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Pastor of one of Canada’s largest megachurches placed on leave
after alleged sexual misconduct
By Anugrah Kumar,
Christian Post Contributor|
Sunday, December 12, 2021
Pastor Bruxy Cavey preaches at The Meeting House in the Toronto suburbs in December 2019. | YouTube/The Meeting House
One of Canada’s largest multi-site churches has placed its lead pastor on leave after sexual misconduct allegations were made against him.
The Meeting House, an Anabaptist megachurch in Ontario, has announced that it placed teaching pastor Bruxy Cavey, 56, on a leave of absence while an external investigation looks into sexual misconduct allegations made by a woman to the church’s board of directors late last month.
“We take these allegations very seriously and are committed to a thorough and transparent process. We are praying through this situation,” Maggie John, the executive chair of the church’s overseers board, said in a statement reported by CityNews Toronto.
Cavey became the senior pastor of what was once called Upper Oaks Community Church in 1997. The name was changed to The Meeting House and grew to 19 campuses throughout the Toronto area with a weekly attendance of over 5,000. Its flagship campus is in Oakville.
Cavey is the author of the 2007 book The End of Religion: Encountering the Subversive Spirituality of Jesus (just removed from my personal library, having never been read) and the 2017 book Reunion: The Good News of Jesus for Seekers, Saints, and Sinners, which has a forward written by progressive Christian activist Shane Clairborne.
According to CityNews, Cavey is not facing any criminal charges.
The church’s website describes itself as a “church that exists to grow loving communities of Jesus-followers who live and share his irreligious message. It belongs to the Anabaptist denomination Be In Christ Church of Canada.
“While Rev. Cavey has a larger public profile than most, our posture is still the same as it would be for all our Pastors,” Charles Mashinter, executive director of Be In Christ, said in a statement to Religion News Service.
“We desire reconciliation and healing for any who may experience harm involving one of our clergy. Support has been provided for those directly involved as well as counseling for those deeply affected by this news. When the investigator has concluded their work and delivered their report we, will determine next steps in keeping with these values.”
Cavey gained a following through his sermons and his YouTube videos in which he would answer questions about Christianity, according to City News.
In 2018, California-based Fresno Pacific Bible Seminary, which belongs to the Mennonite Brethren denomination, removed Cavey as a guest lecturer after donors raised concerns over his theology.
The church I attend here in Abbotsford, B.C., has a Mennonite Brethren background, and has excellent theology.
In 2019, a pastor in Regina, the capital of Canada’s Saskatchewan province, resigned after church leaders were told he had abused his power to harass women in his congregation.
Rev. Jerven Weekes had been the lead pastor for more than a decade at Rosewood Park Alliance Church, an evangelical Protestant church from the Christian and Missionary Alliance in Canada, according to CBC News. The outlet reported at the time that three women had complained to the church about sexual harassment or inappropriate behavior by him over the previous two years.
Missouri boarding school doctor accused of child sex crimes
The doctor for a private Christian boarding school that has been the focus
of an abuse investigation in Missouri has been charged with child sex crimes
By The Associated Press
24 December 2021, 08:02
SPRINGFIELD, Mo. -- The doctor for a private Christian boarding school that has been the focus of an abuse investigation in Missouri was charged with child sex crimes.
An arrest warrant was issued Thursday for
David Earl Smock, 57,
the longtime physician for Agape Boarding School, the Kansas City Star reported.
Smock is charged with second-degree statutory sodomy, third-degree child molestation of a child less than 14 years of age and enticement or attempted enticement of a child less than 15 years of age, court records show.
Smock was not in custody as of Friday, according to the jail website in Greene County, where the case was filed. The probable cause statement was not immediately available Friday because the court was closed for the holiday.
Agape remains under scrutiny after five staffers were charged in September with assaulting students. One of the defendants is Smock’s son-in-law.
Smock, who runs a walk-in clinic in Cedar County and volunteers at a Springfield ministry for the homeless, has other ties to the school. One of his sons is married to the late Agape founder’s granddaughter. And he is featured prominently on Agape’s website, supporting the school’s model and encouraging parents to send their troubled boys there. Smock has said on the site that he works with the school to wean boys off medications for behavioral issues.
Smock also owns an 11-bedroom mansion that a former Agape staff leader uses to operate another Christian boarding school, called Legacy Academy Adventures.
No attorney is listed for Smock in online court records. And he couldn’t be reached at his clinic, which was closed on Friday.
