Archbishop of Canterbury Justin Welby has resigned from his position as the head of the Church of England following the publication of an independent review that determined he knew of abuse allegations against a church volunteer and failed to adequately investigate and report them.

The Makin Review found that the abuser, John Smyth, subjected his victims to “traumatic physical, sexual, psychological and spiritual attacks.” 

“Having sought the gracious permission of His Majesty The King, I have decided to resign as Archbishop of Canterbury,” Welby said in a statement Tuesday, Nov. 12. “The Makin Review has exposed the long-maintained conspiracy of silence about the heinous abuses of John Smyth.”

“When I was informed in 2013 and told that police had been notified, I believed wrongly that an appropriate resolution would follow,” Welby said. “It is very clear that I must take personal and institutional responsibility for the long and retraumatising period between 2013 and 2024.” 

Archbishop of Canterbury Justin Welby 

Justin Welby was ordained in the Church of England in 1992 and confirmed as the Archbishop of Canterbury in 2013. The Archbishop of Canterbury is the Church of England’s most senior bishop, as well as the head of the global Anglican Communion. 

Welby drew controversy in October for responding to a question about gay sex by saying that he and the Archbishop of York “and the bishops by a majority—by no means unanimous, and the church is deeply split over this” believe that “all sexual activity should be within a committed relationship, and whether it’s straight or gay—in other words…we’re not giving up on the idea that sex is within marriage or civil partnership or whether marriage is civil or religious.” 

RELATED: Sex Should Be ‘Within a Committed Relationship,’ Whether Straight or Gay, Says Archbishop of Canterbury Justin Welby

The Makin Review was published on Nov. 7. It was led by Keith Makin, whose bio within the review says in part that he is “an experienced executive level manager, leader and consultant in the social care and health sectors,” as well as “a specialist in safeguarding of both children and adults.” It further says he is “the Chair of several safeguarding partnerships and leader/ author of Reviews, inquiries, and research on safeguarding issues.” 

The Makin Review covers the period between 1970 and 2019 and investigates how the Church of England handled allegations of abuse perpetrated by John Smyth, an attorney who volunteered at Christian summer camps.

“John Smyth was an appalling abuser of children and young men. His abuse was prolific, brutal and horrific,” the review states. “His victims were subjected to traumatic physical, sexual, psychological and spiritual attacks. The impact of that abuse is impossible to overstate and has permanently marked the lives of his victims.”

Voddie Baucham has revealed that he and his family soon will repatriate to America after nearly a decade in Zambia. In a Nov. 11 post, Baucham wrote that they plan to depart Africa Dec. 1, and their “December-February furlough will be our transition back” to the United States. He requested prayers for all the steps and changes ahead.

Baucham is the founding dean of African Christian University (ACU) in Lusaka, Zambia, and a senior lecturer in the university’s divinity school. Before becoming a missionary, Baucham planted and pastored Grace Family Baptist, a Reformed Baptist church in Spring, Texas.

RELATED: Voddie Baucham Believes Watching ‘The Chosen’ Would Violate the Second Commandment

The founder of Voddie Baucham Ministries has written books such as “Fault Lines: The Social Justice Movement and Evangelicalism’s Looming Catastrophe” and “It’s Not Like Being Black: How Sexual Activists Hijacked the Civil Rights Movement.”

Baucham and his wife, Bridget, have nine children, three grandchildren, and are homeschool proponents.

Voddie Baucham Requests Prayers for Family’s Next Steps

In his announcement on social media, Voddie Baucham asked for prayers for the sale of the family’s house in Lusaka and for the university he founded there. “There are many changes on the horizon,” he wrote about ACU, “and our hope is that the best days are ahead.”

Baucham also requested prayers for his children, noting that “this transition will not be easy.” He added, “Pray for wisdom as we seek to follow the Lord in regard to our next move.”

Baucham did not indicate where the family might settle when they return to America. He encouraged anyone wishing to learn the “longer story” behind the move to sign up for his ministry newsletter.

Controversies Linked to Voddie Baucham

Baucham, a Founders Ministries board member, was floated as a possible candidate for the Southern Baptist Convention (SBC) presidency in 2022. But as an overseas missionary with no regular connection to a U.S. congregation, he was ineligible to serve. Instead, Baucham ran for—and narrowly lost—the presidency of the SBC Pastors’ Conference in 2022.

