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Latest Teaching: August 29, 2021
LATEST STATEMENT [ March 20, 2021 ]
Many of you have reached out to us asking about the meetings (on two different dates) that have been called by the remaining Church For All Nations elders. We have still received no direct information from them concerning any of this. I did however receive this text and pics of “ballots” from a precious member/congregant last night after a Church For All Nations elder showed up at her home.
From the member congregant:
“Hello Pastor Ashley, I didn't know if they let you guys know about the vote getting ready to happen soon. It seem like it's being done in secret. We only got this information on accident they didn't think we were members and weren't going to get to vote. They are going to let anyone vote and throw away anyone vote who is not a members of the church, just so people feel they voted. This information came from a Elder. Just thought you should know! Praying for God's will and hearts be healed. You can share this with anyone who needs to know whats happening, so we can vote and get our Pastors restored and continue to do what God's called them to do.”
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I can honestly say that I did have hopes that this vote would possibly be handled according to current bylaws even after we were told that elders have been holding private meetings with only some congregants where blatant and far fetched lies were being told told about us.
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This message came today from one of our mentors after he was told what is happening. He has a history dealing with church bylaw matters.
“It appears that they know that under the current constitution that they would not be able to get the 2/3 vote needed to remove you so they are assuming that they can get 51% to change the bylaws and then get 20% to remove you. There is One who is witness to all of this and He is the One that is our shield and defender. May the peace of Jesus be your portion in the midst of the storm.”
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Church For All Nations family, please join us in asking for an explanation of why the bylaws have to suddenly be changed before the vote to remove us and also for your right to vote to be respected.
PREVIOUS STATEMENT [ February 22, 2021 ]
Church For All Nations Family, We continue to ask for explanation and clarification. Below you will find the content of the email sent to the remaining members of the Church For All Nations Council of Elders today. Keep praying! We love you all. - Pastors JF & Ashley
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Dear Church For All Nations Council of Elders,
We continue to be committed to transparency and accountability to the Church For All Nations family. In that effort, we urge you to join us in calling for an all-church meeting to discuss your allegations against us. This meeting can and should take place after a Sunday service in the coming weeks.
In the elder statement you released on February 12th, you stated that your purpose in placing us on administrative leave on February 8th was to dismiss us from our positions as Senior Pastors. If this is still your intent, you have not followed the requirements laid out in our church bylaws in Section 6.5.
The bylaws provide:
The Senior Pastor may be removed by a two-thirds majority vote of the Council of Elders on the basis of un-scriptural conduct or radical departure from the Statement of Faith held by this church (see Article V of the Articles of Incorporation) only after procedures consistent with those taught in Matthew 18:15-17 have been followed. However, the vote by the Council of Elders to remove the Senior Pastor must be followed by a two-thirds majority vote of the entire church membership for removal to be considered ratified. In the event that the Council of Elders has voted to remove the Senior Pastor, the entire congregation will be called to three days of fasting and prayer.
In addition to failing to follow the requirements of the bylaws, you have repeatedly declined to explain the basis for your allegations against us. Your February 12th elder statement alleges “doctrinal and character issues” and includes three Articles of Dismissal that you offer to justify your actions. But, importantly, your statement provides us and our CFAN family with no understanding of those allegations. Both we and the CFAN congregation are entitled to an explanation of these allegations.
The Articles of Dismissal you offer are:
The co-pastors have failed to promote, protect, and defend the sound doctrine of the church.
The co-pastors acted in blatant disregard in the care and treatment of the sheep.
The co-pastors have failed to oversee the staff that has been placed under their charge.
We disagree with each charge.
Because you have offered no explanation, we are left to conclude that these allegations arise out of—what we believed to be—discussions concerning good-faith disagreements. These disagreements are far from the “doctrinal and character issues” you cite in your February 12th statement and fail to justify removal under our bylaws.
You allege that we have failed to promote, protect, and defend sound doctrine of the church. But you have cited no deviation from our statement of faith or concerning doctrinal assertion on our part. Further, CFAN’s recently retired Associate Pastor of over 20 years specializing in church doctrine, Dr. Pastor Ken Ecker, has offered us his support and joins our call for transparency and accountability of the CFAN leaders. On occasion, certain members of the Council of Elders have raised concerns that we seem to be too socially-justice minded, but—as we have stated before—we reject the notion that the Gospel of Jesus Christ does not call us to seek justice for all people in truth and love in accordance with Scripture. We do this to continue our mission to reach people with the life-giving message of Jesus! Further, we understand that certain members of the Elder Board have raised concern about women in church leadership, with 3 elders citing specifically that they do not view Pastor Ashley as the actual Senior Co-Pastor, but their personal convictions are not supported by the CFAN statement of faith, the CFAN governing documents, or the Fellowship of Christian Assemblies.
