Christianity Today, the evangelical magazine founded by Billy Graham in 1956, has lost more than half of its 79 employees to layoffs or resignations over the past 14 months, amid questions about the outlet's commitment to independent journalism. The upheaval reached a new flashpoint last week when chief content officer Erik Petrik pulled, then restored, an article examining evidence about the late author Elisabeth Elliot's sexuality — a controversy that has become a flashpoint for deeper worries about where the publication is headed.
The staffing losses were detailed in a New York Times report by Ruth Graham, which found that Christianity Today is now on its sixth editor in chief in seven years. Former employees told the paper that new leadership has been abandoning the outlet's longstanding commitment to independent reporting, even as the magazine faces financial headwinds common across digital media.
The Elliot article, written by biographer Lucy S. R. Austen, was published on October 15 and explored what is known — and what remains unknown — about Elliot's sexuality, according to Christianity Today itself. Petrik took the piece down the same day it was published while it underwent additional review, telling readers that “in the midst of internal leadership transitions, Austen's article was not reviewed prior to publication by some key members of our content team.” The article went back up on October 16, with Christianity Today writing that “the review has now occurred, and the article is once again live on our site.”
A Newsroom Hollowed Out By Repeated Layoffs
The Elliot dispute landed atop months of attrition. Former deputy editor Bonnie Kristian, who gave notice in late September, wrote in a widely read account that more than half of the 79 employees on staff 14 months earlier have since been laid off or resigned, and that the organization had gone through three rounds of layoffs in a year and a half, with the most recent round eliminating six staff writers and point editors, according to Kristian's own telling.
Religion Unplugged reported that the most recent transition alone cut 20% of Christianity Today's staff and 40% of its editorial team, a figure the outlet attributed to the appointment of Petrik as chief content officer and incoming editor in chief. Andy Olsen, a Christianity Today staffer quoted in that same report, put it bluntly: “and then just like that CT loses half of its staff writers and editors.” Daniel Silliman, another journalist cited in the Religion Unplugged piece, said the leadership no longer sees reporting as an important part of the magazine's mission — though Christianity Today has maintained that the cuts were about aligning projected expenses with projected income heading into fiscal year 2027.
Leadership Turnover And A Contested Direction
Nicole Massie Martin was identified as president of Christianity Today's umbrella organization in 2026. At an all-staff meeting in a Chicago-suburbs hotel ballroom last year, Thomas Addington, then serving as interim president, told attendees that Christianity Today needed to be less like Wheaton and more like TikTok, according to attendees cited by the Times, while warning staff that layoffs were coming.
Journalists told the Times that Martin and Addington tried to discourage some articles and reporting based on feedback from their personal circles, and one anonymous reporter said they were instructed to slow an investigation into a faith-based organization with financial ties to Christianity Today. The allegations have raised questions about the outlet's editorial independence.
A History Of Hard Stories, Now In Question
Christianity Today's reporting legacy includes investigations of misconduct allegations involving prominent evangelicals. Silliman was suspended over a 2025 article about a lawsuit against a California megachurch and pastor Greg Laurie; he and colleague Kate Shellnutt later left Christianity Today.
Other departures have compounded the sense of instability: Russell Moore is among Christianity Today's former editors in chief. Christianity Today International's One Kingdom Campaign, aiming to raise $32 million, had brought in $26.5 million by March 2026, according to Baptist News Global, which also reported the magazine listed 84 employees on its website as of October 13 and took in $22.9 million in total income in 2024.
Echoes Of Other Evangelical Media Upheavals
Christianity Today's turmoil follows a familiar pattern among evangelical outlets navigating political and financial pressure. The Christian Post shifted to embrace President Trump, prompting politics editor Napp Nazworth to resign, telling CNN he had “no other choice” after the publication moved in a pro-Trump direction. Marvin Olasky likewise resigned from WORLD Magazine in 2021 as it shifted toward pro-Trump opinion journalism, calling the launch of an opinions section without his backing a “vote of no confidence,” according to MinistryWatch; several senior WORLD staffers resigned alongside him, with former staffers saying the new section risked overshadowing the magazine's reporting, per Religion News Service.
Christianity Today's direction has become a subject of debate amid the turmoil. Petrik's comments have addressed the review process for Austen's article. Former staff have questioned the outlet's editorial independence, describing a newsroom shaped as much by financial anxiety as by journalistic mission.
