Covering Your Leader’s Sins
How the RZIM scandal exposes an Evangelical culture of complicity
I am personally repelled by stories of scandal. The raunchier the account, the further away I want to be. I do not delight in digging into anyone’s misdeeds and therefore, this was instinctively my first reaction when the RZIM (Ravi Zachariah International Ministries) scandal came out. This time, however, was different. Even as many articles have surfaced responding to the scandal, I believe there is space for more.
Don’t worry, this essay is not about sex.
This is not just another case of a man using money and power for sexual favors. Instead, it presents a dire warning of an insidious problem within our ranks: namely, a pervasive tolerance, encouragement and enabling of abusive authority.
We evangelicals have a problem with authority and it is time we come clean.
As I learned with my brothers at Illuman*, “the pain we do not deal with, we transmit.” Hidden, unresolved, and unexposed hurt leads to systemic patterns of deceit and hypocrisy.
A few days ago, Ruth Malhorta, a member of the RZIM staff published her letter to the board. In it, she paints the picture of a toxic work environment where loyalty to the Zachariah family was put above all else. She…
