You Didn't Hear This From Me: (Mostly) True Notes on Gossip

by Kelsey McKinney

But that is exactly why most church leaders demonize gossip so strongly from the pulpit, because gossip seeks to hold people to account for their actions. It fights against secrecy, and while that can be dangerous when used against people without power, it targets anyone in leadership of any church who has an immense amount of power. Women who brought forth credible allegations of sexual misconduct against Willow Creek Community Church founder Bill Hybels were accused of using false allegations to collude and divide the church. Hundreds of similar stories in various churches emerged in late 2017 during the #MeToo movement after poet Emily Joy Allison tweeted about how she had been groomed by a youth leader in her Evangelical megachurch. Her report about how the church had protected the man in his thirties who had romantically pursued her as a sixteen-year-old and kept his offenses quiet spurred an outpouring of other stories that Allison encouraged people to hashtag #ChurchToo.