The International House of Prayer of Kansas City (IHOPKC) executive leadership team released an updated statement regarding its founder, Mike Bickle, on Sunday (Nov. 5) during the 11 a.m. worship service of Forerunner Church, a ministry of IHOPKC.
Last week, it was announced that Bickle had been accused of sexual and spiritual abuse and been asked to step away from ministry and social media.
“We love our global family and are grateful for all of your support, prayers and solidarity. We want to say we are grateful for you. But now we need to have a family message, primarily directed to the local IHOPKC community and staff,” IHOPKC executive leaders said in their newly released statement.
Leaders reassured IHOPKC attenders that their mission remains the same as it has been for the last 24 years—”to engage in the great commission through 24/7 prayer with worship and the proclamation of the Beauty of Jesus”—and that the recent allegations against the ministry’s founder will not change that.
They also informed everyone that Bickle has agreed to step away from public ministry, including IHOPKC’s platform and the prayer room. He will also not engage in social media messaging for an indefinite amount of time until leaders “complete a thorough examination of the allegations and inquiry of the circumstances.”
“As previously disclosed, there have been several allegations raised and we are taking this process seriously,” they added. “So far there is one allegation from 26 years ago that has some credibility. Other allegations have been more difficult to verify due to the fact they are either anonymous or represented by third parties.”
Leadership shared that some of the allegations against Bickle’s “predate the founding of IHOPKC” and that “some of the women that were named in the allegations have publicly refuted that they were ever victims of abuse and even denounced the representatives of the alleged victim group for using their names without permission.”
The executive leadership team announced that they are using Stinson LLP, a national law firm, “to conduct an impartial examination of these allegations.” The firm has already started this process “with the goal of assessing [the allegations’] merit” and advising leaders on what steps to take next.
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