Recent reports indicate International House of Prayer Kansas City (IHOPKC) will close amid the sexual and spiritual abuse scandal involving founder Mike Bickle.
A recording from IHOP University an internal email from IHOPU President Matt Candler refer to the closing, according to The Roys Report. The recording reveals that the ministry is losing hundreds of thousands of dollars a month, partly due to the many donors closely connected to Bickle.
“We began to accrue some pretty significant financial challenges, with our expenses outpacing our revenues by about $500,000 a month… with no end in sight,” IHOPKC Forerunner Church Pastor Isaac Bennett says.
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As the leadership prepares to close IHOPKC, they plan to launch a new ministry, according to Bennett, with the closing to be “staggered.”
“The leadership believes the best way to resolve the issues is to close IHOPKC as an organization and transition to a more missional church structure in the future. This would still include night and day prayer and worship within a church context. It would also mean far fewer compensated staff members and a larger pool of volunteers,” the email reads.
IHOPKC has not made any formal announcements, and requests for comments from various media outlets have not been returned.
“We are seeing this present era… coming to an end, and the Lord beginning a new era,” Bennett can be heard saying in the recording. He also acknowledges that despite IHOPKC’s efforts to address the scandal, they have been unable to avoid the legal liabilities arising from allegations of mishandling abuse claims within the ministry.
Bennett further reveals the drastic measures required to sustain IHOPKC at its current capacity, such as reducing the paid staff by 90%, leaving only 50 staff members where there once were 500.
“We are at an impasse,” says Bennett. “There’s no other way forward. So, the Lord is kindly inviting us into a new era.”
The closure will reportedly encompass all IHOPKC ministries, including their camps, IHOPU and church.
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James Lasher is Staff Writer for Charisma Media.
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