Woman asserts Gateway Church founder Robert Morris began to sexually abuse her at the age of 12

In a statement made to The Christian Post, Pastor Robert Morris admitted to “inappropriate sexual behavior.”

By Amelia Jones

Jun 16, 2024 09:17 PM

A woman has come forward accusing the pastor at the known North Texas megachurch, of assault.

The woman claims Robert Morris, the founder and pastor of the senior church at Gateway Church in Southlake was sexually abusing her as a young girl for four years beginning in 1982.

The woman, now aged 54 has claimed that the abuse started when she was only 12 years old.

She spoke about her experience in The Christian Post, an website Christian newspaper The Christian Post, and she confirmed the publication to FOX 4 the fact that what she shared is accurate.

“Most survivors come forward between the ages of 50 and 70,” said Melanie Sakoda, a Survivors Support Coordinator at the Survivors Network of those Abused by Priests (SNAP).

Sakoda states that a lot of survivors are willing to speak out in order to stop the same thing from happening to someone else.

“I think the fact that Robert Morris is still in ministry is an incentive to come forward because what happened to her when she was young needs to be known,” she said.

The victim claims that the assault began at the time Morris was preaching at a congregation located in Oklahoma and was staying at her house together with his spouse and a young child.

At the age of 17 and was able to tell her parents about the incident, Morris was the pastor at Shady Grove Church, which is now the Gateway Church campus in Grand Prairie.

Sakoda believes the incident ought to have been reported to police, but it’s unclear whether it was.

“First report to law enforcement because the best investigations of these types of crimes are done by secular authorities not by the church itself,” she stated.

In The Christian Post article The Gateway Church says after these allegations came to light 35 years ago the pastor Morris quit his service for two years in order to be a counselor.

The statement contains the words of Pastor Morris who states that in the first part, “while I was in my early 20s, i had a sexual encounter that was inappropriate conduct with a girl at the hotel where I was staying. It was a bit of petting and kissing but not sexual intercourse, however it was not right.”

According to the account of the woman from the same newspaper the incident went beyond touching and kissing.

“He called her a young lady, he didn’t acknowledge that she was 12, he said it was I recall ‘immoral feeling,’ this isn’t an immoral feeling,” Sakoda said. Sakoda.

The woman was not willing to participate in the interview on FOX 4 but her lawyer did send an official statement on behalf of her.

“For long, the churches have shunned her confessions while simultaneously embracing as well as promoting this alleged perpetrator as an oath-bearer of God. She is encouraged by the fact that the darkness is finally coming to some light, and she hopes that others who suffer in silence will recognize that they aren’t alone and will be encouraged to take action,” reads the statement.

“Don’t suffer alone and in silence, there are people who will believe you and support you, you just need to find the right people,” said Sakoda.

Gateway Church opened its doors in 2000. It has since developed into one of the biggest churches in the United States, boasting nine churches in Texas and one located in Wyoming and one located in Missouri.

Every Sunday, an average of 100,000 people attend worship services in churches.

FOX 4 reached out to Gateway Church for an interview but was informed that Gateway Church isn’t doing interviews or making any further information at the moment.

There are no criminal charges brought.