SBC launches 'study group' focusing on sexual abuse in the church

By Abbey Crain
AL.com
July 28, 2018

https://www.al.com/news/index.ssf/2018/07/sbc_launches_a_study_group_foc.html

Paige Patterson at a commencement in Fort Worth.

The Southern Baptist Convention, under new president, J.D. Greear, launched a "study group" that will focus on sexual harassment and abuse in the church.

The announcement came one month after Paige Patterson was fired as president of the Southwestern Baptist Theological Seminary, a subgroup of SBC, for brushing off rape allegations presented to him and then denying it to the SBC.

"The group's purpose will be to consider how Southern Baptists at every level can take discernible action to respond swiftly and compassionately to incidents of abuse, as well as to foster safe environments within churches and institutions. This group will study both how Southern Baptists are currently engaging these issues and develop recommendations in consultation with relevant SBC entities on strategies and resources for ministering to victims and protecting people and churches from predators," Greear said in a statement.

The Sexual Abuse Presidential Study Group will consist of local pastors, outside experts and Southern Baptist leaders, in partnership with the Ethics and Religious Liberty Commission division of the SBC.

Thousands of SBC women signed a petition calling for Patterson's to be held accountable for his lack of action around the #metoo movement. The letter called to light the SBC's repressive theology.

"The Southern Baptist Convention cannot allow the biblical view of leadership to be misused in such a way that a leader with an unbiblical view of authority, womanhood, and sexuality be allowed to continue in leadership," the letter states.

"Sexual assault and sexual abuse are Satanic to the core, and churches should be the ones leading the way when it comes to protecting the vulnerable from predators," Russell Moore, president of the ERLC, said in a statement.

Alabama has witnessed cases of abuse within the church, especially in recent years. In March, Christopher Stutts, a youth pastor at Westwood Baptist Church in the Forestdale area, was convicted of sexually abusing a child. In May, an Irondale deacon faced felony charges amid accusations he sexually abused two young church members. In 2016 Jeff Eddie was convicted of child molestation at Highland Park Baptist in Muscle Shoals.

The study group will convene over a one year period and report back with findings and recommendations to Greear.