Members of Gateway Church in Southlake, Texas, have filed a lawsuit against the church and its leaders, including former Senior Pastor Robert Morris, alleging misrepresentation, fraud, and a breach of contract concerning the use of tithes.

The plaintiffs, who are representing themselves and a proposed class of donors, claim the church and its leadership failed to allocate a promised 15 percent of all tithes to global missions and Jewish ministry partners after promising a refund if they did not follow through on their promise.

The church leaders, specifically Morris, repeatedly claimed that this amount would be used for global missions through Gateway Global Ministries, according to the lawsuit. "Robert Morris and other Gateway leaders told the congregation for years that 15% of all tithe dollars went to global missions work via Gateway Global Ministries, an amount documented in the Members’ Handbook given to new members,” the complaint states.

The lawsuit claims the church did not honor its commitments as per the tithe agreements.

Each month, the CPA would receive a financial statement for the Global Ministries fund, which reflected increases (15% of the tithe) and outflow (salaries, administrative costs, and approved gifts to ministries). At the end of each year, the CPA and his administrative assistant would review the transactions for the year.

When the CPA first began working for Gateway, its annual revenue was in the $100 million range and rose to about $120 million by 2014. However, during the CPA’s tenure in his executive pastoral role, he never observed the Global Ministries fund give away more than $3 million in any year. As quoted above, in around 2013 the giving to missions had reached an estimated $20 million per year. Thus, depending on the year and the tithing, that meant that the unspent global fund balance was growing at approximately $10 million per year. In spite of that, Robert Morris and other leaders at Gateway misled the congregation during Global Impact Weekend each year by stating that the full amount was being given to missions when, in fact, it was not.

Morris and other church leaders declared that they would implement a “money back guarantee” if congregants were not satisfied with how their tithes were being used. “If you’ll try it for one year—if you are not fully satisfied—at the end of that year, I’ll give you your money back,” Morris promised, according to the complaint.

Despite the guarantee, requests for refunds were ignored or refused, the plaintiffs alleged.

The plaintiffs allege that church leaders not only failed to use the funds as promised, but rebuffed them when they asked about the discrepancy between what was promised and what was actually given. “Defendants’ refusal to answer even the most basic of questions is the reason for this lawsuit,” the complaint reads.

The plaintiffs are demanding a jury trial and $1 million in monetary damages.

The lawsuit comes after Pastor Morris, founder of the church, resigned following allegations of sexual abuse against a minor girl in the 1980s. The victim alleges that he began abusing her when she was 12 years old. The alleged abuse continued for four and a half years.

Morris had admitted to engaging in “inappropriate sexual behavior” in the past but did not disclose the victim’s age and the extent of the abuse to church elders. The church has been embroiled in controversy ever since.