[Updated 6:15 p.m. Central with fresh comments from Richard Stearns.]

Only two days after announcing it would hire Christians who are in same-sex marriages, World Vision U.S. has reversed its decision.

“The last couple of days have been painful,” president Richard Stearns told reporters this evening. “We feel pain and a broken heart for the confusion we caused for many friends who saw this policy change as a strong reversal of World Vision’s commitment to biblical authority, which it was not intended to be.”

“We’ve had a lot of feedback from a lot of people. But the feedback we’ve paid special attention to is from our many trusted partners, [including many church leaders who] came to us out of sincere concern and love for World Vision,” he said. “Rather than creating more unity, we created more division, and that was not the intent of the board or myself. The board acknowledged that the policy change we made was a mistake, and we believe that you’ve helped us to see that … and we’re asking you to forgive us for that mistake.”

“We listened to their friends, we listened to their counsel. They tried to point out in loving way that the conduct policy change was not consistent … with the authority of Scripture and how we apply it to our lives. We did inadequate consultation with our supporters. If I could have a do-over on one thing, I would have done much more consultation with Christian leaders.”

“We need to have a process to do further and wider consultation with key Christian leaders around the country, and we will be discussing how that can happen,” Stearns said.

“What we are affirming today is there are certain beliefs that are so core to our Trinitarian faith that we must take a strong stand on those beliefs,” said Stearns. “We cannot defer to a small minority of churches and denominations that have taken a different position. “Yes, we will certainly defer on many issues that are not so central to our understanding of the Christian faith,” he said. “But on the authority of Scripture in our organization’s work [and our employee conduct], and on marriage as an institution ordained by God between a man and a woman—those are age-old and fundamental Christian beliefs.”Stearns expects the board to continue to deal with questions about employment and same-sex relationships. “I think every Christian organization will continue to deal with this sensitive issue,” he said. “The board will continue to talk about this issue for many board meetings to come. The original decision was overwhelmingly ratified by the board, and the decision to reverse the policy today after a lot of deep reflection, a lot of listening to supporters … was also overwhelmingly supported today.”

Today’s letter (posted below) was approved by the entire board, Stearns said.

Here is the full text of World Vision’s letter:

Dear Friends,

Today, the World Vision U.S. board publicly reversed its recent decision to change our employment conduct policy. The board acknowledged they made a mistake and chose to revert to our longstanding conduct policy requiring sexual abstinence for all single employees and faithfulness within the Biblical covenant of marriage between a man and a woman.

We are writing to you our trusted partners and Christian leaders who have come to us in the spirit of Matthew 18 to express your concern in love and conviction. You share our desire to come together in the Body of Christ around our mission to serve the poorest of the poor. We have listened to you and want to say thank you and to humbly ask for your forgiveness.

In our board’s effort to unite around the church’s shared mission to serve the poor in the name of Christ, we failed to be consistent with World Vision U.S.’s commitment to the traditional understanding of Biblical marriage and our own Statement of Faith, which says, “We believe the Bible to be the inspired, the only infallible, authoritative Word of God.” And we also failed to seek enough counsel from our own Christian partners. As a result, we made a change to our conduct policy that was not consistent with our Statement of Faith and our commitment to the sanctity of marriage.

We are brokenhearted over the pain and confusion we have caused many of our friends, who saw this decision as a reversal of our strong commitment to Biblical authority. We ask that you understand that this was never the board’s intent. We are asking for your continued support. We commit to you that we will continue to listen to the wise counsel of Christian brothers and sisters, and we will reach out to key partners in the weeks ahead.

While World Vision U.S. stands firmly on the biblical view of marriage, we strongly affirm that all people, regardless of their sexual orientation, are created by God and are to be loved and treated with dignity and respect.

Please know that World Vision continues to serve all people in our ministry around the world. We pray that you will continue to join with us in our mission to be “an international partnership of Christians whose mission is to follow our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ in working with the poor and oppressed to promote human transformation, seek justice, and bear witness to the good news of the Kingdom of God.”

