We are confident Alabama Baptists agree that sexual abuse is a detestable and repulsive act. Every effort should be made to prevent abuse, and every effort should be made to punish perpetrators. This is especially true when the sexual abuse involves a minister who has betrayed the trust and confidence of his or her congregation as well as committed a criminal or inappropriate act.
Beyond that point, it is harder to reach consensus on what should be done in instances of sexual abuse. Who is responsible for monitoring charges of sexual abuse? How widely should the incidents be aired? How does a church protect the innocent? How should a church deal with a perpetrator?
These are just some of the questions about which agreement has escaped Baptists to date.
A national organization called Survivors Network of those Abused by Priests made headlines earlier this year with efforts to get Southern Baptists to establish a national panel to deal with the problem of sexual abuse, especially of children and youth.
The Southern Baptist Convention (SBC) Executive Committee correctly noted that the SBC does not exercise authority over those who serve cooperating churches as ministers. The local Baptist church is the ultimate authority in Baptist life. It alone determines the criteria for those chosen to serve it as ministers.
The Executive Committee noted it is the responsibility of local church personnel committees or deacon bodies to deal with specific instances of criminal or inappropriate behavior. Outside of educating churches about available resources dealing with sexual abuse, the Executive Committee could do nothing, the committee said.
At least one state Baptist convention has gone a step further. The Baptist General Convention of Texas keeps a list of Baptist ministers who have been convicted of or who have confessed to sexual misconduct. This list is available to churches cooperating with the Texas convention if a proper request is made.
Some observe that unlike ministers in most other denominations, Baptist ministers do not have a code of ethics to which they are accountable.
In many cases, Baptist ministers are not accountable to anyone — not a personnel committee or deacon body — for regular oversight. When one is not accountable for his or her actions, then problems are more likely to arise, authorities point out.
Local churches are often reticent about dealing with sexual abuse issues. Frequently members do not want to believe such an act possible by their minister. At other times, church leaders try to control the situation long enough to get the offender quietly out of the community.
The problems that necessitated the move are never shared. The minister simply moves to a new place of service and the old problems follow. Sometimes we are not the most forthright people when asked for references. The unspoken threat of a lawsuit hangs precariously over every written or spoken word. Church leaders know it is dangerous to talk about fears or suspicions or unproven accusations.
And what better way to ruin a pastor’s ministry than to plant a rumor of sexual misconduct? Not every rumor, not even every legal indictment, proves true. Yet one of the unfortunate fallouts of publicity about incidents of sexual abuse is that it places every minister under suspicion.
A number of surveys over the past decade has consistently found that between 10 and 15 percent of ministers engage in “sexually inappropriate behaviors.”
That is a much broader category than sexual abuse. Still between 85 and 90 percent of ministers do not engage in any kind of sexually inappropriate behaviors.
Obviously one violation is too many, but in dealing with this issue, it should be remembered that the vast majority of ministers are worthy of the confidence placed in them by the congregations they serve.
One possible way to protect children and youth and the integrity of ministers is to prevent situations in which abuse can occur. Model policies for those working with children and youth have been developed and put in place by a number of Baptist churches.
These policies are available from the Alabama Baptist State Board of Missions office in Montgomery and from LifeWay Christian Resources. The Alabama Baptist has also published stories about these policies and why they should be adopted and how they are being used. These stories can be found on www.thealabamabaptist.org.
Included is a criminal background check on every person who works with children and youth, including church staff members. The policies clearly state that no one with a record of abuse will be allowed to work with children or youth.
Every staff member should have a thorough criminal background check, as well as a financial background check, before being called to a church.
It is a small price to pay to indicate that the church has done everything in its power to protect its members from any inappropriate activity by a staff member or volunteer.
Decisions about the results of violations of policies should be made when the atmosphere is free of the emotion of personalities. If decisions about results are left until an incident occurs, then emotions and personality are likely to influence the results.
Everyone is better served if all know what will happen to the person who engages in sexual abuse or inappropriate sexual behavior before an incident transpires.
Despite all the precautions churches may take, tragic instances will occur. There is no place that one is safe from all harm outside the loving arms of our Lord and Savior, Jesus Christ. When tragic instances happen, all will weep but a church that has acted responsibly will know it has done everything in its power to protect its children and youth.
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