This past week the Houston Chronicle ran a three-part
series on sexual abuse in SBC churches. The series gathered information from public
criminal records and then interviewed some of the victims, abusers, law
enforcement personnel, and churches. Most of the cases they looked at occurred
over the past 20 years. The resulting articles were gut wrenching to read and
heart breaking to contemplate.
In addition to the terror of the abuse itself, in a
number of cases abusers were able to move to another church and abuse more
victims before being caught. Some churches did not do what they could have and
should have to prevent abuse or to help victims once the abuse was discovered.
I’m thankful for the articles. Sexual abuse of children
is a wide spread problem. When the abusers are pastors or other church leaders,
the abuse does double damage. Like any sexual abuse, it deeply harms the souls
of the victims. Abuse victims often struggle with many problems for decades, if
they find healing at all. In addition to the damage of the sexual abuse, in these
cases the crimes also hurt the Name of Christ. Victims, their families and
friends, and others often have a much harder time believing in a God who loves
them after such abuse. These articles shine a light on this problem and
encourage us to think about how to do better.
My
Personal Experience with Helping Stop Abuse and Healing those Who have been
Hurt
The articles resonated with me on several levels.
About ten years ago my wife, Hope, and I discovered a
case of sexual abuse by a top leader at a Christian college. The abuser was
eventually fired, but the process of getting to that point was difficult and
costly (I’ve shared some of that story in a previous blog post, here.)
Hope and I have also seen God heal and transform some
victims of sexual abuse. In one case our role was mainly prayer and
encouragement. In another case, we had the opportunity to invest deeply in a
young lady who had been a victim of childhood sexual abuse. The healing process
occurred over a period of years, not months. At times she broke down and cried
like a little child in Hope’s lap. In both cases the healing process was long,
difficult, and required great courage and strength from those who had been
hurt. The needed courage and strength came from the Lord. Both ladies have been
gloriously transformed and each is now a mature Christian leader in two
different very challenging ministries. They are my heroes. God allowed us to
see both the depth of damage done by sexual abuse as well as His amazing
ability to heal and transform people who have been deeply wounded.
What
Should We Do?
I’m thankful that as soon as the first article came out,
pastors and other Christian leaders were immediately thinking about and discussing
what we can do better. Until Jesus comes back, we will not be able to stop all sin.
But we are certainly called to do all we can, with God’s strength, to protect
the children in our churches.
In this short article I want to share several biblical principles
that are relevant to this battle. Of course, specific ways to apply these
principles are urgently needed, and thankfully many churches are already
implementing these and it’s very likely that the Houston Chronicle articles
will prompt new actions at multiple levels.
The biblical principles I will share here are mainly
based on a passage written by the Apostle Paul almost 2,000 years ago:
17
The elders who are good leaders are to be considered worthy of double honor,
especially those who work hard at preaching and teaching.
18 For the Scripture says: Do not muzzle an ox
while it is treading out the grain, and the worker is worthy of his wages.
19 Don't accept an accusation against an elder
unless it is supported by two or three witnesses.
20 Publicly rebuke those who sin, so that the
rest will be afraid.
21 I solemnly charge you before God and Christ
Jesus and the elect angels to observe these things without prejudice, doing
nothing out of favoritism.
22 Don't be too
quick to appoint anyone as an elder, and don't share in the sins of others.
Keep yourself pure. (1 Timothy 5:17-22 CSB17)
Paul’s Holy Spirit inspired ancient wisdom is relevant
today. Here are four principles:
1. Be careful when appointing ministry leaders.
“Don’t
be too quick to appoint anyone . . .”
Churches constantly need more leaders. Whether it’s
replacing a pastor who has retired or moved to a new assignment, hiring a youth
pastor, or finding volunteers to work with youth and children, there is often a
sense of urgency in finding new leaders. Those who are serving on search
committees or seeking new volunteer workers are often stretched thin
themselves. Nevertheless, we must not give in to the temptation to cut corners
when it comes to choosing ministry leaders and others who work with our
children and youth.
