A Christian radio host says it is time for evangelical churches to wake up to an “epidemic” of sexual abuse of children going on in their midst.
“I don’t know how long evangelicalism can ignore this problem,” Janet Mefferd said Oct. 18 on her syndicated radio show from Dallas that airs on over 100 stations across the nation. “I really don’t.”
The segment included an interview with Susan Burke, the attorney representing three anonymous women in a lawsuit alleging a cover-up of sexual abuse by Sovereign Grace Ministries (see story this page), a church-planting network.
Mefferd said she was not talking just about the Sovereign Grace lawsuit — those allegations are unproven — but about the “appalling” number of hits that can be generated on the Internet any day by typing terms like “sexual abuse” or “sexual assault” along with “pastor,” “minister” or “church.”
“This is an epidemic going on in churches,” Mefferd said. “I’m looking at these other stories and I’m thinking, ‘When are evangelicals going to wake up and say we have a massive problem in our own churches?’
“So much ink was spilled on the Catholic Church abuse scandal, and it should have been, but we act as if it’s not happening in our own churches,” she said. “It’s happening in our own churches every single day, and I am finding it harder and harder to find people who will talk about this.”
(ABP)
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