Category: Sexual Abuse in the Church

This post concludes this series. The subject has not been exhausted. Hopefully, it has raised awareness of the SBC crisis and its implications for all churches. I have no illusion my posts will have much impact, but I could not not write on the subject of sexual abuse in the church.
Conversation with clergy and others outside the bible belt revealed little awareness or interest in the SBC by their congregants. I suspect that is true for most non-SBC churches in the bible belt also. As one leader expressed, “I’m glad we don’t have to deal with this.”

I believe such responses are short-sighted. As is often the case, the presented problem is not the real problem. The SBC crisis is a problem but it is only the tip of an iceberg. I applaud the reform efforts that have been approved but they address symptoms not cause.

““‘I know your works, your toil and your patient endurance, and how you cannot bear with those who are evil, but have tested those who call themselves apostles and are not, and found them to be false. I know you are enduring patiently and bearing up for my name’s sake, and you have not grown weary. But I have this against you, that you have abandoned the love you had at first. Remember therefore from where you have fallen; repent, and do the works you did at first. If not, I will come to you and remove your lampstand from its place, unless you repent.”Revelation? 2:2-5 ESV (my emphasis)

The church is dying— the fragile local church,— not the Body of Christ, eternal and impervious. SBC is representative of every other church/denomination in western Christianity, not dead but on a trajectory that portends their demise. SBC by virtue of its size and influence is the leading edge of a tsunami . Receding waters that follow the initial crisis warn of what is to come. This is not a time to breathe a sigh of relief, but to repent.

That trajectory can be described in a number of ways:
— abandonment of “the love they had at first”.
— “I am the Vine, you are the branches…Separated, you can’t produce a thing. John 15 – MSG
— “..not holding fast to the Head, from whom the whole body, nourished and knit together…” Col 2:19 ESV
— “hypocrites! For you tithe mint and dill and cumin, and have neglected the weightier matters of the law: justice and mercy and faithfulness…” Matt 23 ESV
Each of these offer insight into how the church (we) can be headed in the wrong direction and should be the subject of self-examination.

I want to suggest another trajectory— more subtle and insidious —secularization.
Secularization, for Christians, typically brings to mind culture war issues such as abortion, homosexuality, pornography, and drug use and multiculturalism, diversity, and school curricula, to name a few. Though each is important in their own way, they are a distractions from the real problem. Charles Taylor in his tome A Secular Age defines the essence of a secular age as disenchantment. An unfamiliar term , the following is helpful in understanding disenchantment.

The default mode for the disenchanted age is reliance on human ability/reason and scientific laws as an ultimate source for answers to the problems of modernity. Utility, efficiency and production are our preimemmant tools to achieve full potential as human beings. Inherently, disenchantment rejects the transcendent. Mystery, fantasy, spirituality, faith, divinity, magic, art, namely, enchantment, is rendered irrelevant. our existence in a disenchanted age is reduced to one dimension, removing depth and meaning and distorting the purpose of our lives. (Emphasis is mine)

http://www.georgeezell.com/2019/02/defaulting-to-disenchantment/

That definition led me to make this assertion: Living in a disenchanted age is the most significant challenge  we face in seeking a relationship with God. I have not changed my mind about that but have been affirmed by what is happening in Christian churches.

Expressed differently, disenchantment is loss of transcendence. Fr Stephen Freeman recently wrote about the loss of transcendence:

…a common element within human experience can be suggested by the word “transcendent.” It is an experience of beauty, of goodness, of wonder, that goes beyond itself. It demands poetry and art, songs and symbols. And despite our love of technology and the giftedness of our machines, it is the transcendent that speaks most fluently to our lives. We get out of bed in the morning because of transcendence (or so I believe). The loss of transcendence is something akin to death.
If, as I believe to be the case, we are created for wonder and transcendence, then it would seem that we are malnourished and suffer from starvation in our souls. If everything that troubles us within the “problem of evil” were to miraculously disappear, or even be diminished for the greater part, it would do nothing to nourish our souls. In a certain manner, we live in a vegetative state in which our “needs” are met while our true hunger is ignored.
The “belief” that is native to the human soul is among the casualties of the modern life-style (in all its aspects). We are not particularly nurtured with awe and wonder, but by the consumption of pleasure and the avoidance of pain. Our pleasure/pain principle has created a shallow culture. In short, we do not suffer well (as in somehow becoming better, more compassionate people), nor are our pleasures remotely sublime. Two words: reality tv. We have become a people among whom the cheap-shot versions of atheism easily prosper.
The experience of belief begins, I think, with the experience of transcendence, the questions of meaning and significance. It is a conversation that struggles to find its way in a sea of commodities and mundane pleasure. We are not immune to the transcendent – but simply distracted.

https://blogs.ancientfaith.com/glory2godforallthings/2022/06/22/healing-the-soul-and-unbelief/

As a Christian, I believe there is a transcendent reality. An awareness that we exist and recognize our need for meaning and purpose which is unfulfilled in a disenchanted reality. This is our common need which can only be fulfilled in the transcendent. 

