earnest questioning of the Church’s leadership by its members. While acknowledging that we must rely on the strength of Christ to guide each and every one of our actions, the Board of Elders believes it has done, and continues to do, its utmost to be responsive and empathetic to current member concerns.”
The board continued, “As believers, all members of the Gateway community are bound by the commandments of the Bible, even in trying times. Despite our sincere attempts to walk with you down the path towards understanding and reconciliation, the Board believes that you have violated Biblical requirements by continuing to sow discord and conflict.”
“Bearing in mind the wisdom of Titus 3:10, and pursuant to our roles as the highest ecclesiastical authority of Gateway Church as set forth in the Church’s Bylaws, it is with heavy hearts that we accordingly now inform you that we believe it is necessary to make the difficult decision to dismiss you from your church membership and volunteer services at this time,” the letter added, stating the church’s intention to remove her form the congregation.
However, Hansen maintained that she was never directly contacted, warned or counseled regarding her conduct, which does not follow guidelines set forth in Titus 3:10, which reads, “Warn a divisive person once, and then warn them a second time. After that, have nothing to do with them.” She further recounted the awful experience of being escorted by police off church property.
“It was embarrassing because so many people at the church know me. … I felt embarrassed for them that they would act in such an egregious way. I mean, I’m 5-foot-8. I weigh like 130 pounds. It’s just little old me,” Hansen said. “You’ve got five grown men approaching me at the main entrance of a church saying, ‘You can’t come in here,’ and three of them had guns on their hips. And then I turn around to leave, and I see the South Lake Police Department,” she said.
Featured image credit: Jared Stump, CC BY-SA 3.0 <https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/3.0>, via Wikimedia Commons, https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Gateway_Church_NRH.jpg