Several pastors are accusing prominent St. Louis author, pastor, and professor, Vince Bantu, of engaging in polygamy and years of infidelity, according to interviews by El Informe Roys (TRR) and a recent investigación por El cristianismo hoy (CT).

The pastors claim that Dr. Vince Bantu secretly married a second wife to justify his multiple adulterous relationships. Various texts, emails, and call records released to TRR back up the pastors’ claims.

Bantu is a rising Christian scholar in St. Louis. He works as an assistant professor of Black church studies at Fuller Theological Seminary. He also serves as president of Meachum School of Haymanot and pastors the nondenominational Beloved Community Church. His 2021 book, Multitude of All Peoples, won a CT award of merit.

The whistleblowers sent letters to both Fuller Seminary and Meachum School in May, urging the schools to investigate the allegations against Bantu. According to the letters, Bantu made a scriptural case for polygamy by contending the practice simply required a “non-Westernized” perspective of the Bible.

Bantu, 42, told CT he denies the accusations.

“My brothers in Christ have fallen into the snare of jealousy and have made false allegations about me,” he said. “I cannot fully comprehend the motivation for these accusations.”

TRR also reached out to Bantu for comment but did not hear back.

Bantu argues for embracing polygamy

Bantu first admitted he was considering polygamy in December 2023 to a group of pastors that comprised Bantu’s “accountability group,” Darren Young, a YoungLife area director a part of the accountability group, told TRR. Also in the accountability group was Thurman Williams, pastor of New City Fellowship West Church in St. Louis.

Young said Bantu told the group that he had been struggling with adultery for a long time, and because of that, he and his wife had decided to embrace polygamy.

Bantu argued that polygamy was biblically acceptable if you looked at scriptures from a “non-Westernized” view, the pastors wrote in a community standards complaint formulario they submitted to Fuller Seminary and  forwarded to TRR. Bantu later sent Williams a texto TRR also obtained with a link to an article supporting polygamy.

Young and Williams tried to argue against Bantu’s theology, Young said. However, Bantu “would run me around in circles” in scriptural debates, Young noted.

In January this year, the three men met again, and Bantu shared that he intended to practice polygamy. He added that he told his wife and two daughters this, Young said.  

Bantu then revealed that he was already married to a woman who attended his church and was one of his students, the pastors say. Bantu allegedly married her “unto God in their home” in the summer of 2023, according to a letter the pastors sent to Fuller Seminary.

Young said he and Williams were “flabbergasted” by Bantu’s announcement.

Bantu previously confessed to the men in the spring of 2023 that he had begun a sexual relationship with this woman, according to the letter.

Both Bantu and the woman denied these claims to CT. TRR was unable to get contact information for the woman.

Bantu contended that marrying multiple women “came up in conversation,” but he wasn’t advocating polygamy, according to CT. He told the publication, “I believe biblical marriage is marital union between one man and one woman who enter into a marriage covenant with Christ.”

The woman told the publication that she is friends with Bantu and “would never do something like that.”

After Bantu allegedly admitted his polygamy to the two pastors, Young and Williams recruited another pastor, Michael Byrd of Faith Community Bible Church in St. Louis, to join their group. They wanted Byrd to act as a witness in their dispute, following Matthew 18 protocols, Byrd told CT.

When the three confronted Bantu, he became defensive and said he wouldn’t talk about it, Young told TRR.  Bantu claimed polygamy wasn’t a Gospel issue and threatened to sue them all for defamation, according to Young.

Williams and Byrd declined to comment to TRR but confirmed CT accurately reported their accounts.

Pastors inform Bantu’s church, seminaries

Following this encounter, the men connected with Paulea Mooney-McCoy, the bishop responsible for oversight of Bantu’s church.

She found the allegation that Bantu had a secret wife to be “consistent and credible,” according to an email Mooney-McCoy sent Young and Williams, CT reported. Her email reportedly said she had questioned Bantu about the allegations in April but could not get clear or complete answers from him.

On a later phone call, which was recorded and given to TRR, Mooney-McCoy told Young and Williams that another woman at the church had previously brought up similar allegations regarding Bantu having multiple wives. Mooney-McCoy said on the recording that she met with the woman, Bantu, and his wife, Diana, to address the allegations, but the woman went quiet. 

Ultimately, nothing came from Mooney-McCoy’s suspicions of polygamy because the bishop resigned her oversight position earlier this year, CT informado.

When the whistleblowers became convinced Bantu would not repent, they contacted Bantu’s schools, Young said.

The pastors then met with Jeff Wright, a board member at Meachum School at the time, and another representative from Meachum on May 24, Young said. The pastors told the men they were writing a letter to Fuller and Meachum, outlining the allegations against Bantu. Young said Wright asked the pastors to wait a week to send the letters. 

Wright then set up a virtual meeting with the pastors and Fuller representatives for June 5. Young said the pastors expected to meet with multiple representatives from both schools at the Zoom meeting. However, only Lance Griffin, chief counsel for Fuller Seminary, and Wright showed up. 

On June 6, the pastors sent the letters to Fuller Seminary y el board of Meachum.

Later that month, HR representatives from Fuller asked the pastors to submit the letter as a formal complaint, which they did. In July, a third-party investigation firm hired by Fuller contacted the pastors and interviewed them about the matter, Young said.

Fuller confirmed to CT that the school hired a third-party firm to investigate.

Since the publication of CT’s piece, Bantu has gone on sabbatical from Fuller until winter quarter, according to an automated email reply from Bantu.

TRR reached out to Fuller for more details but did not hear back. 

Meachum has had limited communication with the pastors since the June 5 meeting, Young explained.

A day after the CT article published on Sept. 19, Meachum posted a statement on its website. Twelve days later, the site still reads: “We take these allegations seriously. We are meeting as a board over the next few days and will discuss next steps.”

