Our View: SBC Must Act in Aftermath of Abuse Scandal

Avalanche-Journal
February 13, 2019

https://www.lubbockonline.com/news/20190213/our-view-sbc-must-act-in-aftermath-of-abuse-scandal/1

A church is expected to be a place of sanctuary and hope, populated with leaders who represent God, but sadly a recent joint investigation by the Houston Chronicle and San Antonio Express-News found a number of disturbing instances where this was not the case.

The newspapers discovered hundreds of Southern Baptist church leaders and workers had been accused of sexual misconduct over the past two decades, leaving a trail of human brokenness in the wake of another church scandal. In all, per an Associated Press story, more than 700 victims, some as young as 3, have had their lives forever impacted by 380 people in positions of trust at SBC-affiliated churches.

First, one abuse victim in any setting is one too many. One abuser in any position of trust is one too many. Instances where other church officials either ignored what was going on, refused to respond to victims’ cries for help or who enabled this reprehensible behavior to continue are a sad commentary and injure the credibility and mission of the church in the world. That, in some cases, victims and their families were also shunned by churches when they needed compassion is an unimaginably painful scenario.

There are a number of theories as to why churches can be especially susceptible to scandals such as this. Church leaders should be above reproach and often are seen that way by the people they serve, creating an aura of absolute trust, but, as is obvious from this investigation, church leaders are human and fallible. All churches should see these scandals as a call to tighten background checks, accountability standards and measures to protect the vulnerable from anyone entrusted with leadership responsibilities in a church.