Best-selling American devotional author Philip Yancey says he is "filled with remorse and repentance" after confessing to an eight-year affair with another man's wife.
He is retiring from Christian ministry.
Yancey - author of titles such as What's So Amazing About Grace? and Prayer: Does it Make Any Difference? - wrote in a statement to US-based magazine Christianity Today (CT): "I have failed morally and spiritually, and I grieve over the devastation I have caused.
"I realise that my actions will disillusion readers who have previously trusted in my writing. Worst of all, my sin has brought dishonour to God.
"I am filled with remorse and repentance, and I have nothing to stand on except God’s mercy and grace."
Yancey, 76, has been married to his wife for 55 years. "I have confessed my sin before God and my wife, and have committed myself to a professional counselling and accountability programme," he said.
A separate statement from his wife, Janet, reads: "I [am] speaking from a place of trauma and devastation that only people who have lived through betrayal can understand. Yet I made a sacred and binding marriage vow 55½ years ago, and I will not break that promise. I accept and understand that God through Jesus has paid for and forgiven the sins of the world, including Philip’s. God grant me the grace to forgive also, despite my unfathomable trauma. Please pray for us."
'Wilful'
In his statement, Yancey confesses "wilfully" engaging in the eight-year "sinful" affair with a woman, also married. "My conduct defied everything that I believe about marriage," Yancey's statement reads. "It was also totally inconsistent with my faith and my writings and caused deep pain for her husband and both of our families. I will not share further details out of respect for the other family."
Yancey has said he is now focused on rebuilding trust and restoring his marriage. "Having disqualified myself from Christian ministry, I am therefore retiring from writing, speaking, and social media," he added. "Instead, I need to spend my remaining years living up to the words I have already written. I pray for God’s grace and forgiveness—as well as yours—and for healing in the lives of those I’ve wounded."
According to CT, Yancey sent the emailed statement to the magazine due to his "longstanding relationship with CT." He wrote for the evangelical organisation for decades, reporting and later becoming a regular columnist and editor at large.
In response to the news, one minister wrote on X: "I’m stunned and grieved. I have no stones to throw, just a sinking sense of lament and sorrow. The scourge of sin leaves such deep wounds. Lord have mercy."