You allege that we have acted in blatant disregard for the care and treatment of the sheep, but you do not explain how we have failed to care for the CFAN family. The nature of this last year has emphasized just how important it is that we care for one another. In the midst of having seen rapid growth of the church in our first year, and then restrictions and uncertainty due to COVID 19 in 2020, we have faithfully continued to share the gospel of Jesus to thousands in continued services online and in person. Despite the challenges, we have been able to continue discipleship of similar numbers through small groups, Women’s Bible Study, Student Nation, Kids Nation and Growth Track. On top of these ministries, the Lord allowed us to launch The Pantry at Church For All Nations that resourced over 100,000 people (and 30+ additional organizations) with an estimated $4 million worth of food and supplies in 2020 alone.
You allege that we have failed to oversee the staff placed under our charge but fail to cite or explain how we have neglected this duty. This allegation is certainly not supported by Pastor Angie Hall, former Executive Pastor; Pastor Jordan Jones, former Student Ministries Pastor, Jamie Brumagin, former Administrative Assistant, Mandy Jaeger, former Receptionist/Administrative Assistant; and Susan James, former Executive Assistant who all resigned in response to and protest of your actions. It is not also supported by Pastors Eric and Stephanie Manley, Small Groups and Family Pastors, who you recently asked to step back from their ministerial duties on February 18th because—as we understand it—they asked repeatedly for clarification of your lack of adherence to the bylaws in your attempt to dismiss us as Senior Pastors and the vague justifications you offered for your actions. And it is not supported by the current and former pastors and staff who have stated their unequivocal support for us as the Senior Pastors: Dr. Pastor Ken Ecker, former Associate Pastor specializing in Church Doctrine; and Pastor Michelle Martin, Children’s Pastor. This support is a strong rebuttal to your allegation against us. Previously, you raised concerns about a certain staff member’s social media posts calling attention to a traumatic event this individual experienced in the past and also calling for justice in related issues; but—as we explained—we believe it is important that our staff lovingly and thoughtfully engage with people in a genuine and relevant way as long as it adheres to Biblical truth. We believe that this is part of reaching people with the life-giving message of Jesus so that they might become devoted followers of Christ. We have addressed statements and posts of various natures from other staff and elders similarly.
With love and respect, you must give account for your allegations against us. You cannot continue to assert—as you did in your statement to CFAN yesterday—that you take your mandate to lead with godly wisdom seriously when you so flagrantly ignore the accountability measures imposed on you by our bylaws and continue to refuse to explain your serious accusations against us. The vague nature of your accusations and suggestion of “doctrinal and character issues” has left room for assumptions from our congregation and the community that are damaging to our reputation and the CFAN congregation! We are asking that truth be brought to light and questions from our congregation be honestly answered.
Further, if you intend to continue to pursue our dismissal you must call for a vote of the entire church membership. But this should be done only after you have provided clarity in your allegations against us. Further, there are over 300 CFAN family members who have completed all 4 steps of our Growth Track classes who should be eligible to vote as members. We recognize that due to the extenuating circumstances of pastoring during a global pandemic, the final step of the typical membership process—approval by a majority vote of the Council of Elders—has not yet taken place. But that final step can and should be satisfied in the time before any vote of the members of our congregation.
This is an incredibly difficult time for our church and for us personally, but we believe that the Lord will turn it for good. We pray for justice and restoration. And with love, we call for accountability and answers from you, the members of the CFAN Council of Elders.
In that effort, we again ask you to join us in calling for an all-church meeting to discuss your allegations against us. This meeting can and should take place after a Sunday service in the coming weeks. This meeting must include a meaningful opportunity for dialog with the CFAN congregation, meaning you must take questions from people who attend the meeting. Additionally, though you have banned us from the CFAN campus, we intend to be present at this meeting.
The following current and former staff members and leaders have read this letter and have requested their names be added to join us in this call for transparency and accountability in the form of an all-church meeting:
Pastor Angie Hall
Pastor Jordan Jones
Pastor Michelle Martin
Pastor Eric Manley
Pastor Stephanie Manley
Dr. Pastor Ken Ecker
Former Elder Arnie Berhiem
Susan James
Jamie Brumagin
Mandy Jaeger
In His Peace,
Pastors JF and Ashley Wilkerson
PREVIOUS STATEMENT [ February 11, 2021 ]
Dear Church For All Nations Family,
In an effort to be transparent and to sincerely petition for your prayers, we feel it necessary to share a few details concerning recent events. In response to these events that we will share, we are also asking you to seek accountability of our leaders and explanations for actions that took place this week.
