It was only a few months ago that amid plummeting donations and a reputation in tatters, Ravi Zacharias International Ministries announced it would longer be known as an apologetics ministry, but rather would restructure and pivot to become a grant-making organization to supporting evangelism and abuse victims.
Not content to close everything down and walk away in light of the horrific abuses perpetrated by their namesake, the late Ravi Zacharias, RZIM explained that it would slash 60% of their jobs, change their name, and undergo changes at a leadership level, in a bid to restart the company, according to an internal email sent by CEO Sarah Davis – the daughter of Zacharias.
RZIM cannot—indeed should not—continue to operate as an organization in its present form. Nor do we believe we can merely rename the organization and move forward with “business as
usual.” That, we are convinced, is not right for numerous reasons.2. We plan to transition RZIM from its current form of a global speaking team of evangelists and apologists with offices around the world to a grantmaking entity, much like a charitable foundation, which will support a variety of ministries, causes, and kingdom-building efforts.
How the times have changed. Instead, Sarah Davis, who oversaw the fall of the inwardly grotesque beast through sexual abuse by its namesake, financial abuse, and a culture of secrecy and simpism, is stepping down and will start a new apologetics organization, one that sounds suspiciously like a new and likely not approved RZIM 2.0.
Named ‘Encounter’, it will share offices with RZIM, feature RZIM speakers, and have RZIM’s mission and focus.
Naturally, starting the whole thing off with transparency and openness, Christianity Today reports that Davis refused to talk and RZIM spokesperson did not return a request for comment.
Former RZIM director Carson Weitnauer took to Twitter to share many of the same concerns those concerns, writing:
Clearly, a lot of people learned nothing at all.