Earlier in 1 Timothy Paul gave qualifications for elders
and deacons. The same types of qualifications generally apply to all ministry
leaders in the church. The qualifications focus mainly on character issues.
These types of issues take time and effort to test and verify. One of the main
indications of readiness to lead in the church is that a person is doing a good
job and bearing good fruit leading in their own home and family. When hiring
someone not personally known to the church, careful efforts are called for,
including checking references, in evaluating the character of a potential new
pastor or youth pastor. It takes times and energy, but it’s worth it order to
protect our churches, and especially our youth and children, from predators.
2.
Carefully seek and evaluate evidence when there are accusations.
“Don't accept an
accusation against an elder unless . . .”
If there is an accusation against a church leader (or
anyone else in the church) it calls for careful investigation. In today’s
setting in the US and similar nations where there are good (not perfect, but
good) law enforcement agencies, in the case of allegations of the abuse of
children it is right and good to immediately report these allegations to the
police and/or other law enforcement agencies. A church wouldn’t try to deal
with a murderer on their own, neither should we do so with cases of child
abuse. The law enforcement agencies have resources and legal powers that
churches do not have. And child abuse is a crime which calls not only for removing
a guilty person from any church position, but also for putting them in prison
in order to protect others in the community.
Does this mean the church has no responsibility of its
own to investigate? No. Paul makes it clear that we are competent to judge in
areas where the church needs to make decisions (1 Corinthians 4:12-5:5).
Practically speaking, this is how it might work. If there
is an allegation or any evidence of child abuse, a church should immediately
report it to law enforcement. The church should then fully cooperate with law
enforcement and encourage all its members to do so. In some cases, the church
may choose to do some amount of investigation in parallel as long as it does
not interfere with the law enforcement investigation. The purpose of any
investigation by the church is to help the church leadership make decisions, help
victims, and protect from future harm. Also, sometimes law enforcement cannot
prosecute a person due to legal standards even if common sense standards show
the person is guilty. In these cases, a church may need to act on it’s own investigation.
After the legal process is done, the church should at least review the parts of
the legal investigation which are public record.
We have to remember that there are some cases where the church
will have to investigate sin and abuse on their own (or with the help of
Christians from outside the local church with experience in this area). For
example, if an older, married pastor is accused of having sex with a 19-year-old
college student, there might not be any crime in the eyes of the law to
investigate. But there would certainly be an urgent need for the church to
investigate and make a judgment as to whether the accusation was true. You can
imagine many other cases where a law has not been broken that calls for
investigation by police, yet very serious sin has been committed by a church
leader which calls for investigation by other leaders in the church.
In cases of sexual immorality, how might a church apply
the rule that there has to be two or three witnesses (1 Timothy 5:19)? In the
case where a young lady at a Christian Bible college I was teaching at told my
wife that another leader at the school had asked to sleep with her, we
immediately asked her if she thought any of her friends might have had similar problems
with this same leader. In that case we were able to find multiple witnesses in
less than 24 hours after the first accusation. Other cases might not be as
simple. Sexual immorality is usually carried out in secret and abusers often go
to great lengths to conceal their sin and keep others from speaking. Still,
there will often be corroborating witnesses in the form of other victims,
people who saw inappropriate interaction, or electronic evidence like texts or
photos on computers or cell phones. In some cases, the abuser may confess to
some or all of their crimes.
These cases can be complex and involve many people.
Wisdom is needed. Thankfully, our God promises wisdom to those who ask (James
1:5).
3.
Publicly rebuke church leaders who have committed sins serious enough to
warrant their removal.
“Publicly
rebuke those who sin . . .”
This one is tough.
Sometimes churches prefer to sweep problems under the carpet and handle things
quietly. I think this is why Paul went on to write, “I solemnly charge you before God and Christ Jesus and the elect angels
to observe these things without prejudice, doing nothing out of favoritism.”
