Bethel Church Places Pastor on Administrative Leave Amid Allegations of Clergy Sexual Abuse
Michael Foust
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By Milton Quintanilla, Crosswalk.com
A pastor at Bethel Church in Redding, California, has been placed on administrative leave after he was recently accused of clergy sexual abuse.
Sarah, a former student of Bethel’s Supernatural School of Ministry (BSSM), alleged that Ben Armstrong, a pastor and Overseer of Prophetic Ministry at Bethel Church, sexually abused her when she was a 23-year-old intern in 2009, despite being like a spiritual father to her.
Sarah told hosts Blaise and Christina on the Wake Up At Win podcast how “sexual boundaries were crossed” when she and Armstrong slept in the same room after at his sibling’s house.
“This is my first sexual experience. Sex never happened. Kissing never happened because I did not want that to happen, and I was able to stop it to some degree, but sexual boundaries were crossed that I did not stop,” she recalled.
Sarah also noted how Armstrong brushed off the incident as a “spiritual attack.”
“Also, I remember the next morning being like panicking and him saying like, you know,
you know who we are to the prophetic and mystic movement, to our people,” she quoted Armstrong as saying. “‘You know how important we are. This was just a spiritual attack, and we passed. like we don't need to tell anybody. We didn't do anything.’”
She shared that there was a second incident where Armstrong sexually abused her after getting her drunk and inviting her over to his house while his wife was away, and he apparently sent his kids away to a friend’s house despite initially telling her that he needed her help with them.
“He pulled me into the room... dragged me into the room with him...he's pulling me, and I remember saying 'no' out loud,” recalled Sarah.
In a recent statement released by Bethel Church, Armstrong confessed to a “moral failure” in 2009 in which he and Bethel Church leaders described the affair as "consensual" and “willing”. Despite initially stepping down from ministry at the time, Armstrong was eventually reinstated into a leadership role following a multi-year process of repentance and restoration, Protestia reported.
The church, however, issued a second statement announcing that Armstrong was placed on administrative leave after the new allegations surfaced, and an independent third-party investigation will take place.
“This step forward is not a verdict, but a necessary measure intended to reflect the care and sobriety with which we approach matters of this nature and our desire to operate in transparency and truth. We are also currently reaching out to those who have brought these allegations to light,” the church stated.
“We are actively engaging outside counsel and independent experts to help ensure thorough, impartial, and trauma-informed processes. We are committed to health and accountability as we pursue spiritual, physical, and emotional safety across our organization.”
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Milton Quintanilla is a freelance writer and content creator. He is a contributing writer for CrosswalkHeadlines and the host of the For Your Soul Podcast, a podcast devoted to sound doctrine and biblical truth. He holds a Masters of Divinity from Alliance Theological Seminary.
