Passion City Church DC Is Scaling Church Hurt
“If you are visiting Passion, you would have no idea the things happening behind the scenes.” “There is a dark side to the church that shrouds itself in confusion and fear of retribution.”
Passion City Church DC’s leaders have frequently ghosted members for months without apology, stood members up for confirmed coffee appointments, removed members from church involvement without consulting or even informing the Passion DC community, and misrepresented clear scripture to avoid accountability. For example:
When a longtime doorholder raised concerns about staff’s pattern of ghosting members, Pastor Ben Stuart attacked him by claiming he is mentally unstable, removed him from the doorholder roster, and told him to find another church. Upon hearing the full story, a Passion-recommended counselor concluded that Pastor Ben spiritually abused this member. One member said upon hearing the story: “I never in my wildest expectations thought something like this would happen—especially not at church.”
Passion DC leaders banned a mentally handicapped, homeless man from attending services—an action that almost no one in the Passion DC community even knows occurred.
Passion DC leaders have consistently refused to disclose to members how their tithes are spent.
Pastor Ben has publicly taught doorholders that the phrase “tell it to the church” in Matthew 18:17 means tell it to church leaders—a teaching that is clearly contradicted by the Greek text, all major English translations, and additional Bible passages instructing church members to address serious leadership wrongdoing openly before the entire congregation. It appears that Pastor Ben has misrepresented clear scripture for reasons of agenda—substituting what he’d prefer scripture say for what it actually says.
There is virtually unanimous agreement within the Passion DC community that staff’s pattern of ghosting is troubling and has been widespread. Documented evidence shows that staff has routinely ignored solicited messages, despite repeated follow-ups, for weeks or months.
In many instances, a member was directed to contact a particular staff member—only to be ignored for months, no matter how many follow-ups the member sent.
Staff members have no-showed church members for confirmed appointments without apology.
At times, new believers have been completely ignored for months when attempting to connect at Passion DC’s suggestion. (“Text Life to 33864 if you put your faith in Jesus today.”)
The dc@passioncitychurch.com email account was unmonitored for months if not years, leaving all inquiries unanswered.
The available evidence suggests that hundreds or thousands have experienced staff nonresponsiveness. Countless have felt hurt and disrespected, many to the point of leaving Passion. Members have described the problem as “rampant,” and a doorholder on Passion DC’s welcome team said that the team hears “so many stories of people that contacted staff and never heard back.” Yet Passion DC leadership has denied that there’s been a widespread problem, has refused to investigate the scope of the problem or even examine known evidence, and according to those leadership does know were ghosted, has offered no apologies.
After a longstanding doorholder sought to address the issue privately over sixteen months, staff suggested that he find another church. Then, when the concerned member sent a letter to the church community documenting the concerns, Pastor Ben Stuart said that he should retract the letter or leave Passion. Instead of addressing the concerns, Paster Ben told the concerned member he is “troubled” and sent him a list of recommended mental-health counselors. When the concerned member called counselors from that list, they described Pastor Ben’s actions as spiritual abuse. One said that “so many” of leadership’s actions are “textbook” examples of “how things go in really unhealthy church staff leadership situations.”
Pastor Ben has repeatedly declined the concerned member’s requests to attempt reconciliation.
Reactions from various Passion DC members:
“His account of his meeting with Pastor Ben made me deeply uncomfortable in the privacy and safety of my own home.”
“Earth shattering.”
“I’m still in shock.”
“I wept—I sat down and cried.”
“He pulled back the curtain on a man everyone else only knows standing up on stage.”
“I feel like I can’t trust Pastor Ben anymore.”
“When I said many people are considering leaving or have left already, they didn’t seem to care.”
We care about these people—the people who left Passion DC feeling ignored, the people stood up for coffee, the homeless man kicked out of his church, the person Pastor Ben spiritually abused, the people whose trust in their church’s leadership has been shattered. We believe that their pain—and the sanctity of the church’s witness—demand open discussion and accountability.
