Mike Breen Leaves APEX Church Following Sexual Misconduct
Breen has been well-known figure in ‘missional church’ and Anglican circles
Author and pastor Mike Breen has resigned from his role as “lead communicator” at APEX Church in Dayton, Ohio. The resignation comes after he confessed to an extended sexual affair with a vulnerable member of their church.
3D Movements (3DM), a ministry Breen founded, issued a statement that read in part: “The founder of 3DM, Mike Breen, transitioned completely out of 3DM in 2014. While he has retained the name 3DM for his own for-profit publishing company, 3DM Publishing, he has not been involved in our 3DMovements non-profit ministry in any leadership capacity for the last nine years.”
3DM’s statement said that Breen “has confessed to the allegations of sexual misconduct and resigned from his leadership position at APEX. The APEX Board hired an independent agency to investigate and evaluate the facts of this case. In addition to the sexual misconduct, they found evidence that Mike also abused his power through bullying and intimidation, along with a reluctance, and sometimes a refusal, to seek reconciliation. We deplore these actions and grieve the destructive effect they have had on those entrusted to Mike’s leadership. This immoral behavior and abuse of power are not compatible with the values of 3DMovements.”
Breen was originally ordained in the Church of England. In 1994 he became rector of St. Thomas’ Church, Crookes, in Sheffield, England. Under his leadership it became one of the largest churches in England. In part on the strength of that experience, Breen rose to prominence as a leader in the “missional church” movement.
In 2007, Breen led the European Church Planting Network, an initiative of the Leadership Network. That organization claims to have planted more than 1,000 churches in Europe over the next five years.
From 2008 to 2014, Breen lived at Pawleys Island, S.C., where he served as the leader for 3D Movements, an “organic movement of biblical discipleship and missional church.” Breen continued to be a popular conference speaker, discussing his experiences with the missional church.
APEX Church had more than 2,000 in regular attendance as late as 2010, but in recent years attendance has fallen to less than 500.
Neither 3D Movements nor APEX responded to MinistryWatch’s request for additional information.
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