The CEO of Ravi Zacharias International Ministries is stepping down to launch an apologetics ministry.
Sarah Davis is forming a new ministry, Encounter, that will have a goal of “carrying the Gospel invitation to individuals and engaging in their questions so that they may encounter the love of Christ and enter relationship with Him,” according to incorporation papers filed in Georgia as quoted by Christianity Today, which broke the story.
The ministry will engage “thoughtful individuals in Gospel conversations” and train and disciple “messengers of Christ’s love for their spheres of influence,” the papers said.
Davis is the daughter of Zacharias, who passed away in 2020 following a battle with cancer.
Earlier this year, Ravi Zacharias International Ministries announced it would rebrand following an independent investigation that found Zacharias had engaged in years of sexual abuse. At the time, Davis said RZIM would end its apologetics ministry and change its focus by reorganizing into a “grantmaking entity” to “support a variety of ministries, causes, and kingdom-building efforts.”
“Specifically, we expect this new entity will make grants in two areas: furthering our original mission to preach the gospel through the questions of culture, and the prevention of and caring for victims of sexual abuse,” Davis said. “We plan to continue to make grants to many of the organizations we already support, in particular to our national offices around the world, and we also anticipate grants to seed new organizations that fulfill the mission on which RZIM was first started.”
RZIM, she wrote, “cannot – indeed should not – continue to operate as an organization in its present form.”
The ministry’s focus, Davis wrote at the time, should be “repentance,” “restitution,” “learning” and “serving.”
“We intend for every department of the ministry to focus their gifts, skills, and resources toward making meaningful progress in these four areas,” Davis wrote.
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Michael Foust has covered the intersection of faith and news for 20 years. His stories have appeared in Baptist Press, Christianity Today, The Christian Post, the Leaf-Chronicle, the Toronto Star and the Knoxville News-Sentinel.