Christianity, at least western Christianity, navigating a secular age has chosen a trajectory leading to increased reliance on human ability/reason and scientific laws as an ultimate source for answers to the problems of modernity. Utility, efficiency and production are our preimemmant tools to achieve full potential as human beings.

It is my contention the problem for SBC and western Christianity is loss of transcendence.
Admittedly debatable, I find no joy my conclusion. For if true, Christian faith devoid of transcendence portends fulfillment of Nietzsche’s infamous declaration, “God is dead”.
Ironically, Nietzsche believed that scientific developments and the increasing secularization of Europe had effectively ‘killed’ the Abrahamic God, who had served as the basis for meaning and value in the West for more than a thousand years. (Wikipedia)

Perhaps the Apostle John writing to today’s western churches would say: ” I have this against you, that are abandoning our transcendent GOD. Remember therefore from where you have fallen; repent, and do the works you did at first. If not, you will lose your place in the Kingdom of God, unless you repent.”

STILL ON THE JOURNEY

The Body of Christ is beautiful; “when the church gets it right, she is beautiful. When the church gets it right—when we fulfill the intentions of our Lord Christ and His character is revealed through us—”

(John Stumbo – A Stained Beauty

The past week was an emotional roller coaster. The school shooting in Uvalde, Texas continues to weigh heavy on my heart. The Guidepost SBC report is gut wrenching. There may be some tendency to discount media reports as overstatements or secular critics gloating over the moral and ethical failures of the SBC. I an currently reading the entire report and have found no reason to mitigate any criticisms. The depth and breath of the SBC Executive Committee’s malfeasance defies understanding.

If there was any encouragement in the SBC report, it was the story how the investigation came about.

For three minutes last summer, a call to investigate how Southern Baptist leaders have dealt with sexual abuse was dead in the water.
Then a little-known denominational bylaw and a pastor from Indiana saved it.
“I just had to do it,” said Todd Benkert, pastor of Oak Creek Community Church in Mishawaka, Ind. “It was me or nobody.”
About 15 minutes into a morning business session at the Southern Baptist Convention’s June 2021 annual meeting in Nashville, Southern Baptist leaders announced that a motion to set up an independent sex abuse investigation was being tabled.
Because the motion dealt with the internal workings of an SBC entity — in this case, the denomination’s Nashville-based Executive Committee — denominational officials, relying on bylaw 26 of the SBC’s constitution, decided to refer the motion to that entity.
In other words, the Executive Committee would be put in charge of investigating itself.
Then-President J.D. Greear was ready to move on when Benkert stood up at a microphone with a motion of his own, based on another section of bylaw 26.
“I would like the opportunity to make a motion to overrule the Committee on Order of Business at the appropriate time,” he said.
Benkert’s motion was met with applause. Then a second and, then, almost all of the 15,000 local church delegates, known as messengers, raised their yellow voting cards in the air ­— far more than the two-thirds majority needed to overrule the committee.

https://www.washingtonpost.com/religion/2022/05/27/how-apocalyptic-southern-baptist-report-almost-didnt-happen/

Hopefully my previous posts raised your awareness. I recommend these two podcasts that speak powerfully to the SBC crisis and the problem of sexual abuse in the church. The SBC information is not “tweetable”, it requires intentional time and effort.

SBC’s response is yet to be determined and will shape the future of its 14,000 churches and 14 million members. Their response will have profound impact on the reputation of the Christian church for outsiders.

Christianity has traditionally been seen as a stabilizing, even moderating, influence on American life. In 1975, more than two-thirds of Americans expressed “a great deal or quite a lot of confidence in the church,” according to Gallup, and as of 1985, “organized religion was the most revered institution” in American life. Today, Gallup reports, just 37 percent of Americans have confidence in the Church.

To be honest, I have come to understand that my concern about sexual abuse in the church is not shared by many. Not to say they don’t care about sexual abuse, but it is more like our concern for starving children in Africa, terrible but thank God we are blessed— where can I send money?

It is my hope the information shared in this post and previous posts will somehow penetrate the shield we have erected to protect our idealized view of church. Confronted with the truth that the local church is very fragile, the SBC crisis can be a catalyst for self-examination and response in our own context.

Despite the negative impact of the SBC crisis, there is an opportunity to demonstrate the beauty of the church in our response and raise confidence in the Church.
The next few posts will address what I believe that response should look like.

STILL ON THE JOURNEY