Accusations of sexual misconduct have followed Bishop Earl Paulk Jr. and his Atlanta-based ministry for years, ever since he was accused of adultery in 1960. But Paulk always bounced back, denying the charges and sometimes taking legal action against his accusers.

Most pastors in the Atlanta area kept quiet, and national Christian leaders didn’t get involved in what they viewed as a local problem. No church court investigated the charges, mainly because Paulk’s ministry has been independent of denominational accountability since he left the Church of God (Cleveland, Tenn.) more than 40 years ago.

But bishops in a loosely controlled network Paulk has led since 1982, the International Communion of Charismatic Churches (ICCC), asked Paulk to step down from his post as archbishop last month. And earlier this week a group of pastors in the Atlanta area broke their silence by issuing a statement of apology for alleged abuses of power at Paulk’s church.

The Cathedral of the Holy Spirit in suburban Atlanta (also called The Cathedral at Chapel Hill) is known for its racial diversity, creative arts programs and massive, neo-Gothic sanctuary where Paulk blended charismatic and liturgical worship styles. The congregation was on its way to becoming the city’s most prominent charismatic church.

But in 1992 a church member went public with accusations that she was pressured into a sexual relationship with Paulk’s brother, Don Paulk, who served as senior pastor. He admitted an affair and resigned but was reinstated three weeks later. The same year several women alleged that a church staff member sexually harassed them during counseling sessions. Another female staff member claimed in 1993 that she had a sexual relationship with Earl Paulk Jr.

In 2001, yet another female church member filed a lawsuit claiming that the bishop sexually molested her when she was a child and later when she was a teenager. That suit was settled out of court in 2003.
The church continued its ministry, although in 1992 membership dropped by half, from 12,000 to 6,000. Paulk denied wrongdoing and refused to grant media interviews, but he continued to lead the ICCC until last month.

Today the 78-year-old pastor faces what could be the most difficult test of his career. A former parishioner, Mona Brewer, has alleged in a lawsuit filed in August that Paulk forced her to have sex with him and others—including visiting charismatic preachers.

Brewer, who filed the suit with her husband, Bobby, served on the staff of the cathedral with her husband. She claims that around 1989 Paulk began to require her to have sex with him, “other members of the church community [and] leaders of other churches as well as his family members, sometimes with other individuals observing the sexual acts,” the lawsuit says.

Bradley White, 49, pastor of City Harvest Worship Center, and Johnny Enlow, 46, pastor of Daystar International Christian Fellowship are two of the ministers rallying Atlanta pastors around a statement of apology. They helped form a group called Christians Who Care and are enlisting church leaders to speak out.

The statement apologizes to women who were “betrayed, victimized, abused and wounded by sexually inappropriate actions” and states: “We repent for being afraid to get involved in helping bring the truth of what has been happening for a long time into the light while the media exposed and mocked what should have been handled by the authority of Christ in the church.”

Enlow says he speaks for a growing number of pastors who are signing the statement. “Christian leaders who see unrighteousness done in the name of Christ simply cannot sit back and say nothing,” Enlow says.

Rev. Larry Tomczak, pastor of Christ the King Church of Greater Atlanta, said he grieves over what has happened to the victims. “Having been in the city for 10 years, I wish we had reached out to these women,” said Tomczak. “We should have taken initiative and provided a refuge for restoration.”

The lawsuit filed by Bobby and Mona Brewer is currently moving forward in Dekalb County Superior Court, and dozens of witnesses are going through a deposition process. Bobby Brewer told Charisma last month that he and his wife filed the suit “to give victims a voice.”

Meanwhile, the acting head of the ICCC, David Huskins of Cedartown, Ga., says Paulk’s Oct. 12 resignation from the international network will trigger reforms in the movement, which represents churches in 26 countries.

“It is time for new leadership,” Haskins said. Acknowledging a “dangerous trend of independence in the charismatic movement,” Haskins said the ICCC will adopt new bylaws during a meeting in mid-November that will allow the group to bring discipline and correction when ministers violate moral or theological standards.