Dr. Bryan Chapell, who leads the administrative committee of the Presbyterian Church in America (PCA), has issued an apology for revealing during a recent podcast a piece of paper with a list of names of people he called “scandalizers.” Chapell, a council member with The Gospel Coalition (TGC), displayed the list in an episode of TGC’s “Gospelbound” podcast, hosted by Collin Hansen.
“I’m going to show this to you quickly. I keep the note on my desk. Those are the names of the scandalizers, the people who have invested hours every day attacking others for their supposed lack of faithfulness, for their compromise,” Chapell told Hansen, “whose identity comes from scandalizing others. And every name on that list has either left his family, left the faith, or taken his life. Every name on that list.”
Bryan Chapell Apologizes for ‘Not Taking Proper Care To Protect the Reputation of Others’
In addition to being the Stated Clerk and leader of the administrative committee of the PCA, Dr. Bryan Chapell is president emeritus of Covenant Theological Seminary, president of Unlimited Grace Media, and author of “The Multigenerational Church Crisis: Why We Don’t Understand Each Other and How to Unite in Mission.”
Collin Hansen is an author, vice president for content and editor-in-chief of The Gospel Coalition, and executive director of The Keller Center for Cultural Apologetics. The “Gospelbound” podcast’s description says it is “for those searching for a firm faith in an anxious age” and that Hansen and his guests discuss “how to navigate life by the gospel of Jesus Christ in a post-Christian culture.”
The conversation between Chapell and Hansen focused on unity among believers, particularly how to bridge misunderstandings among different generations. Chapell’s decision to show Hansen his list came in response to Hansen reading the following quote from Chapell:
My heart aches for the younger pastors and church leaders who spend so much time performing for the applause of their peers by trying to scandalize others. By now, I have witnessed the usual path of such leaders dozens of times. They will end up leaving the church, leaving the faith, leaving their families, even sometimes taking their life. You simply cannot indulge darkness in a part of life that gives you a sense of significance and not have such patterns of thought and expression touch other parts you hold dear.
“What can the church do?” Hansen asked. “This behavior carries very large financial incentives, especially compared to the slow work of serving inside an institution. What do we do?”
Commenting that he hadn’t known Hansen would read that quote, Chapell went on to say, “You may have seen me glance aside,” and then proceeded to show Hansen his note with the list of names.
“It amazes me,” Chapell said. “I’ve done this for almost 50 years now. I’ve been in ordained ministry. And I can tell you almost with certainty, those who build their reputations on destroying the reputations of others will end up with terribly dark lives.”
“You cannot segregate your life that way,” said Chapell, referring to church leaders who are “tender” toward their churches and people they love in their personal lives while mocking others publicly. “And there are so many young pastors who do not recognize,” he said, “who think that their zeal for their cause justifies lack of godliness.”
