Pastor Implicated in Sex Abuse Scandal is Back

UNITED STATES
Religion Dispatches

Post by ROB SHRYOCK

When a pastor resigns after his 77-church network is implicated in “the largest evangelical sex abuse scandal to date,” how long does it take for him to regain the trust of his colleagues?

The answer, apparently, is 7 months. CJ Mahaney, the founding pastor of Sovereign Grace Ministries (SGM), recently spoke at a conference called “Conviction to Lead 2013” at an SGM megachurch in Knoxville after a long absence from the public eye.

The lawsuit against SGM, which fizzled out in the late spring due to statutes of limitations, alleged that church leaders, including Mahaney, had actively worked to protect multiple abuse perpetrators while harassing and intimidating victims into silence. As T.F. Charlton wrote here on RD back in March:

The suit has been filed not only on behalf of the individual plaintiffs [8 at this point], but also on behalf of a much larger class of people allegedly abused as minors in SGM, who do not wish to come forward with their stories. The suit alleges that the potential additional victims are too many to be included as individual plaintiffs in the suit because SGM’s leaders have cultivated an “environment conducive to and protective of physical and sexual abuse of children.”

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