Some of Baucham’s views have sparked controversy. He’s a staunch opponent of critical race theory, calling it woke and a “lie from the pit of hell.” Baucham also teaches biblical patriarchy, recommends corporal punishment, and is linked to the Stay-at-Home Daughters movement.

RELATED: ‘Scary Christian Nationalism’ Is a ‘Smokescreen,’ Says Voddie Baucham on Allie Beth’s Stuckey’s Podcast

Last year, Baucham said he believes it’s a violation of the Second Commandment to watch “The Chosen,” the hit TV show about the life of Jesus. In 2021, Baucham’s publisher defended him over plagiarism accusations regarding his book “Fault Lines.”

A church in South Memphis, Tennessee, was burglarized over the weekend, with thieves taking just about everything they could get their hands on—including the church’s toilet. Nevertheless, Pastor Gregory Harris of Greater New Hope Baptist Church is encouraging his congregation to stay on mission. 

On Sunday (Nov. 10), Harris arrived at the church to discover the side door had been ripped off of the hinge and that the church had been ransacked. 

“They stole everything that was not nailed down,” Harris told WREG.

The thieves removed the speakers from the walls of the sanctuary and raided the pastor’s office. 

RELATED: ‘Wow, Look at God!’—Police Return Thousands of Dollars of Stolen Items to KS Congregation After Receiving a Tip

“The thing that got me the most was when I walked in my office, I could hear water running and the toilet was gone,” Harris said. “They took the whole toilet.”

The thieves apparently ripped the toilet out haphazardly, causing water to saturate the carpeting in two adjacent rooms. Harris said that the thieves searched every inch of the building, looking for items to take, even turning over a box where crayons are kept for the children of the church. 

“You feel violated,” Harris said. “It’s so much robbing. It’s so much killing. So much going on. People are just trying to be opportunists, and today they took an opportunity to vandalize God’s house.”

Nevertheless, Harris said that the burglary isn’t going to stop the church from continuing to hold services. 

RELATED: SoCal Church Considers Moving Following Break-In, Vandalism

“I was going to say we weren’t going to have service,” Harris said. “We weren’t going to do nothing. But that would be giving them the victory.”

“This whole topic of mental health, especially among the older generations—they were never trained in this,” Glen Bloomstrom told Dr. Ed Stetzer and Daniel Yang in a recent episode of “The Stetzer ChurchLeaders Podcast.” This conversation is a particularly relevant one for churches thinking this Veterans Day about how to better serve those who served.

While any type of person can be at risk of struggling with suicide, Bloomstrom has extensive experience working with soldiers and veterans groups in this area. He joined Saddleback Church co-founder Kay Warren to discuss how pastors and church leaders can take steps to help people who are in crisis. 

RELATED: Kay Warren and Glen Bloomstrom: The Vital Role Church Leaders Play in Helping To Prevent Suicide 

This Veterans Day, Evaluate Your Suicide Prevention Policies 

Glen Bloomstrom grew up in a military family (his father was a career Sergeant Major in the U.S. Army). He was baptized as a Christian his senior year in college and later attended Bethel Seminary. After beginning seminary, Bloomstrom and his wife started attending Bethlehem Baptist Church in Minneapolis, which later commissioned him as an active duty Army chaplain. 

Bloomstrom served in the Army chaplaincy for 30 years, during which time he served in airborne, infantry and special operations units, served at the Pentagon, and earned a Master’s degree so he could be trained in marriage and family counseling and be equipped to train other chaplains.

He is now director of Faith Community Engagement at LivingWorks Education, where he partners with faith leaders, seminaries, denominations, and Department of Defense and veterans’ groups to prevent suicide through education and intervention training. Bloomstrom is also a member of the Faith Communities Task Force, which leads the Action Alliance in efforts to engage faith communities in suicide prevention.

“My experience with this topic began as a young chaplain in the early 80s, encountering soldiers with a variety of issues post-Vietnam—a lot of veterans at that time,” Bloomstrom told Stetzer and Yang.

“I encountered many things that we needed skills to do that, really, I hadn’t learned in seminary,” said Bloomstrom. He eventually “was sent to a graduate program by the United States Army. And then I served at the Pentagon, where I was responsible for suicide intervention training for the Army chaplaincy.”

The reality of suicide hits close to home for Bloomstrom, who shared that during his second-to-last assignment prior to his retirement in 2011, “a young chaplain that was very, very dear to me” died by suicide. Bloomstrom had worked with the young chaplain at the Pentagon. 

