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	Essence of the Problem By Christa Brown Stop Baptist Predators January 8, 2010 http://stopbaptistpredators.blogspot.com/2010/01/essence-of-problem.html Last week on the BaptistLife forum, a bare handful of comments captured the essence of the Baptist clergy abuse problem . . . and the essence of a partial solution. Too bad no one paid much attention. Timothy Bonney got the ball rolling. He’s a pastor with the American Baptists, not the Southern Baptists. American Baptists are a much smaller group, but like all Baptists, local church autonomy is central to their polity. However, for American Baptists, autonomy doesn’t automatically displace accountability. I have long thought that American Baptists might be able to teach the Southern Baptists something on this. So when I saw Bonney’s comment, I held my breath, wondering if others would pick up on it. But of course, as fast as the light bulb flickered, it then went dim. Here’s how the dialogue proceeded. (You can see its entirety on the BaptistLife forum.) Timothy Bonney (an American Baptist pastor): “I'll wait for the collective gasps after I say this. But autonomy is not the be all and end all of the Christian faith. In the ABC [American Baptist Convention] our churches are quite autonomous. But we have a system for the denomination to recognize the ordination of clergy. This system allows us to be able to hold clergy accountable both on the local level (the church) and on the regional level. If a pastor commits some ethical misconduct his/her ABC recognition can be suspended or removed. If that happens there are very very few ABC churches that would consider their resume and they can no longer circulate their information in the ABC system. I believe this is one area where the greater good (preventing clergy abuse of church folk) should out way the good of autonomy. Unfortunately bad actors in Baptist life can and do use autonomy as a shield from accountability to the church and the gospel.” David Flick (previously a Southern Baptist pastor and now an American Baptist pastor): “The recognition of credentials by a ministry counsel was a surprise to me when I moved into the ABC. Frankly, I’m impressed with the idea of credentials being recognized by the denomination. Among Southern Baptists, almost anybody can get ordained sans any educational background. The statement on my recognition certificate grants eligibility (with accountability) to my participation in ABC church life. It can be withdrawn if I misbehave ethically or morally... Timothy Bonney: “… I think it is a good compromise between autonomy and interdependence . . . . The local church still ordains and the local church still choose to accept or ignore the recognition issues. But by having the system the ABC can warn churches of unethical pastors. Then the church has to take matters in its own hands at that point." William Thornton (a Southern Baptist pastor): “The ABC is not the model for this, sorry. I am unwilling to allow any denominational bureaucrat to evaluate and approve of my credentials before I can serve a church. Let each church set their standards. It is a waste of time to even discuss it. The SBC would never have a system like this.” Bruce Gourley (Baptist historian with Master of Divinity from Southern Baptist Theological Seminary): “Am I am hearing you correctly? You support the right of SBC bureaucrats to tell you what you must believe as a Southern Baptist…, but would not allow the same bureaucrats to evaluate your ministerial credentials?” William Thornton: “… All the arguments for having SBC-wide ministerial standards, credentials, approval utterly fail when you imagine some group of denominational bureaucrats making such decisions. Like I said, it's a waste of time to discuss it. . . ." Timothy Bonney: "’Bureaucrats’ aren't involved. Each Region has a committee made up of laity and clergy that create ordination standards, deal with ethical misconduct issues etc. I happen to be the chair of that committee in Iowa. So I guess I'm your ‘bureaucrat.’ The ABC believes in both autonomy and interdependence. We believe that when a local church ordains someone that this means that they are making a statement that not only is this person fit for their congregation but that they believe they are generally fit for ministry. But without standards that basically means that the church with the least expectations gets to ordain the least qualified folks for all of our churches.” Sandy (Southern Baptist): “. . . It is not always very easy to get information out of a pastor's former church. We're 18 months into a pastor search, and I've made a lot of phone calls to cotton-padded stone walls….” Big Daddy Weave (Southern Baptist and Cooperative Baptist?): “… Can victims of sex abuse in ABC congregations report that abuse directly to some ABC official? Will an investigation follow?” Timothy Bonney: “We do have a system whereby an accusation can be brought to our committee, an investigation will follow, and the committee can and will take appropriate action within the limits of our polity. This action can include censure, suspension of recognition, or even removal of recognition. Such actions are shared with all ABC regions so that someone can't skip out of Mid-ABC and go somewhere else continuing abusive behavior. Such an individual cannot circulate an ABC profile, the main means of looking for a new church in the ABC.” That was the end of it. I was disheartened by William Thornton’s twice-repeated “waste of time to discuss it” remark. I believe Thornton to be a good man, but his remark encapsulates the typical view of Southern Baptist pastors and captures the essence of why clergy are not held accountable in this denomination. You’d think this would be a no-brainer. Other professionals are subject to ethics review boards -- doctors, lawyers, nurses, police, psychologists, etc. Other clergy are subject to ethics review boards. But not Southern Baptist clergy. Instead, the “autonomy above all” attitude prevails. It’s a knee-jerk sort of self-serving “autonomy” that makes very little sense in the context of all the other ways in which Southern Baptist churches cooperate. To me, it looks as though the Southern Baptist autonomy doctrine has been twisted to focus more on the autonomy of the pastors rather than the autonomy of the congregations. You can see an example of how the American Baptist system worked in actual practice here. A review board considered a report of clergy sex abuse (a report that was too old for criminal prosecution, as most are). The review board’s determination gave reporters something they could write about, and that in turn provided a way to warn people in the community. Even though the church still supported their pastor (as churches almost always do), and even though the review board exercised no authority over the church, the process provided a means to get the information into the light of day. That sort of process is exactly what is lacking for Southern Baptists, and as a result, people in the pews never find out about most of the preacher-predators. Even when molestation victims try to report ministers, no one pays any attention. The ministers simply stay in their pulpits, or else they move on to some other church and find new prey.
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