As much as RELEVANT has always strived to cast a vision for the future of a vibrant, flourishing Christian community, it’s even more important that we model that vision internally. And when we fall short, we must seek to make amends, reconcile with the people we’ve hurt and humbly pursue a better way by the grace of God.
The issues raised by Andre Henry, Rebecca Marie Jo and other former staffers are real and serious. The stories they shared are a result of us failing to live up to the standard of Kingdom living we advocate every day on our platform. Whether through active marginalization of their voices or passive silence in the face of marginalization, many members of our staff were in the wrong. We are sorry.
And now we publicly seek the forgiveness of the RELEVANT community — people who subscribe to our print magazine, read our articles online, listen to our podcasts and lend their voices to our brand. We know you trusted us, and we know we let you down. We are sorry, and we will do our best to earn your respect. We hope you will give us another chance.
Here is how we plan to do that, per discussions amongst the staff.
Our founder, Cameron Strang, will be stepping away from his duties as publisher to engage a long-term process of seeking counsel to address the concerns brought up by former staff and critics. In his own post, Cameron has apologized and taken ownership of many of the issues that have been raised. The exact details of all this are still being planned, but we will be transparent about this process as decisions are made.
In the meantime, we will be putting together an accountability board to guide RELEVANT through our transition. This group will be assembled with the guidance of trusted outside leaders.
We will be transparent and honest about the exact nature of these changes as we make them. We understand that none of the steps outlined here are worthwhile unless they’re met with action. Our pledge to you is to take the necessary steps. We understand we’ll be judged accordingly.
We at RELEVANT still believe in our mission. We want to exist at the intersection of faith and culture, providing a platform for a diverse array of voices shaping the future of the Church. Doing that effectively will take some major changes on our part. We expect that this will be a difficult season. We will enter into this prayerfully, under the guidance and accountability of leaders who will challenge, rebuke, train and equip us to fully live out God’s call to be a welcoming place for all people, speak the truth to and about those in power, defend and amplify the voices of the marginalized and shine a light on God’s ongoing work in the world around us.
