Religion Briefs : Campus Group Leader Resigns Over Affair

The president of InterVarsity Christian Fellowship resigned after admitting that he was involved in an adulterous relationship in late 1984 and early 1985, the national campus evangelical organization said this week.

The Rev. Gordon MacDonald, 48, resigned June 5 in the wake of rumors about the affair, the organization, headquartered at Madison, Wis., said in a news release.

InterVarsity, which has about 27,000 student members, has chapters on more than 750 college campuses across the country, including many major universities.

An ordained minister, MacDonald was former chairman of the board of World Vision International, a Christian relief agency based in Monrovia, Calif. He became president of InterVarsity on Jan. 25, 1985.

He could not be reached for comment. But in a statement, he said when it became clear that the affair could no longer be kept private, he had to resign “for the best interests of a great organization.”

“I need your forgiveness,” he said, adding that his marriage “is solid and growing today. . . .”

“Rightly or wrongly, I had hoped for a long period that, having taken all the biblically defined steps that call for confession, repentance, and restoration, the tragedy in my past would have been over and buried.”