World Vision Hiring Gay Christians: 'World Vision U.S. President Richard Stearns expressed grief over the child sponsorships that were cancelled after the organization announced its original policy change on hiring those in same-sex marriages' the Christian post stated.
Stearns said in a press conference last Wednesday that the board decided to change its earlier decision of hiring Christians in same-sex marriage and restate the organization's commitment to core biblical principles and the belief that "marriage is an institution created by God, between a man and a woman." This happened after feedback from those who opposed the decision has been received by the group.
"I can say from a personal standpoint, the last couple of days have been painful. We especially feel pain and a broken heart for the confusion that we caused for many of our faithful friends and partners around the country who saw the policy change as a reversal of World Vision U.S.'s strong commitment to biblical authority, which was not intended to be," Stearns stated.
Even though World Vision doesn't have a exact count on the number of child sponsorships that were cancelled following their announcement, the World Vision President confirmed that many supporters had cancelled their donations in protest of the board's decision.
Stearns said, "That certainly grieves us because the children that we serve will suffer for that. I can't tell you what the cumulative financial impact has been or will be. But I will say that our choice is not about money or income, it's really about 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 that we have received from faith leaders and friends of World Vision."
"We listened to our friends, we listened to their counsel. They tried to point out in loving ways 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."
He said, "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."
"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. We cannot defer to a small minority of churches and denominations that have taken a different position," said Stearns. "Yes, we will certainly defer on many issues that are not so central to our understanding of the Christian faith. But on the authority of Scripture in our organization's work [and 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," he said.
According to Christianity Today, only few from the evangelical community support the preliminary 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."'