“We denounce as sinful and unbiblical his determined effort to accuse our brethren,” the council says of Detwiler, who blogs at BrentDetwiler.com. “Consequently, we urge our brothers and sisters in Christ to avoid giving audience to Brent Detwiler’s unbiblical speech until such a time that he repents of this ungodly pattern. Such harmful speech is ruinous to the church of God.”

Sovereign Grace Ministries in Louisville, Ky., has released a statement adopted in May by the organization’s leaders commending founder C.J. Mahaney and denouncing a former associate turned vocal critic of the well-known evangelical leader.

A website posting dated Aug. 5 carries a statement by the Sovereign Grace Council of Elders, the highest governing body within the 80 church union, which met for the first time May 23-25 in Orlando, Fla.

The statement alleges that whistleblower Brent Detwiler, a former Sovereign Grace pastor, “has repeatedly and grievously slandered our churches and our leaders.”

“We denounce as sinful and unbiblical his determined effort to accuse our brethren,” the council says of Detwiler, who blogs at BrentDetwiler.com. “Consequently, we urge our brothers and sisters in Christ to avoid giving audience to Brent Detwiler’s unbiblical speech until such a time that he repents of this ungodly pattern. Such harmful speech is ruinous to the church of God.”

Detwiler said he has known about the statement for months and is preparing a response that he will post Friday, Aug. 9.

Detwiler is one of four founders of Sovereign Grace Ministries. He left the church-planting network over differences with Mahaney in 2009. That was before a lawsuit filed in January alleged serial physical and sexual abuse of children covered up by church leaders, including Mahaney. [Editor’s note: the original URL (link) referenced is no longer valid, so the link has been removed.]

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