We all recognize that 2020 was a year unlike any most of us have ever faced. Yet, despite a global pandemic, an economic recession and extreme cultural polarization, we have seen God move mightily. Not only have we as a church continued to share the gospel of Jesus to thousands in continued services online and in person, but we have been able to continue discipleship of similar numbers through small groups, Women’s Bible Study, Student Nation, Kids Nation and Growth Track. On top of these ministries, the Lord allowed us to launch The Pantry at Church For All Nations that resourced over 100,000 people with an estimated $4 million worth of food and supplies in that year alone.
In December, we both had our annual review from the Council of Elders, and it was overwhelmingly positive. Nothing could have prepared us for what was to come over the last few weeks.
We were taken completely by surprise when on January 20, 2021, at what was supposed to be our monthly elder meeting, our resignation was demanded by part of the Council of Elders. We were informed that this was not a unified decision of the Council of Elders, instead, only the 5 members of the finance committee were even aware that the demand would be made. The elders that desired our resignation then took turns speaking to what we would describe as personality and stylistic difference of opinion and methods. These were the only reasons stated for why they no longer desired for us to be their Senior Pastors. Again our resignation was requested from those select elders and we refused because we disagreed with their reasoning.
After almost 6 hours of heated discussion that night, we agreed to pray and come back together in person one week later to seek resolution. That meeting, however, was postponed after we were notified that certain elders did not plan to attend.
The next regularly scheduled elder meeting was to take place on February 10th. We both intended to attend and discuss necessary matters as well as address the previous demand for our resignation.
But, instead of gathering in person for the scheduled meeting, an elder decided to call a different one. On Monday afternoon, February 8th, we received a text message that there would be a zoom elder meeting that same day at 4pm. We were given a zoom ID and password to log into the meeting. We logged in at 4pm, but were kept in a “waiting room” for a short period of time. When we were admitted to the virtual meeting platform, we were informed that Elder Arnie Berheim had been voted off of the Council of Elders without us or Elder Berheim present for the vote.
We were then asked again for our resignation citing new reasons:
Co-pastors have failed to defend sound doctrine.
Co-Pastors have blatant disregard for the care and nurture of the sheep.
Co-Pastors have failed to oversee staff properly.
We asked if we could be given examples or evidence of any of these allegations and we were told not at this time. We do not believe these accusations are accurate or true.
When we refused to resign yet again, we both were immediately put on unpaid administrative leave. We were asked not to return to the property of Church For All Nations unless we scheduled it with the elder running the meeting and only for the purpose of picking up personal items.
Despite requests, we still have received no explanation in writing from the Council of Elders.
Family, there has been no immorality or impropriety of any kind on our part. None is even alleged. We have not resigned. And the Church for All Nations bylaws are not being followed. Senior pastors may only be removed from their position following a two-thirds vote of the Council of Elders and two-thirds vote of the entire church membership.
We are not the only ones disturbed by the Council of Elders’ unexplained actions. In response to and protest of their action, the following staff members have resigned this week and have given us permission to list them in this post:
Pastor Angie Hall
Pastor Jordan Jones
Mandy Jaeger
Susan James
Jonas Torres
Jamie Brumagin
And the following current and former staff have stated their unequivocal support for us as the Senior Pastors:
Pastor Ken Ecker
Pastor Michelle Martin
This is an incredibly difficult time but we believe that the Lord will turn it for good. Join us in praying for justice and restoration. Please also join us in demanding accountability and answers from our Council of Elders. We encourage you to reach out to them by phone and email.
We love you all and appreciate your prayers. We know the Lord answers prayers. We are happy to answer any questions you may have, and so appreciate your support. We are also so grateful for our entire families including our Dad and Pastor, Rev. Dr. Rich Wilkerson Sr. (an international evangelist and pastor that leads congregations numbering over 10,000) who came in from Miami this week to stand with us and help guide us through these chaotic times. He reminded us this week of the powerful words of our cousin David Wilkerson (the author of The Cross and the Switchblade) who used to say to him, “Rich, stay close to the cross and you cannot go wrong.”
We remain your Senior Co-Pastors. Stay tuned to our social media. There are still so many people in the Pacific Northwest that need to know the love and hope of Jesus.
In His Peace,
Pastors JF and Ashley Wilkerson