Former Member Sues Village Church of Bartlett for Defamation
Family that stood with alleged victim was excommunicated, former staff corroborate concerns
A lawsuit alleging that Pastor Michael Fuelling and the Village Church of Bartlett, Illinois, (VCOB) defamed and intentionally inflicted emotional distress upon a former member has been filed in Cook County. Another family supportive of the alleged victim was excommunicated.
VCOB Lead Pastor Michael Fuelling / Video screenshot
Tricia Chandler, a former congregant and member, claims Fuelling defamed her by telling others she had engaged in an emotional affair with a man to whom she was not married. The lawsuit, originally filed in March, claims this inflicted emotional distress upon her “by constantly and perversely undermin[ing] her marital and community relationships while in a position of spiritual authority over her.”
According to the lawsuit, Chandler was a regular attendee of VCOB, a congregation of about 900, from 2007 to 2023.
Starting in 2009, Chandler says she sought support and guidance from Fuelling and his professional counselor wife Breanne for navigating “manipulation and emotional abuse” inflicted by her husband, who also was a member of the church.
However, she asserts the Fuellings “favored” her husband and dismissed her concerns as going down a “victim route” and being a “bitterness addict.” Chandler says she later learned Fuelling had mocked her and her personality in front of other church members.
In 2010, Chandler sought counseling about the possibility of separating from her husband, but Fuelling counseled her not to do so. For years, she said she tried counseling, bible study, support groups, and mentorship at the church.
In 2020, Chandler admits she began a friendship with a male from her local gym, Precision Training, who recognized her distress and showed concern. However, Chandler maintains the relationship with “John Doe” was strictly platonic.
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However, in 2021, Fuelling learned of Chandler’s friendship with John Doe and, according to the lawsuit, told others—including Chandler’s friends Amanda Diaz and Susanna MacLeod—that she was engaged in a physical affair with Doe.
She claims Fuelling’s accusation continued for at least 18 months, which led to her reputational harm. Fuelling’s answer to the lawsuit denies that he made the accusation of a physical affair.
In October 2022, Chandler again decided to seek a separation from her husband due to his alleged emotional abuse. Her husband informed Fuelling about the separation. Diaz and her husband supported Chandler’s decision, but the Fuellings did not.
The elders informed Chandler’s husband in December 2022 they had determined he had not engaged in abusive behavior. For the next three months, Chandler said she worked on healing her marriage under the authority of the church elders.
In March 2023, during a meeting with elders of the church and the Diazes, Fuelling allegedly represented to those present that Chandler had engaged in an emotional affair with Doe.
A few months later, in June, Chandler received a letter that her church membership was paused, and she was told to repent of her sinful behavior, including “slanderous statements to individuals within the congregation about Michael Fuelling.”
Her husband’s membership was also paused, but the letter did not include any call for his repentance, according to Chandler’s lawsuit.
In January 2024, Chandler was “released from membership” at the VCOB, but was told her children were still welcome to participate in the church activities.
On March 8, 2024, her husband filed for divorce.
In his answer to the lawsuit, Fuelling denies many of the allegations, but he admits he never inquired about the nature of Chandler’s relationship with her friend from the gym, John Doe.
While Fuelling denies accusing Chandler of a physical affair, he admits to saying she was engaged in an emotional affair with Doe.
However, Fuelling asserts that the accusation of an emotional affair was “substantially true” because her communications with Doe “amounted to marital infidelity.” If a statement is true, it cannot be defamation under Illinois law, the court documents argue.
Additionally, he argues that the term “emotional affair” is not slander per se because it does not meet the definition of adultery, which includes physical sexual activity.
Fuelling also claims his statement about her “emotional affair” was made in the course of a church meeting and falls under the ecclesiastical abstention or church autonomy doctrine that allows churches to “govern and discipline members free from secular court interference.”
Diaz Family Excommunicated
About the same time Chandler’s membership at VCOB was paused, the Diaz family—friends of Chandler—was excommunicated.
On June 26, VCOB sent a letter to the family “revoking” their membership at VCOB for “divisive, insubordinate, and intimidating behaviors.”
