Is Vision Forum Gone?

There has been no public announcement, but the Vision Forum Ministries site now includes only the resignation statements and the Vision Forum Inc. site is no longer selling anything, or even listing any products. This suggests to me that Vision Forum has collapsed entirely, and that the corporate wing is disappearing in addition to the ministry wing.

If this complete collapse is the case, as it appears, this is an extremely positive change. Vision Forum has been probably THE pillar of the Christian Patriarchy movement for the past decade, and is now gone. This is not to say that Christian Patriarchy is gone. It is not. There are still organizations like Bill Gothard’s ATI and No Greater Joy Ministries, not to mention leaders like Kevin Swanson, Doug Wilson, and R. C. Sproul Jr. Christian Patriarchy will go on, but Vision Forum was a major pillar that was extremely effective in promoting this ideology throughout the Christian homeschool community, and that pillar is now gone.

I’ll be honest: I did not expect this. I did not expect Vision Forum to fall, and certainly not this fast. But then, I didn’t expect Doug Phillips to have an affair. Perhaps I’m naive like that, but I thought he was genuine and that a man in his position would avoid indiscretions that could implode his entire livelihood and ministry. But then, plenty of others in similar situations have met similar fates, so perhaps I shouldn’t be so surprised. If nothing else, though, this implosion does reveal just how personality centered Vision Forum was, that it could not survive the fall of its founder.

I do feel bad for all of the Vision Forum employees, and I hope that they are quickly able to find new—and more equitable—employment. And of course, I also feel for the victim in all of this, and I very much hope that she is safe and finding a way to move forward with her life.