Two new developments in the past few days appear to hasten the final demise of Ravi Zacharias International Ministries (RZIM).
Firstly, a number of donors in the USA have filed a complaint in a Georgia federal court, claiming that the organisation covered up its founder’s abusive conduct. They allege they were misled to believe that their donations were being used to promote ‘Christian evangelism, apologetic defence of Christianity, and humanitarian efforts.’ However, the donors claim they were misinformed as they were told there was no evidence of abuse; instead ‘Zacharias was a prolific sexual predator who used his ministry and RZIM funds to perpetrate sexual and spiritual abuse against women’.
Secondly, the leader of RZIM US, Vince Vitale, has resigned from the organisation, together with his wife Jo, who also works for the ministry.
In a letter, they said they had undergone repentance in the wake of a devastating report last year into sexual misconduct by the ministry’s founder, the late Ravi Zacharias.
The couple said that since the publication of the report, they had sought to live with ‘three very strong convictions’.
‘One was that God was leading us to take seriously what we personally needed to repent of – to spend far more of our prayers, thoughts, and words on our own mistakes and failures than on those of anyone else.
‘The second and most pressing was that RZIM’s response to the grave abuse that occurred was critically important – most crucially for the survivors, and also for the mission and witness of the wider church in sober recognition of the need to do far better to ensure that the vulnerable are seen, heard, valued and safe.
‘Thirdly, once we had done what we could to encourage a victim-centred response, it would be important for us to step into a substantial season of reordering’.
