A Korean-American attorney, a prominent elder at Grace Community Church (GCC), has resigned from his position, calling the church’s handling of domestic violence “problematic.”
GCC is led by Rev. John MacArthur, regarded as “most influential pastor of the 21st century.”
The controversy erupted when attorney Dennis Cho (pictured), who has served as an elder at GCC since 2014, recently submitted his resignation to the church. Cho, a high-profile lawyer specializing in mergers and acquisitions for biotech companies.
In his recent resignation letter to the church, Cho stated that his “conscience and convictions were not aligned with other GCC elders.”
The incident began when Cho was tasked with investigating cases of domestic violence within the church. “Last year, I was asked by the elders’ committee to reopen a case of domestic violence against a female church member 20 years ago,” Cho said. “At the time, the woman suffered from domestic violence from her husband, and her husband was convicted of sexually molesting and physically abusing children and sent to prison. However, the church shamed and excommunicated her for ‘sinning’.”
At the time, the church reportedly disciplined the woman, who was seeking a divorce, saying that it was “biblically right to obey your husband.”
“Through my investigation, I realized that the church’s decision was a mistake, and I requested a formal apology to the victim to bring justice but it was not accepted,” Cho said. “However, the church demanded that I either withdraw my findings or resign as an elder.”
As news of the investigation into domestic violence victims in the church spread, women who had remained silent began to come forward one by one.
“One woman asked the court for a restraining order against her husband because of his behaviors of grooming, infidelity, and assault, but the church advised her that she should ‘move back in with him,'” Cho said. “I then realized that this was a pattern of horrific counseling happening within the church.”
After investigating several victims, Cho alleged that for victims of incest, sexual assault, and domestic violence who sought faith-based counseling, the church’s counseling often involved citing Bible verses about forgiveness, trust, love, and submission.
According to Cho’s investigation, a woman who was hospitalized after being physically abused by her husband was told by the church’s counseling pastor, “Don’t call the police, go home,” and that “this situation itself may be God’s will.”
“In response to Cho’s resignation, GCC issued an internal statement asserting that their church’s history and congregation are a testament to their work, and that the issues raised by Cho are private matters.”
The church’s leadership continued to reject Cho’s repeated requests for an apology.
“The leadership of the church, the Session, reacted defensively and seemed to only want to protect Pastor John MacArthur,” Cho said. “He told me to ‘get over it,’ but I decided to do the right thing and resign, guided by my religious conscience, prayer, counsel, and the Bible, leaving the outcome to God.”
BY YEOL JANG [support@koreadaily.com]
