Last fall, Houston Chronicle came out with a damning six part investigative series on abuse cover-ups in the Southern Baptist church. Over 700 victims were discovered as a result. Additionally, over 35 Southern Baptist ministers and volunteers were accused of abuse but were still permitted to keep working, and more than 100 Southern Baptist youth ministers are currently in prison, are registered sex offenders, or are charged with sex crimes. People are rightfully losing trust in church leadership.
The Southern Baptist church hyped up the Caring Well Challenge, by stating that “The Caring Well Challenge is a unified call to action on the sexual abuse crisis in the Southern Baptist Convention. It provides churches with an adaptable and attainable pathway to immediately enhance their efforts to prevent abuse and care for abuse survivors.” This challenge has its critics, myself included, because actions always speak louder than words. In a highly controversial move, J.D. Greear defended the hiring of Bryan Loritts this summer, even though Loritts is accused of covering up sex crimes of his brother-in-law over a decade ago.
Numbers don’t lie. They are not emotional; they just are. Megan and Dominique Benninger launched a database, BaptistAccountability.org, in February of this year to identify convicted and credibly accused abusers and churches that cover-up their abuse. As of this writing, there are already 534 entries, with 404 who’ve been convicted, 82 with credible allegations, and 48 that were covered up/enabled. We interviewed the Benningers on The Speaking Out On Sex Abuse Podcast, and they both acknowledge that the numbers are far, far greater than what is reported.
Clearly there is a major problem across all denominations with either knowingly hiring and hiding abusers, or not doing a good enough job screening them in the first place. Each time I was interviewed to work with a church, I was thrown softball questions that were, in my opinion, shallow, and the questions I was asked told them nothing about who I really am. This is common. To be fair, many churches don’t have any training in abuse and sadly abuse isn’t even on their radar. We recently recorded an episode about interview questions we recommend asking preaching candidates and people who are being considered for other leadership positions (both paid and unpaid). I’ll provide those questions in this post, in hopes that it will help churches to think about the importance of asking better questions.
Until churches ask better questions, we will continue getting more of the same disastrous results. The church is inundated with cases of abuse. With the exception of 2016, for the past quarter of a century the number one reason for church litigation has been (and continues to be) sexual abuse. The very least we can do is do a better job of interviewing and screening candidates. I list the questions below without comment. To hear us unpack each of these questions, listen to the episode above.
- What is God’s foundation?
- What was Jesus’ mission?
- If an adult in the church came to you and told you that a current member sexually abused her when she was a child, how would you respond?
- Several people have privately complained that long-time member and one of the church elders is “too close” to children. A Sunday school teacher comes to you privately to say that one of her small children said that he cries when he sees this elder because “I saw his pee pee.” How do you respond?
- A new visitor has been attending for several months. He was a former pastor and has a vast knowledge of the scriptures. Everyone really enjoys him and he hasn’t caused any problems. He shares, privately, that he was falsely accused of sexual abuse and is now on the registry. The church is unaware that he is on the registry and he would like to keep it that way due to the embarrassment this would bring to his family. His former church leaders vouch for his character and ability to teach and lead well. They don’t think he was falsely accused, but they think he learned his lesson in prison and that God’s mercy is for all, regardless of what they have done. How will you respond?
- How will you make church a safe place for the oppressed, poor, and the sick?
What would you add to this list?
Thank you Jimmy!!
Absolutely!
Jimmy, this is so important. Thank you for writing it. Here are my additions:
If an allegation is made about a staff or lay person, will you inform the leadership so an outside investigation can be preformed? If there are allegations about a person who has been working with the children/youth, will you immediately inform the congregation so parents can make sure no harm has come to their children? Are you willing to teach/preach once every year or two about domestic abuse and abuse in the Christian environment? Do you understand that you are mandated by state law to report suspicions (in 18 states) or allegations (in all states) of child abuse, and that not reporting allegations will result in immediate termination of your job? Do you understand that anytime a wife reports domestic abuse to you, that you should never require her to sit in a counseling session with you and her husband so you can try to sort it out or help them? We ask that you take notes about all allegations of abuse that are reported to you, and that those files be left in your office if you leave this ministry for any reason so the next staff member can help protect the flock should future allegations be reported. Do you understand that a non-disclosure agreement (N.D.A.) can never be suggested or required inside of a Christ-centered ministry focused on soul care; regardless of what an attorney or insurance company recommends? Are you aware that victims of childhood sexual assault or clergy abuse will need a trauma-informed therapist, not their pastor? Any type of clergy abuse, including an affair with a member or attender, will be reported to a database where abusers, enablers, and those credibly accused are tracked to help ensure such an abuser will not be hired for ministry again.
Thank you, Carolyn! These are excellent additional questions!