It’s as if Paul knew we wouldn’t want to publicly rebuke fallen leaders, so he
stopped to make it clear that we have to. And while it’s true that these are the
words of the Apostle Paul, it’s also true that this is the Word of God. Our job
is to trust and obey.
Remember that
public rebuke only applies to church leaders. When your friend or neighbor
sins, you are not called to rebuke them publicly. But when does this apply? How
do we carry it out? Who do we tell and how much do we tell? Again, we will need
Holy Spirit given wisdom to carry this out well. Based on over twenty years of
ministry leadership experience, and some painful experience dealing with these
types of issues, here are a few of my thoughts:
* If the sin is
serious enough to cause a church leader to be fired or to resign, it should be
shared with the church.
* Of course, all
the ugly details do not need to be shared. Enough should be shared so that the
church members will understand the basic nature and seriousness of the sin.
* If the guilty
party maintains their innocence in the face of evidence that leaves no
reasonable doubt of their guilt, or if they protest that they are being treated
unfairly, enough details may need to be shared to establish their guilt and to
show the justice of their removal.
* If the abuser
seeks employment with another church or ministry, it is proper to share the
basic facts in order to protect others from harm. In terms of exactly how to do
this, in some cases it may be wise to get legal counsel.
4.
Honor good leaders.
“The
elders who are good leaders are to be considered worthy of double honor . . .”
A series like the one in the Houston Chronicle serves a
good purpose in drawing attention to a terrible problem. The series concentrated
all the cases of sexual abuse by leaders in SBC churches from across the
country and from the last couple of decades into one report. It then focused on
those cases which were handled in terribly wrong ways by some churches. This
type of article reminds us that some Christian leaders are wolves in sheeps’
clothing and so we need to be on guard. It also teaches us how not to deal with
sexual abuse through negative examples and pushes us to do better. But we also
need to remember the other side of the story.
Before he gives us instructions on how to guard against
bad leaders and how to deal with bad ones whose sins are discovered after they
have been appointed, Paul exhorts us to honor good leaders.
I’ve known some bad Christian leaders who did a lot of
harm to those they were called to serve. But I’ve known many more good Christian
pastors and leaders. Most Christian leaders I’ve known are godly people who
humbly serve others. They work hard. I’ve known quite a few who made
significant financial sacrifices and accepted significantly more humble lifestyles
in order to be faithful to God’s calling. Far from being the ones who damage
souls, they are constantly ministering God’s love, truth, and grace to people
in all of the most difficult situations of life. When church members lose
family members, or face severe health problems, or are going through marital
conflict, or dealing with depression, or find themselves trapped by a dark
addiction, these Christian leaders are there loving, serving, helping, giving,
and healing in Jesus’ Name. Most of these Christian leaders are excellent moral
examples to follow. Of course, they are not perfect, but their character is
such that by their life and teaching they encourage many others to live more
godly lives.
So, let’s not throw out the baby with the bathwater.
A Closing
Prayer
Heavenly
Father, we ask that you will bring much good out of the recent articles on
sexual abuse in SBC churches. May these articles encourage victims to report
abusers to the police and to share their stories when they are ready. May
churches be more vigilant in guarding against sexual abuse. When the terrible
happens, and sexual abuse occurs in a church, please give those churches the
courage, strength, and grace to not cover up it up, but to deal with it in a
way that best protects others from future abuse and also best brings healing to
the victims.
Lord,
please give us a lot of wisdom about the roles that the denomination as a
whole, as well as state conventions and local associations, should play in
helping to guard against sexual abuse.
Heavenly
Father, heal those who have been hurt by evil sexual predators. Surround them
with safe people who are called and gifted to bring healing, love, and truth
into their wounded hearts. Transform them and use their stories to help guard
others. Protect victims from the lie that there was something wrong with them
that caused their abuse. Also help them to see that while not all Christian
leaders are trustworthy, Jesus Christ is trustworthy.
Bless
and strengthen the many good Christian leaders who are humbly serving your
people.
In
Jesus Name, Amen.
Hebrews 13:16 And do not forget to do good and to share with others . . .
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