Ex-gay Christian group Exodus International has shut down, with its president issuing apology for causing the gay community pain and suffering. The group is known for administering therapies to cure people of their homosexuality.

Exodus has performed therapies that allegedly converted gay people to straight for 37 years, claiming that homosexuality can be cured. It has over 120 local ministries in the U.S. and Canada, and over 150 ministries in 17 countries.

In a statement on Wednesday, the non-profit Christian organisation has announced that it is closing its doors "after a year of dialogue and prayer about the organisation's place in a changing culture," admitting that they have issued undue judgment to the gay community.

"Exodus is an institution in the conservative Christian world, but we've ceased to be a living, breathing organism," its president, Alan Chambers, said. "For quite some time we've been imprisoned in a worldview that's neither honouring toward our fellow human beings, nor biblical."

Its Board of Directors unanimously voted to close Exodus and simply begin a separate ministry which aims to reduce fear and to become "safe, welcoming, and mutually transforming communities."

"Our ministry has been public and therefore any acknowledgment of wrong must also be public. I haven't always been the leader of Exodus, but I am now and someone must finally own and acknowledge the hurt of others. I do so anxiously, but willingly," he wrote.

He also included the extended apology he sent to the members of the LGBTQ (lesbian, gay, bisexual, transgender, and queer or questioning) Community, which reads in part:

"Please know that I am deeply sorry. I am sorry for the pain and hurt many of you have experienced. I am sorry that some of you spent years working through the shame and guilt you felt when your attractions didn't change. I am sorry we promoted sexual orientation change efforts and reparative theories about sexual orientation that stigmatised parents.

"I am sorry that there were times I didn't stand up to people publicly 'on my side' who called you names like sodomite - or worse. I am sorry that I, knowing some of you so well, failed to share publicly that the gay and lesbian people I know were every bit as capable of being amazing parents as the straight people that I know.

"I am sorry that when I celebrated a person coming to Christ and surrendering their sexuality to Him that I callously celebrated the end of relationships that broke your heart. I am sorry that I have communicated that you and your families are less than mine."

In interviews held last year, Chambers admitted that their therapies did not work amid controversies. He also said that their conversion therapy is potentially harmful to participants. This is a complete turnaround from his previous position, in which claimed that the therapies have helped thousands of people, including him.