Amanda Diaz told MinistryWatch she had been on staff and in leadership positions over the course of their family’s 10-year membership at VCOB, but when she began to raise concerns about the way the church leaders were handling Chandler’s situation, they removed her from those roles.
Diaz was concerned the church leaders were “enabling abuse” and not protecting Chandler from further harm. In March 2023, Diaz said her family paused their attendance because they were so concerned about Fuelling’s behavior.
The Diazes asked for a more thorough investigation, and a directional team was appointed, but Amanda said the investigation process was not very transparent, had several delays, and exonerated the elders of any wrongdoing.
The excommunication letter to the Diazes listed several examples of behavior for which their membership was revoked.
One was for their “general tone and approach” throughout the investigation, calling it “insubordinate, divisive, and intimidating” to Fuelling and the directional team.
Another accusation said the Diazes did not “accept” the directional team’s findings that they had acted divisively and “exhibited a spirit of pride and self-righteousness throughout the situation.”
“After months of communications and multiple conversations and meetings with you, we have not seen a change in your conduct, which continues to cause disruption and division in the church body,” the letter said.
“We had no idea we were being considered for excommunication,” Diaz said. “It came out of the blue.” She said the church elders did not follow its steps for church discipline modeled on Matthew 18.
Diaz wrote an email letter to the church leaders in January, pointing out ways she believes the church failed to follow its own discipline process.
She pointed out that accusation of a “divisive tone” was never raised until they received a letter two days before their excommunication, and that the letter did not include any specific examples.
On March 19 during a meeting with the directional team, Diaz said a rapid-fire list of about a dozen charges was presented without adequate opportunity to respond or discuss. It was an “effort to intimidate and bully us into agreement,” she wrote.
“Your complete neglect of biblical protocol to handle this conflict and the severity at which you are willing to devastate people’s lives, including their faith journeys and interpretations of God, is spiritual abuse,” Diaz wrote to the leadership.
Two other former VCOB staff members also expressed concerns about church leadership to MinistryWatch.
Nikki Jones was on staff as the “connections director” at VCOB for two years. She told MinistryWatch she enjoyed her time working there and felt valued, but after moving to another state and reflecting on the atmosphere at VCOB, she realized things “weren’t right.”
After she learned about the excommunication of the Diaz family and the events with the Chandler family, Jones felt compelled to speak up. She sent a letter expressing her concerns to the church leadership on November 4, 2023.
Jones says she’s processed her own hurts, has reached a place of forgiveness and harbors no resentment, but she is concerned the hurtful pattern is continuing and affecting others.
Her three main concerns with the church leadership are ridicule, slander, and gossip; lack of pastoral care; and an unhealthy work environment.
She said during staff meetings, former staff were ridiculed and laughed at for their job performance.
When she tried to ask questions about theological or doctrinal issues, Jones said she was made to “feel stupid” or treated as “a bother.”
She also said the boundaries for her volunteer roles versus work roles were blurred, and she was often expected to work on Sundays without compensation.
“This pattern of ‘don’t ask questions,’ ‘don’t challenge anything,’ and ‘just trust…leadership’ is not healthy. It’s like being asked to put your head in the sand and trust,” Jones wrote in her letter.
Susanna McLeod was also on staff with the church from 2018 through the summer of 2020 before moving to Texas. She said there were red flags that she ignored while on staff, including Fuelling’s “level of control over the elder board, the staff, and leadership.”
McLeod said she was an assistant to another pastor and that Fuelling would tell her story after story about the other pastor. “I quickly was sucked into triangulation and manipulation. [Fuelling] was using me,” she told MinistryWatch.
Upon reflection after the excommunication of the Diaz family, McLeod said she realized she had been used to help Fuelling “slander and manipulate people for his plans.”
If she could give people a message that she has learned after her experiences with VCOB it is to “question everything.”
“Examine everything through God’s lens of Biblical truth. Good church leadership should be able to stand even under scrutiny. Watch for defensiveness, even fake humility or lack of actual transparency. Truly transparent people shouldn’t have to say they are being transparent,” McLeod said.
Neither VCOB nor Fuelling’s attorney responded to requests for a statement before time of publication.
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