At an August 2026 Local Church Gathering, Bethel Leadership answered congregation questions and shared updates on intiatives and projects created as the meaningful work of review, reflection, and accountability takes place, and its application within teaching, preaching, equipping, and culture.
Since February 2026, we’ve been actively continuing the hard and holy work of review, reflection, accountability, and application within our teaching, preaching, equipping and culture. Several initiatives have been set in motion since that time.
In August, we gathered our local church for a Bethel Family Gathering, during which we prayed and worshiped together, and our leadership team took time to answer the most commonly asked questions submitted by the Redding congregation to us via a form emailed a few weeks in advance. Roughly 45 questions came in, many pertaining to the same subjects, and we were grateful to share updates and information based on those. We also spoke on some of the initiatives that have been in motion.
What initiatives are currently in motion?
There are several, but here are six of the areas we’ve been taking steps in that we’d like to share about:
Leadership Structure and Clarity of Focus
Bethel is nearly 75 years old. We have a leadership structure that has been constantly growing and evolving over the last 35 years specifically, and it continues to do so. More recently, we’ve been asking what it means to do leadership together as we prepare for what God has for us. Pastors Bill and Kris have empowered a team of leaders from our Senior Leadership Team who are stepping into more leadership and operational decision making within the environment. And as a SLT leadership team, our leadership has been prayerfully working on three priorities for us in this season: A Presence-Filled Church, Healthy Teams and Culture, and Financial Stability.
Theological Clarification, Alignment, and Articulation
For the past several months, we have been working on a theological project to reflect upon and bring greater clarity to the language of our structure, beliefs, and practices, and the alignment of what we do with who we are. This work is being undertaken by Pastor Dann Farrelly, M.Div, Dr. Elizabeth Woning, D.Min, Rich Schmidt, M.Div, and others that the team may reach out to for additional insights and support.
BSSM Staff and Pastoral Team Guidelines
We reviewed, updated, and hosted the first of several trainings to increase the wisdom, equipping, and strength of our BSSM Pastoral Team. We began with these specific pastors because our BSSM teams interact more consistently throughout the week with those they pastor. This update has, among other subjects, included an in-depth delineation of the tremendous differences between healthy pastoral practices and spiritually abusive ones.
Future trainings will include outside subject-matter experts to increase the tools we have for greater pastoral care, and for more skilled referral for when something is beyond our scope of ability. In the coming months, our Church Pastoral Staff will also begin this training.
BSSM Student Code of Conduct
Thousands of students have felt the call of the Lord to devote nine months of their lives to pursuing the presence of the Lord, to dive deeply into His Word, and to be equipped to see Heaven on Earth, to carry God’s presence. We want to give students what we carry, and reinforce the internal character and culture that we are called to as followers of Jesus who want to host the Holy Spirit well, and who are empowered by the Holy Spirit. Out of this desire, our BSSM Student Code of Conduct has been reviewed, updated, and will be taught and upheld by incoming students to the 2026-2027 school year and moving forward.
Maturing Our Understanding as a Risk-Taking Culture
We are a risk taking culture, and while that continues to be true, the need to clarify and genuinely practice and model the integral bond between risk, and accountability and feedback, is being strengthened and reinforced in greater measure. We have an important core value, “Free and Responsible”, and we are strengthening the responsibility aspect in our spaces and within our teams.
We are not changing the call on the house to press into revival, which is the personal regional and global expansion of Christ’s kingdom through His manifest presence. We are instead growing in how we listen to questions, critiques, and corrections, and inviting the Lord to sanctify us and fellow believers in our lives to hold us accountable.
Greater Communication Pathways
In an attempt to make sure our communications meet the needs of the season, we’re hosting gatherings, such as our Church Family Gathering in August. In March 2026, we also established a Leadership Updates page on our website where regular information is being shared. This is where we’re giving updates, communicating decisions, and sharing our process as we are able.
These are just a few of the many initiatives underway right now, and we expect to communicate more with you in the very near future. We are not just undertaking initiatives with a short-term mindset. We want to continue to grow in becoming an integrous expression of what the Lord is doing on the earth. We recognize that this is a long-term process of reformation, taking our strengths forward and correcting any areas of weakness.
What is the current status of the Third Party Investigation?
