Elder Team Recommends Dr. Michael Brown Resume Public Ministry

Team responds to Firefly Investigation into accusations of sexual misconduct by Brown

A group of Christian leaders comprising an “elder accountability team” recommended that Line of Fire’s Dr. Michael Brown be released to resume his public ministry from which he has refrained since November.

Dr Michael Brown / Video screenshot @The Line of Fire

The team also expressed concerns about the Firefly investigation report into accusations against Brown that “concluded that Brown’s actions toward the two females were inappropriate and unacceptable for his leadership position within the ministry.”

Brown was accused of sexual misconduct by crossing physical boundaries with a 21-year-old woman, Sarah Monk, who was working as a secretary at Brown’s FIRE School of Ministry, based in Concord, North Carolina.

While admitting to a close relationship with his accuser, Brown claimed the relationship was “totally non-sexual in every way.”

The elder accountability team took issue with Firefly’s use of the term “sexually abusive misconduct,” the lack of opportunity for Brown to provide rebuttal to some testimony, the failure of Firefly to include testimony by Nancy Brown, wife of Michael Brown, and the claim that Brown was intentionally grooming Sarah Monk, one of his victims.

According to the team, Firefly expanded the “historically narrow understanding of the term” sexual abuse when it evaluated Brown’s conduct. In evaluating this expansion, the elder team argued that it could bring “confusion in what constitutes true sexual abuse and has the very real danger of diluting it.”

Access to MinistryWatch content is free.  However, we hope you will support our work with your prayers and financial gifts. To make a donation, click here.

The elder team also recommended that Brown or Line of Fire agree to pay for reasonable counseling expenses for Monk and that Brown invite Monk and the husband of the married woman to an in-person meeting for dialogue that might aid in healing.

The elder accountability team was comprised of Jonathan Bernis, president of Jewish Voice Ministries International; Raleigh Washington, pastor emeritus of Rock of Our Salvation Evangelical Free Church in Chicago; Leif Hetland, president of Global Mission Awareness; and Mark and Nicki Pfeifer, pastors of Open Door Church in Ohio.

In evaluating Brown’s conduct during the 2001-2002 period with both an unnamed married woman and Sarah Monk, who was a secretary at the FIRE School of Ministry, the elder accountability team believes Brown attempted to follow the process laid out in Matthew 18.

Nevertheless, his desire to keep the misconduct private while occupying a leadership role was a “breach of trust” and “unwise.”

The elder accountability team believes the Line of Fire board should have been contacted five years ago when the allegations first resurfaced and a Matthew 18 process followed.

They condemned as unbiblical those who “relitigated with accusations, judgment, and sentencing by a jury on social media” and caused “irreparable damage to Dr. Brown’s credibility and ministry.”

The team went on to say they do not believe Brown committed a sin “grievous enough” for which he should be disqualified from ministry.

“Based on…the more than four decades of faithful service in ministry, the Elder Accountability Team does not believe the two isolated incidents during mid 2001 to early 2002 warrant a rescinding of Dr. Michael Brown’s status as a minister of God or requires his disqualification from ministry. However, his position does require a higher level of scrutiny and examination, given his position as a global leader of the church,” the team’s evaluation report stated.

In a statement addressed to all those impacted, the team said, “Our hearts go out to Sarah [Monk] and her family along with the husband and family of the deceased wife for the pain they have experienced. We are also saddened by the impact this situation has had on Dr. Brown’s family.” It also acknowledged that students and followers of Brown may be “struggling to process these difficult and unsettling revelations.”

The elder team also recommended that Line of Fire and all local churches and ministries maintain a culture of accountability and transparency, establish and maintain outside accountability structures, conduct background checks and screenings, provide mandatory training about sexual abuse, create whistleblower reporting procedures and protections, and submit to an annual external policy review.

TO OUR READERS: The mission of MinistryWatch is to help Christian donors become more faithful stewards of the resources God has entrusted to them. Do you know of a story that will help us fulfill our mission, or do you want to give us feedback about this or any other story? If so, please email us: [email protected]