Mega-church Pastor Carl Lentz was fired from his job this fall after he admitted to being “unfaithful” in his marriage.
Lentz, who led Hillsong Church East Coast in New York City, also faced criticism in 2017 when he failed to condemn abortion as a sin during his appearance on The View.
The Daily Wire reports church leaders announced Wednesday that they fired Lentz due to “moral failures.”
“Today Hillsong Church East Coast advised our congregation that we have terminated the employment of Pastor Carl Lentz,” church founder Brian Houston said. “This action was not taken lightly and was done in the best interests of everyone, including Pastor Carl.”
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A day later, Lentz explained why he was fired in a post on Instagram. He admitted that he had been “unfaithful” to his wife, Laura.
“I was unfaithful in my marriage, the most important relationship in my life and held accountable for that,” Lentz wrote. “This failure is on me, and me alone and I take full responsibility for my actions. I now begin a journey of rebuilding trust with my wife, Laura and my children and taking real time to work on and heal my own life and seek out the help that I need.”
Three years ago, Lentz appeared on “The View” to talk about his ministry. Rather than speak boldly about loving both the mother and her unborn child, Lentz side-stepped a question about abortion from the panel, The Federalist reports.
“So, it’s not a sin in your church to have an abortion?” pro-abortion host Joy Behar asked.
Lentz responded: “That’s the kind of conversation we would have finding out your story, where you’re from, what you believe. … I mean, God’s the judge. People have to live to their own convictions. That’s such a broad question, to me, I’m going higher. I want to sit with somebody and say, ‘What do you believe?’”
“So it’s not an open and shut case to you?” Behar asked.
“Some people would say it is,” Lentz responded. “To me, I’m trying to teach people who Jesus is first, and find out their story. Before I start picking and choosing what I think is sin in your life, I’d like to know your name.”
A few days later, Letnz said he does believe abortion is a sin but he chose to emphasize grace instead of the sin.
“I do believe abortion is sinful,” Lentz wrote on Twitter. “Our prayer is that we can continue to help and love those that deal with the pain of regret from personal choices, rather than cast further shame and guilt on those already carrying so much and create a church that can teach people how to form convictions based on God’s word, that will be the driving force in all their decisions.”
