(RNS) — A tiny slip of paper with handwritten notes might have cost the stated clerk of the Presbyterian Church in America his job.
During a recording of a Gospel Coalition podcast, Bryan Chapell, the stated clerk of the PCA, held up a small piece of paper that named people he said had been troublemakers in the church and said that many of their lives had been ruined.
“Those are the names of the scandalizers, the people who have invested hours every day attacking others for their supposed lack of faithfulness, for their compromise; whose identity comes from scandalizing others,” he said in the podcast, which was being video-recorded. “And every name on that list has either left his family, left the faith or taken his life. Every name on that list.”
Chapell appeared unaware that the names on the list were visible. Viewers were able to pause the recording, which was posted on May 20, and make out the names. The list went viral in PCA circles online and led to an ethics complaint against Chapell.
The podcast, in which Chapell discussed his new book on church unity, was taken down, and Chapell apologized. He also said his comments regarding the people on the list were wrong.
“With deep regret for harm done to others, I am issuing a public apology for not taking proper care to protect the reputation of others,” he wrote on the Gospel Coalition website.
The Rev. Bryan Chapell on his “Daily Grac …