The head of Exodus International shut the ministry's doors for good on Thursday, apologizing for any "undue suffering and judgment" its agenda to "cure" gay people may have caused.
According to USA Today, Exodus was a group that paid special attention to homosexuality-changing LGBT people "back" to straight through prayer, individual and group therapy.
"Exodus is an institution in the conservative Christian world, but we've ceased to be a living, breathing organism," president of the church Alan Chambers said. "For quite some time we've been imprisoned in a worldview that's neither honoring toward our fellow human beings, nor biblical."
On his website, he released a statement on Wednesday that apologized "to the gay community for years of undue suffering and judgment at the hands of the organization and the church as a whole."
He also announced that the ministry would close until it could transform its mission statement, collaborating with other churches to provide "safe, welcoming and mutually transforming communities."
According to member of the board of directors Tom Moore, who spoke to USA Today about Thursday's vote that led to the ministry's shutdown, the congregation did not enforce pillars of acceptance and love that highlight Christianity.
"We're not negating the ways God used Exodus to positively affect thousands of people, but a new generation of Christians is looking for change-and they want to be heard," he said.
Chambers himself knows a thing or two about walking the middle road between homo and heterosexuality: he turned away from gay life in his teenage years.
In his statement, he said that despite being married with two adopted kids, he "conveniently omitted...ongoing same-sex attractions."
"I was afraid to share them as readily and easily as I do today," he wrote. "They brought me tremendous shame and I hid them in hopes they would go away. Looking back, it seems so odd that I thought I could do something to make them stop."
He went on to explain that he accepted the feelings as another part of his life.
"The days of feeling shame over being human in that way are long over, and I feel free simply accepting myself as my wife and family does. As my friends do. As God does."
Exodus International received national attention and intense critique for an app it created that offered tips for curing homosexuality. Apple took the app down from the online store soon after critics began railing it.