On September 23, the board reached out via Email to the pastors and told them the school was conducting an internal investigation regarding Bantu. In the email, the board asked to meet with the pastors and told them that Wright was no longer associated with the school and that several new board members had been appointed. 

Young told TRR that the pastors agreed to send their letter to Meachum’s board again but declined to interview with them, noting that they had already met with Wright.

Bantu resigns from church due to “emotional affair”

In the letters to the schools, the pastors cite that Bantu has a history of infidelity.

In 2018, Bantu had what he called an “emotional affair” with a student he mentored, according to a letra of resignation he sent to Outpour Evangelical Covenant Church in St. Louis at the time, which was obtained by TRR.

De acuerdo a abuse experts, sexual contact between pastors and someone under their care constitutes clergy sexual abuse because of the power differential between them. 

Bantu’s “moral failure” led him to step down from his role as co-pastor of Outpour and from his visiting position at Covenant Theological Seminary.

“I initiated and participated in an emotional affair with a sister in Christ,” Bantu wrote in the letter. “I used the absence of sexual behavior in the relationship as justification to engage in intimate conversation which led to the development and communication on my part of romantic feelings.”

Bantu said the “affair” involved “inappropriate and excessive time spent alone, phone conversations, text messages, intimate conversation and expressions of affection.”

la mujer dijo CT about how their relationship progressed. She said Bantu approached in 2018 and said he wanted a friendship, not just a professor-student relationship. At the time, she was 28 and he was 36.

They started spending more time together, with Bantu asking for increasing amounts of words of affirmation, she said. He then pushed for physical intimacy, including holding hands, kissing both her cheeks, and long hugs. He later declared his love for her.

“He told me he believes you can have romantic relationships outside of marriage, and it’s biblical to be romantic outside the confines of marriage,” she told CT. “He would never commit adultery, but he was really hoping I would agree to be in an extramarital romantic relationship with him.”

The woman told Bantu she didn’t think that sounded Biblical. Shortly after this, she realized her relationship with him fit the definition of an “emotional affair,” she told CT.

When she told Bantu, he allegedly admitted to her that he had previously committed adultery. He also allegedly said he had been thinking about having sex with her, she said.

The woman then told leadership at Covenant Theological Seminary about Bantu’s misconduct.

The school investigated, and Bantu confessed his actions to the school. He agreed to step down from his role in 2018. 

The seminary informed Outpour of its investigation and Bantu’s confession, leading to his resignation there.

Despite this, CT pointed out that there is no gap in Bantu’s resume, and he continued teaching seminary courses at other schools.

 “How the hell did Vince go from one seminary to the next seminary, from one church to the next church?” Young said. “I think he makes these seminaries a lot of money.”

Bantu’s alleged history of infidelity

Young met Bantu in 2017 while attending Outreach, Young told TRR.

After Bantu resigned from Outpour, Young hoped Bantu could be restored. Bantu admitted how he messed up and seemed to want to change, Young said.

Following this, Bantu asked Young to be a part of an accountability group in 2019. While it started with several other pastors, it ended up primarily including Bantu, Young, and Williams.

In 2021, Bantu confessed he had sexual conversations and inappropriate touching with a close friend of his wife’s (C.B.), according to the letter the pastors sent to Fuller.  The woman currently lives with Bantu and his family.

The woman previously had an affair with Bantu “many years ago,” the letter said.

“[It] surprised us because Vince just casually offered up that information,” Young recalled.

Bantu and the woman denied these claims to CT.

In 2022, Bantu confessed to the men that he had sex multiple times with a woman he met at the airport, Young said.

Bantu texted Young after one of these instances in October 2022: “Just screwed up big time brother.” 

Young replied, “Uh oh,” and said he was praying for Bantu. Young shared the text exchange con TRR.

Bantu later respondió, “Yeah, I been still talking to the woman but no more sex. I told Diana and the kids.”

Young told Bantu he needed to block the woman’s number and stop talking to her.

Bantu respondió, “I appreciate it, brother. But I’m not there. Also remember (C.B.) lives with us, and nothing is happening with her. So, I agree it’s dangerous, but I don’t think it will definitely happen again.”

Bantu later texted that he was still committed to staying married to his wife. He said he made a covenant and intends to keep it, despite having broken it “in terms of faithfulness” multiple times.

Bantu told CT that while he did tell these men about “sinful actions” in the past, none of the instances occurred after 2019.

“We never wanted to do any of this”

Andrew Medlen, a missionary in St. Louis, has walked alongside Young as he confronted Bantu over the past two years, Medlen told TRR.

“I’d liked to say that I helped the whistleblower walk through the Matthew 18 process,” Medlen said. “We spent hours, almost daily, talking about what that would need to look like.”

Medlen, whose kids attend the same home school co-op as Bantu’s, said he was shocked when Young told him of Bantu’s polygamy remarks.

Medlen noted that the accountability group gave Bantu a chance to reconcile before every step they took.

“Man, just the continued extreme narcissism and manipulation that has been on display in this is next level,” Medlen commented. “We had to move forward. We never wanted to. We never wanted to do any of this. . . . This has been an eight-month process.”

He continued, “Vince, it would take you five minutes to repent.”

Young said he kept hoping Bantu would confess and repent. Because Bantu is refusing to do so, Young said he and the other pastors went public.

Bantu’s arguments for polygamy are just confirmation bias, Young said. He’s using the claim to deceive himself and others, along with spiritually abusing these women and his church, Young added.

“Justifying polygamy? Nah man, you want to justify your sin. You want to hide your sin. That’s what it is,” Young said. “This guy is full of it, there’s no truth here.”

Liz Lykins is a correspondent covering religion news for The Roys Report, WORLD Magazine, and other publications.