“I knew his family history, his story, and we were assigned doing lessons learned in Iraq,” Bloomstrom said. “And he died by suicide. And he knew all of this material,” that is, their suicide intervention training material.

“It’s kind of a personal thing,” Bloomstrom said, “to lose a dear friend who was also a pastor, a chaplain.”

More details are emerging about alleged the murder of Christian missionary Beau Shroyer. According to authorities in Angola, Shroyer’s wife, Jackie, was romantically involved with a household employee and allegedly offered to pay him and two other local men to kill Beau.

As ChurchLeaders reported, Beau and Jackie Shroyer, both 44, moved to a remote Angolan village in 2021 with their five children. Beau was conducting youth outreach with the evangelical mission organization SIM USA.

RELATED: Wife of Christian Missionary in Angola Arrested on Suspicion of His Murder

On Oct. 25, Beau, a former pastor in Minnesota, was the victim of a “violent, criminal attack,” according to a statement from Lakes Area Vineyard Church in Detroit Lakes. Days later, Jackie was arrested in connection with her husband’s murder.

Angolan Officials Suspect Murder-for-Hire Plot in Beau Shroyer’s Death

Last week, the Angola Press Agency reported on the arrest of two local men in the case, plus an ongoing hunt for a third suspect. All three men have criminal records that include kidnapping and robbery with a firearm. The two detained men, ages 23 and 24, had worked as a housekeeper and security guard for the Shroyers.

Regarding a possible motive, a lead investigator with Angola’s Criminal Investigation Service (SIC) pointed to “strong suspicions of a romantic relationship” between Jackie Shroyer and one of the detained men. The investigator alleged that Jackie masterminded the plot, offering the men up to $50,000 to kill Beau, because she wanted to stay in Angola after his missionary assignment ended.

According to authorities, Jackie paid the men some money upfront and promised them more afterward. The suspects reportedly rented a car, drove to a remote area, and called Beau Shroyer to say they were stranded and needed help.

When Beau arrived, the men allegedly stabbed him to death while Jackie was briefly away from the scene. The murder weapon was reportedly a knife that the missionary had once gifted to one of the male suspects.

Jackie Shroyer’s “distraught” reaction to her husband’s murder wasn’t believable, officials alleged. They added that the U.S. embassy in Angola is monitoring the situation and communicating with relatives of the Shroyers in America.

Mission Organization: Pray and Be Patient

SIM USA, an evangelical Christian organization, said it is focused on seeking justice for its deceased missionary. It is also ensuring that Jackie has “appropriate legal representation” and that the couple’s five children are “well cared for.”

British retailer Debenhams has recently pulled “disgraceful” Christmas themed merchandise from its online store following backlash. Sweaters and mugs depicted the Christmas manger with a rainbow and the words “a gay in a manger.” Christians in the U.K.—and around the world—are calling out the retailer for mocking religion.

“Distasteful and disgraceful. A Debenhams boycott is in order,” said one customer.

Christian Groups Boycott Debenhams Over Controversial ‘A Gay in a Manger’ Sweater

Controversy over the images that retailers choose to put on merchandise is becoming increasingly common. For example, in 2023 Target removed items that combined Satanic messaging alongside LGBTQ+ Pride Month merchandise.

This time, British retailer Debenhams navigated heated feedback from Christians in regards to merchandise including the phrase, “a gay in a manger.” According to Daily Mail, sweaters and mugs depicted a traditional Christmas manger scene but with a radiant rainbow bursting from the manger. The words, “Gay in a manger,” accompanied the art.

“Debenhams would not mock Islam in this way,” said former British Parliament member Jacob Rees-Mogg.

One religious leaders who responded was Spirit Embassy Church in Tottenham Pastor Rikki Doolan: “What makes you think @Debenhams that it is OK to insult the Christian faith in such a disgusting way as this? Do you think it’s right to freely mock our faith and God like this? We as British Christians will not tolerate this.”

“The main issue at hand here is,” Doolan went on to explain, “if you are going to mock people’s faith then why do you only do it to Christianity? What is it that makes you feel it’s okay to do it to us? Unless you have gay Muhammad and Buddah T-shirts that we don’t know of?”

An advocacy group, Christian Concern, agreed. “The company producing these products should be boycotted,” the group said in on X.