Sincerely in Christ,

Richard Stearns, President
Jim Beré, Chairman of the World Vision U.S. Board

The initial decision faced heavy backlash from the evangelical community with only some voicing support for the decision. The day after the announcement was made, the Assemblies of God, one of America’s largest and fastest-growing denominations, urged its members to consider dropping their financial support from World Vision and instead “gradually shifting” it to “Pentecostal and evangelical charities that maintain biblical standards of sexual morality.”

“The U.S. branch of World Vision has placed Pentecostal and evangelical churches in a difficult position,” said George O. Wood, general superintendent of the 3-million-member AG. “On the one hand, we applaud the work they do among the poor in America and around the world, and many churches have supported that work financially for some time. On the other hand, World Vision’s policy change now puts them at odds with our beliefs regarding sexual morality.”

Stearns said that “a number” of child sponsors canceled their sponsorship in protest of the decision to change its conduct policy. “That grieves us because the children will suffer because of that—but our choice is not about money or income, it’s a sincere desire for us to do the right thing, to be consistent with our core values, and to respond to the legitimate feedback and counsel we have received from supporters and friends of World Vision.”

World Vision U.S., a multi-denominational relief organization, had hoped to take what it described as a neutral position in the gay marriage debate bydeferring it to the local church. The new policy still required singles to remain abstinent and married couples to maintain fidelity, but no longer limited marriages to heterosexuals.

“They were not taking a position,” said Tim Dearborn, who previously oversaw how World Vision’s Christian commitments were implemented across its international partners. “They weren’t intending to take a position supporting same-sex marriage or homosexuality.”

More than 2,000 of the 1.2 million children sponsored by World Vision U.S. were dropped since the announcement, according to a tweet by Micah J. Murray. But it’s not clear whether those numbers are a net loss or had been offset by new donors, explained former World Vision staffer Ben Irwin.

“Assuming the ‘2000’ figure is accurate, that amounts to just under two-tenths of one percent of all kids sponsored through World Vision U.S.,” Irwin wrote. “But this was never about percentages. This is about real lives. It’s about kids in impoverished communities who just became pawns in our culture war.”

About $567 million of World Vision’s $1 billion budget comes from private contributions, according to the 2012 annual report.

Some supporters took on additional sponsorships in support of the decision. Kristen Howerton, a professor of psychology for Vanguard University and popular blogger, organized a fundraiser with the goal of getting 100 children supported to help make up the difference. She accomplished her goal in a day.

She said she made the decision after seeing hundreds of comments on social media from people vowing to drop their support.

“I think people’s reactions have been pretty swift in condemning World Vision in placing them outside the fold of evangelical Christianity,” she said.

John Huffman, who was a World Vision board member for 26 years, is a fervent supporter of the work of Stearns has done. He told CT his “high point” on the board was hiring Stearns, and this is the first time they disagreed. But Huffman called the decision to change the employment policy “unwise” on every front. “It lacks of wisdom in terms of biblical, theological, moral, cultural, and strategic implications to the organization,” he said.

Strategically, it would have alienated many evangelicals, which make up the majority of World Vision supporters. Given that World Vision has kept such a strong evangelical identity, it’s unlikely to attract people from the other side of the fence, said Huffman, who is board chair for Christianity Today and Gordon-Conwell Theological Seminary.

“I don’t think it’s going to help the institution. I don’t think there are going to be other people on this organization that are going to be attracted.”

For many evangelicals, a major concern was how heavily World Vision downplayed the issue of same-sex marriage.

“It was so disappointing that under his (Stearns’s) leadership that World Vision has decided to reject a basic foundational truth about God’s design for humanity for family, which is the basic foundational institution for the ordering of human society,” said Eric Teetsel, founder of the Manhattan Declaration, before the reversal announcement.

“While marriage may not be what Rich does day in and day out, he has a responsibility to honor God,” he said.

Dearborn said that World Vision U.S.’s relationship with its partner organizations also played a role in today’s decision. “There’s an effort on part of World Vision US not only to be subject to the authority of Scripture but also to be sensitive to being a member of an international partnership,” he said. “There are 50-some World Visions in the world. Especially in Africa and Asia, the position World Vision just rescinded would have been troublesome.”

Christianity Today will report more in this space as events warrant.

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