A month after independent investigators determined that Mike Bickle, founder of the International House of Prayer Kansas City (IHOPKC), sexually abused at least 17 women and minors, a team offered recommendations for Bickle, other ministry leaders, victims, and the church.
Notably, the Pastoral Recommendation Team (PRT) assembled by Tikkun Global stated that Bickle “should be barred for his lifetime from ever holding a paid, professional, public ministry again.” But it leaves the door open for Bickle, 69, to eventually “return to informal ministry” if he meets several conditions.
After releasing its recommendations on March 3, the PRT posted that it received “excellent questions and feedback.” So it temporarily removed the 17-page report from the internet “to make some clarifications.”
Editor’s note: This article is based on the original March 3 version of the PRT report. It refers to sexual abuse and rape, which some readers might find triggering and/or disturbing.
Pastoral Recommendation Team Recaps Allegations Against Mike Bickle
As ChurchLeaders has reported, Firefly Independent Sexual Abuse Investigations performed an extensive review of sexual misconduct allegations against Bickle. After interviewing 210 people and reviewing more than 6,000 documents, Firefly released a 68-page report on Feb. 3.
Investigators found that Bickle perpetrated “sexually abusive misconduct, including sexual abuse, rape, clergy abuse, and spiritual abuse” against 17 women, including two minors, “beginning to our knowledge in the mid-1970s.”
The PRT, in its initial report dated March 3, recapped Firefly’s key findings of sexual abuse and misconduct by Bickle. Those included sexual grooming, sexual comments and messages, and unwanted sexual touching and kissing. Other findings included “toxic leadership,” “deficient accountability,” “spiritual abuse,” “misapplication of Scripture,” and “misuse of prophecy.”
Bickle’s inappropriate behaviors, Firefly investigators concluded, led to a “long-standing culture of systemic sexual misconduct and cover-ups.” They also cited sexual misconduct—including several instances of rape—by other IHOPKC staff members.
The PRT emphasized that it isn’t a court of law and that Bickle didn’t participate in the Firefly investigation. As a result, all recommendations are “qualified by this statement: ‘If these allegations are true, then we recommend that…”
The team added that the recommendations are “completely subject to Mike Bickle’s willingness to submit to them and are not the responsibility of the present IHOPKC Board of Directors to complete.”
Team Releases Recommendations for Mike Bickle
After suggesting that the IHOPKC board of directors appoint an Independent Council of Presbyters (ICP) and seek restoration using Galatians 6:1 as a guide, the PRT listed recommendations for Mike Bickle.
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