Disgraceful that @Debenhams were selling this product. A full public apology must follow. https://t.co/N3IXbJx0hp pic.twitter.com/uVqyHqXq5V

— Christian Concern (@CConcern) November 8, 2024

People agreed with the call for boycott and the poorly designed merchandise.

One said, “Distasteful and disgraceful. A Debenhams boycott is in order.”

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“Do you think it’s okay to make fun of my religion and my beliefs by stocking this awful product?” another asked the retailer. “I have shopped at Debenhams for 22 years and spent a lot of money there each month. Not anymore! Would you mock Islam like this? Muhammad’s gay baby?”

Not long ago, 18 months to be exact, Jake Bates was a salesman for ACME Brick in Houston. Now, he is kicking game-winning field goals in the NFL for the Detroit Lions.

Bates kicked two crucial field goals in the last five minutes of the Lions’ game against the C.J. Stroud-led Houston Texans. With four seconds left in the game, and in only the ninth NFL game of his career, the 25-year-old Bates calmly jogged onto his hometown Texans’ field to kick a 52-yard game-winning field goal.

The game clock expired just as Bates’ kick squeezed past the left upright, giving the Lions their eighth win of the season and capping off a thrilling 16-point second half comeback victory.

RELATED: C.J. Stroud Gives ‘All Glory and Praise’ to Jesus After Winning 1st Game of New NFL Season

Immediately following the game, Sunday Night Football sideline reporter Melissa Stark asked Bates what it meant to him to kick that winning field goal.

“Just recently,” she said, “you were a brick salesman. You thought you were out of football. So what does this mean to you to come back and do this in your hometown area?”

‘I’m Here To Spread the Love of Jesus,’ Detroit Lions Kicker Jake Bates Proclaims on Live Television

“I think it just shows, you know, how good the Lord is,” Bates responded. “He’s so faithful. And man, my story is—if anything, I just hope people can see Jesus through my story.”

“And I mean, that’s what I think I’m here to do, is not make or miss or be a good kicker or a bad kicker, but spread the love of Jesus,” he added. “So hopefully I’m able to do that on the stage I’m given.”

Through nine games, Bates has yet to miss a field goal. He is a perfect 14-14 for the season.

Jake Bates Keeps Calm By Reciting Hebrews 12:1

Last month, Bates kicked a 44-yard game-winning field goal in the final 15 seconds of the Lions’ game against their division rival the Minnesota Vikings.

Following the game, Bates told reporters how he deals with the pressure of taking the field for a kick that might mean the difference between winning and losing.

Dr. Matt Queen, a former administrator and professor at Southwestern Baptist Theological Seminary in Fort Worth, Texas, has resigned as pastor of Friendly Avenue Baptist Church in Greensboro, North Carolina. 

Queen’s resignation comes roughly one month after he pleaded guilty to making false statements to federal investigators during an investigation into whether Southwestern had mishandled allegations of sexual assault.

Friendly Avenue Baptist Church said in a statement to ChurchLeaders that Queen’s resignation from the church is “effective immediately.”

“While this has been a challenging season, we continue to trust in God’s sovereignty and remain focused on our mission,” the church said. “As we move forward, we encourage our congregation and the wider community to stay focused on Jesus, the author and perfecter of our faith.”

RELATED: Disgraced Pastor Johnny Hunt Tells His Side of the Story in Deposition, Offers His Own Definitions of ‘Adultery,’ ‘Sexual Abuse’

Queen was charged in May with falsification of records amid the Department of Justice’s (DOJ) probe of Southern Baptist entities regarding their handling of sexual abuse allegations. The investigation of Southwestern began in 2022, when Queen was still employed there. 

The U.S. Attorney’s Office alleged that shortly after the DOJ opened its investigation, Southwestern received a report of sexual abuse committed by a student, but the incident was not reported to the DOJ.

The U.S. Attorney’s Office further said that Terri Stovall, who serves as dean of women at the school, created a document in January 2023 that described the failure of Southwestern “to take action regarding the allegation at that time” but that Heath Woolman, then chief of staff, ordered the document destroyed during a meeting with Stovall and Queen. 

Queen later produced notes for investigators that he said were from that meeting. The notes conflicted with Stovall’s testimony, and investigators believed them to be falsified.

RELATED: The SBC Will Sell Its Nashville Headquarters To Defray Abuse-Related Legal Costs

Queen was placed on administrative leave from Southwestern in June 2023. He subsequently resigned before assuming his role as pastor of Friendly Avenue Baptist Church in February of this year.