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How can non-hierarchical denominations prevent child abuse in churches? | Ed Stetzer
I recently spoke at Liberty University convocation. While there, I had the privilege to sit down with my friend, Boz Tchividjian.
Boz is a prosecutor by background, specifically dealing with child sexual abuse cases. He has recently been engaged in advocacy for the protection of victims—first and foremost that there might not be victims. Second, he advocates that those who are victims might be heard and that the perpetrators might ultimately be prosecuted.
Sadly, this is an ongoing challenge in the life of the church. We are certainly all aware of the scandals within the Catholic Church. But increasingly people are asking questions about the Protestant and the Evangelical world. I’ve blogged on such abuse situations on several occasions—see here, here, and here.
For this reason, I felt that an interview with Boz would be worth our time.
Over the course of the next few weeks I will post parts of my interview with Boz and link them together. I recognize that I have written frequently on the subject of child protection, and this will just add more, but I think the protection of children is worth dwelling on since this blog is read mostly by pastors and church leaders.
Part One of our interview was posted a couple of weeks ago and can be found here, and Part Two can be found here.
Let me encourage you to check out Boz’ brand new Religion News Service blog. Also, be sure to check out this article from CBN, and this article on how churches can endanger children.
Part Two of our interview focused on how the leadership of hierarchical Evangelical denominations and Catholicism could help prevent child abuse. This part of our interview focuses on how non-hierarchical denominations may help prevent such acts.
So what could a non-hierarchichal denomination do? For Evangelical denominations who don’t have enforceable policies brought down from above, how can they tangibly act?
I think a starting place is for the leadership of these denominations to engage in personal dialogue with those of us who have already been directly addressing this issue and who really have a heart’s desire to equip the church in understanding this issue. I think it starts with that almost one-on-one dialogue, helping train and equip these leaders to understand the gravity of the issue.
I think sometimes the issue is not discussed at a national or denominational level by these leaders because they simply don’t fully understand it. These are theologians. I completely understand that these individuals have been called to focus on preaching and other aspects of ministry. They’re not called to be experts on child abuse, and that’s understandable. However, that is not an excuse to be un-teachable on a subject that impacts so many inside and outside the Christian community. So the hope is that they are open to begin a dialogue with those who are the experts in this area and who desire to serve Christ’s church in helping it better understand this issue.
Second, there are things that can come from a leadership level that can greatly influence churches to move in this direction. For example, if leaders are learning from the experts in the field, they will be in a better position to challenge pastors to read at least one recommended book a year that will help them better understand the dynamics of abuse. Anna Salter’s book entitled, Predators , is a very difficult book to read. However, if every pastor read that book I am convinced our churches would be safer because our pastors would have a much greater understanding of the gravity and prevalence of this issue. Recently, I recently wrote a Protecting Children from Abuse in the Church: Steps to Prevent and Respond. This is a short but very informative book that I hope can find its way into every church in this country.
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