The pastor was arrested on sexual assault charges last year.
ARLINGTON, Texas — A woman is suing a North Texas pastor and church, alleging the pastor sexually assaulted her in 2023, court documents show.
The lawsuit names Koinonia Christian Church’s founding pastor Ronnie Goines and the church, which is located in the 2400 block of Southeast Green Oaks Boulevard in Arlington. Goines was arrested on sexual assault charges last July, as WFAA previously reported, and returned to the pulpit about three months later.
In the lawsuit filed last week, the woman alleges that while she was a member of the church, Goines sexually assaulted her on two separate occasions in 2023. She claimed that the church failed to take action against Goines despite a previous accusation of sexual abuse against him.
“At the time of the representations, Koinonia and Goines knew that the representations were false or made the misrepresentations recklessly without any knowledge of their truth and as a positive assertion,” the lawsuit reads. “For example, Koinonia knew that Goines had been involved in prior sexual abuse of a female.”
The woman is suing Goines for assault, and both Goines and the church for negligence, fraud, intentional infliction of emotional distress, civil conspiracy and sexual exploitation and is seeking more than $1 million in damages, court documents show.
WFAA has reached out to the church for comment. We’ll update this story as more information becomes available.
The woman alleges in the lawsuit that she began attending the church in 2022 and Goines assured her that “Koinonia was a safe place.”
“Plaintiff was unaware that, while Goines was reassuring her that she was in a safe environment with trustworthy individuals, he was in fact grooming her and would eventually sexually victimize her,” the lawsuit reads.
The lawsuit alleges Goines began calling the woman outside of church and asking personal questions.
“Although she initially found some of Goines’ comments during the conversation a bit unusual for a pastor, [the woman] ultimately dismissed her concerns because she rightly expected her pastor to be a person whom she could trust,” the lawsuit continued.
The woman alleged in the lawsuit that Goines invited her to his home in March of 2023 and tried to kiss and touch her multiple times despite her rejecting his advances.
The woman says in court documents that she met Goines again the next day at a theater, where she intended to confront him about his actions the previous day.
Then Goines suggested they go back to his home to eat, where he again sexually assaulted her despite her rejections, according to the lawsuit.
“After the assaults…Plaintiff struggled to make sense of what Goines had done to her,” the lawsuit continued.
The woman cut off ties to the church and reported what happened to authorities in June of 2024, according to the lawsuit.
Goines turned himself into the Tarrant County Jail in July after the Arlington Police Department’s Sex Crimes Unit got two warrants for his arrest – one for indecent assault and another for sexual assault, as we previously reported. He was released from jail that same month after posting bail.
An executive pastor filled in for Goines at Koinonia after his arrest but resigned shortly before Goines returned to the pulpit in October.
Goines denied forcing himself on the woman, according to an arrest warrant but acknowledged making her “uncomfortable” in a recording the woman gave to police of a conversation with Goines after the incident, as WFAA previously reported.
A hearing in Goines’ criminal case is set for later this month.
