The Foursquare Church is committed to leading in the way of Jesus with humility, integrity and mercy, and to stewarding power to protect, provide for and empower others.
Significant updates have been made toward healthy leadership and accountability since our September 2022 update, which was sent to all credentialed Foursquare ministers.
In the September update, we outlined four essential milestones to ensure that Foursquare’s practices regarding organizational transparency, and prevention of abuse, harassment, and misconduct include measures to ensure accountability for all stakeholders, protection for complainants, and preservation of ministry integrity.
These milestones include:
- Provide clear definitions of newly emerging terms of ministerial misconduct and an explanation of the organization’s process to investigate and adjudicate claims.
- Have a clearly articulated theological framework to address how ministers will be held accountable or exonerated in accordance with Scripture.
- Review and refine the organization’s protocols to ensure safe reporting environments for reporters and for the accused.
- Integrate additional procedures into our polity so that all layers of leadership experience increased accountability.
Progress has been made on milestones one, three and four in partnership with Guidepost Solutions, a globally acclaimed consultancy in institutional integrity practices. Guidepost Solutions was retained to perform a detailed assessment of our policies, procedures and team charters and make recommendations for improvement as needed. Guidepost Solutions is working to complete their assessment by mid-February.
In response to milestone two, the Foursquare Doctrine Committee completed a draft of a biblical and theological framework for understanding healthy and unhealthy leadership. This resource includes examination of scriptures related to accusation, investigation, response, restoration, and accountability measures for ministry leaders who are accused of misconduct. The Foursquare board of directors is reviewing this resource along with all other materials in preparation for a thorough report to the cabinet in March of this year. Comprehensive training and education will follow later in 2023 for those involved in the intake, investigation, response and reconciliation process, followed by training for all Foursquare ministers to understand the process.
To stay up to date on communication regarding our journey toward healthy accountability, visit foursquare.org/healthy-leadership.
