UNITED STATES
Religion News Service – Rhymes with Religion
Boz Tchividjian | Sep 5, 2014
Those of us in the trenches confronting child abuse issues within the Church often find ourselves discouraged. Discouraged when we learn about yet another child victimized by an offender who exploits the faith to access, abuse and silence. Discouraged when we learn that a church has no child protection policy and doesn’t intend to develop one. Discouraged when we learn about yet another church leader who sacrifices the lives of little victims in order to protect the “reputation” of the church.
Discouraged when we learn of victims who are blamed for being sexually violated. Discouraged when we learn about professing Christian counselors and pastors who prefer to focus on the “sins” of the victim, instead of the heinous felony committed by the offender. Discouraged when we learn of congregations that find it much easier to embrace a perpetrator than to love and support a survivor.
You probably get my point.
This week has been different. I found myself refreshingly encouraged as I read a painfully transparent editorial by the associate publisher of World Magazine. A piece expressing regret for a second-guessing silence that he believes is partially responsible for the ongoing sexual abuse of at least two boys by the youth pastor at Kings Way Baptist Church, who was recently sentenced to prison for these crimes. The author writes about being an editor of a small Christian newspaper in the 1990s when he heard from some “credible people” about possible sexual offenses within a local church. Though his reporting of other improprieties within that church eventually led to the resignation of the senior pastor, he never followed up on the sexual offense claims. The pastor eventually opened up shop a few miles away and hired one of his sons, Bobby Price, as the youth pastor. The rest is a very dark and painful history.
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