The resignation of internationally recognised Christian speaker and author Sam Allberry, following disclosures of what has been described as an “inappropriate relationship with another man”, has sent shockwaves through evangelical circles and reignited scrutiny of the “gay but celibate” movement promoted in many churches.
Anthony Venn-Brown, founder and CEO of Ambassadors and Bridge Builders International (ABBI), says the controversy highlights what he describes as the incompatibility between religious teaching and human reality.
Allberry has resigned from his role as a pastor at the Immanuel Church in Nashville, Tennessee, as well as his position as a fellow at The Keller Center for Cultural Apologetics.
In a statement the church said they had been aware of the prior relationship, but new information had forced them to revisit their decision to allow Allbery to continue in a leadership role.
“In spring of 2024, the Immanuel Elders were made aware that Pastor Sam Allberry engaged in an inappropriate relationship with an adult man in 2022. This relationship concluded prior to Sam being called as a pastor at Immanuel in 2023.” the church said in a statement.
“Sam’s conduct was unwise, it did not rise to the level of disqualification.” they said.
The church added that they’d revisited the matter after they received new information that had not previously been disclosed, and it had led them to a unanimous decision to expel Allberry from their ranks.
“Sam’s conduct constituted a serious breach of trust and a failure to walk in a manner worthy of the gospel. The Elders are unanimous in their decision that Sam is currently disqualified from gospel ministry. Sam agrees with this decision and has resigned from Immanuel Church.” the church said.
The Gospel Coalition, the governing body of the church and center announced they were removing all of Allberry’s articles and videos from their website.
While Living Out, the organisation founded by Allberry that urges Christians who are gay to be celibate, said they would be retaining his contributions to their site.
Anthony Venn-Brown said the situation highlights that the approach to balance sexuality and religious beliefs promoted by Allberry and his organisations does not work.
“For years, Sam Allberry became the global face of a message that said: ‘You can be gay, but you must never fall in love, partner with, or build a life with someone of the same sex’,” Venn-Brown said.
He said the “gay but celibate” message was promoted as a Christian alternative following the collapse of the Exodus “pray the gay away” movement in 2013. The Exodus network of ministries claimed people could become heterosexual through prayer, counselling, and spiritual intervention.
“As confidence in those programs crumbled, many churches pivoted toward a new model: acknowledging same-sex attraction while demanding lifelong celibacy,” Venn-Brown says. “But for countless LGBTQ people, it translated into loneliness, suppression, shame, and impossible expectations.”
“The foundational beliefs didn’t really change,” he said. “Only the strategy changed. The message shifted from ‘pray the gay away’ to ‘gay without the lay’.”
Allberry’s books, conferences, and teaching became highly influential across evangelical churches in Australia, the United Kingdom, and the United States, particularly among congregations seeking to maintain traditional teachings on homosexuality while presenting themselves as more compassionate and culturally aware.
Venn-Brown, an author, former Pentecostal preacher, and survivor of conversion “therapy”, says the situation raises broader questions beyond the actions of Allberry himself.
“This is not simply a story about personal failure,” he says. “It is about what happens when people are taught that one of the deepest and most beautiful human experiences, love, intimacy, and connection, must be permanently sacrificed to be acceptable to God.”
For more than 25 years, Venn-Brown has worked with thousands of LGBTQ people from faith backgrounds, including survivors of LGBTQ conversion practices and religious trauma.
“One of the most common things I hear is exhaustion,” he says. “Exhaustion from fighting themselves. Exhaustion from believing their capacity to love was something dangerous, sinful, and must be suppressed.”
He says the growing fractures surrounding the celibacy movement resemble the early unravelling of the ex-gay movement decades earlier.
“We have seen this pattern before,” Venn-Brown said. “When theological beliefs consistently collide with lived human reality, eventually the cracks begin to show.”
Living Out denies that its approach constitutes conversion therapy. Laws outlawing conversion therapy, and in some jurisdictions broader practices including prayer and counselling in religious settings, now apply across much of Australia.
Conversion therapy and related LGBTQIA+ suppression practices are banned in most Australian jurisdictions, although specific laws and penalties vary by state. The practice is currently prohibited in Victoria, New South Wales, Queensland, South Australia, and the Australian Capital Territory. Western Australia, Tasmania, and the Northern Territory have committed to legislative bans.
In January Western Australia’s Attorney-General Dr Tony Buti said legislation would be introduced into parliament this year.
Labor promised to bring in the legislation back in 2022 following a parliamentary inquiry into the operations of Esther House in Perth, but now Premier Roger Cook first made a commitment to look into the issue when he was Health Minister back in 2017.
In 2024 the Cook government said it had run out of time to to introduce the legislation during its second term, but pledged to act if re-elected in 2025. No legislation was introduced in 2025.