We know many of you have questions and wish we had more that we could share at this time, as we care deeply about everyone affected. Sintra Group Investigations is independently examining all information and conducting the investigation. We do not and will not control the timeline or the process. We are only providing what has been asked of us by the investigator. Two staff members serve as points of contact, with the rest of Bethel’s staff and leadership having no access whatsoever to the investigation or its developing findings.
The investigation is active, but not complete. Until it is, we are honoring the boundaries needed to protect its independence. When it is complete, Bethel will respond to the findings and share what we responsibly can with honesty, care, and in appropriate ways. We also want to be clear that we do not have a timeline for when this investigation will be completed.
Why did Bethel stop selling the Passion Translation, and what is it doing about the current concerns regarding it?
We have heard the concerns about The Passion Translation and are taking them seriously. Because Bethel has publicly supported and endorsed its value, we recognize our responsibility to carefully consider and seek understanding of the questions being raised. We are currently gathering information and do not want to automatically defend our past position or reach conclusions without the facts. We do not expect this to be resolved quickly. We will continue to share updates on our Leadership Updates page. If our findings change Bethel’s position, we will communicate that clearly.
What is Bethel doing to clarify how it endorses and platforms? What about restoration and reinstatement?
We recognize the responsibility of platforming, and understand that platforming someone communicates trust and carries influence. While we cannot reassess every relationship or endorsement from the past 30 years, moving forward, we want to be soberly minded and make thoughtful and wise decisions. The Senior Leadership Team is currently developing stronger safety and endorsement frameworks for board approval, and for Pastor Bill to also review when he returns from Sabbatical.
We also want to clearly state that we do believe in restoration, but restoration does not necessarily mean returning to leadership or public ministry.
Why did the recent staffing changes take place? Can you speak to this decision, and the thinking behind it?
Recently, several staffing changes have taken place in our environment. These have affected several areas, but the places of greatest impact have been BSSM and BCS. In 2020, we were in the process of launching BSSM Online, but we accelerated this when our need for students in-person to shift to online took place. Since that time, we’ve experienced a transition in the modality that BSSM takes place in. We are educating more students each year than ever, but the majority of those are online. With less students coming in person, our need for in-person staff lessened. But this has other areas of impact, most notably in BCS and in our regular tithes and offerings.
It’s been a tender and challenging season as we’ve made these staffing changes or eliminated roles. We want to be really clear: these decisions have been based purely on where we are financially as a house. They have nothing to do with people’s performance, skill, or feedback. These are people that we deeply care about and love, and we will continue to consider them a part of our church family. We are incredibly grateful for the people who have helped build this house, and we have great expectation that God is bringing us through this season.
What is happening with the Collyer Campus? Will we still be building, and if so, what is happening in the meantime?
We understand that there are questions about what’s next for our Bethel Collyer Campus and our Arise and Build project. In the past season, we’ve paused speaking about this, as we’ve prioritized focusing on more pressing needs of this season within our environment. But our goal for our campuses remains the same: that we would have two campuses at Bethel in our College View and Collyer Campuses.
We have been progressively consolidating our buildings throughout Redding to move in this direction. We feel confident that this is God’s idea, and God’s promise to our house. As such, we continue to steward this vision and assess how to most wisely use the space we believe He has called us to prioritize.
How is Bethel currently reviewing its prophetic practices, teaching, and theology?
We have heard the concerns about Bethel’s theology and practice of the prophetic. Our teachers and ministry leaders have been reviewing and adapting our teaching and safeguards. We continue to and assess where greater clarity is needed while reinforcing what is healthy.
We are also reviewing how feedback and accountability are given regarding prophetic words and prophetic ministry. This includes reinforcing that prophetic words should not direct major decisions involving “babies, mates, and dates.”
We remain committed to the gift of prophecy and to practicing it with wisdom, clarity, and accountability.
In what ways is Bethel Leadership planning to provide pastoral care and growth opportunities for the local church community? How will we continue to grow?
Over the last three months, our Leadership Team has deliberately and exhaustively assessed how to steward what we believe is on the Lord’s heart for this next season at Bethel. We recognize the emphasis He has placed on creating a thriving church, and we’ve made significant efforts to recenter and reorganize priorities towards that emphasis.
September is Vision Month, and over those four Sundays, we’re presenting many new initiatives aligned with this, including Pastoral Care, Homegroups, discipleship, strengthened Men’s and Women’s Ministries, and pathways for families to grow in the Lord together. Join us each Sunday to hear more about what we’re pursuing in this new season.
