Pastor Robert Morris leaves Gateway Church after abuse allegations

Robert Morris, founder of a megachurch in Texas and religious adviser to the Trump White House, has resigned from his post as senior pastor of the church, the church said on Tuesday, days after he was accused of sexually abusing a child in the 1980s.

The board of elders of the Dallas-based Gateway Church said in a statement that it had accepted Mr. Morris’ resignation. The council said it had hired a law firm to conduct an independent investigation into the abuse allegations made public last week by a woman, now 54. Mr. Morris could not immediately be reached for comment Tuesday evening.

The statement did not mention whether any such charges have been filed against Mr Morris, whose church says it has more than 100,000 active members. Messages sent to Haynes and Boone, the firm hired by the church, did not immediately receive a response.

Over the weekend, The Christian Post, a Christian news outlet based in Washington, DC, quoted Mr. Morris as saying he had engaged in “inappropriate sexual conduct toward a young lady.”

“When I was in my early twenties, I was involved in inappropriate sexual conduct with a young lady in a home where I lived,” Morris, 62, told The Christian Post. “It was kissing and petting and not sexual intercourse, but it was wrong. This behavior occurred several times over the next few years.”

The relationship was reported last week by The Wartburg Watch, a Christian watchdog publication. The website said that Mr. Morris sexually abused a girl, beginning when she was 12 years old.

Morris later told The Christian Post that the relationship “came to light” in 1987. He left the church that year to seek therapy. Church officials and the girl’s father had asked him to do so, he said. He returned in 1989 with their permission.

On Tuesday, the Gateway Church’s board of elders said it had known about Mr Morris’s inappropriate relationship but had not been aware of all the facts of the situation until last week.

“The elders have previously held that Morris’ extramarital relationship, which he had mentioned many times during his tenure, was with ‘a young lady’ and not the abuse of a 12-year-old child,” the church said. “Although this occurred many years before Gateway was founded, we as church leaders regret that we did not have the information we now have.”

Mr. Morris, who founded the church in 2000, served on a faith advisory board during former President Donald J. Trump’s administration. He hosted Mr. Trump at Gateway Church in June 2020.

A spokesman for Trump’s 2024 presidential campaign was asked about Morris on Tuesday and said the pastor played no role in it.

“President Trump’s widespread popularity among faith communities across the country is a testament to his unwavering commitment to preserving faith and protecting religious freedom,” said spokesman Steven Cheung.

Chris Cameron contributed to the reporting.