Southern Baptists face push for public record of intercourse abusers

A blistering report on the Southern Baptist Conference’s mishandling of intercourse abuse allegations is elevating the prospect that the denomination, for the first time, will create a publicly accessible database of pastors and different church personnel known to be abusers.

The creation of an “Offender Information System” was one of many key suggestions in a report launched Sunday by Guidepost Solutions, an independent agency contracted by the SBC’s Government Committee after delegates to last year’s national meeting pressed for an investigation by outsiders.

The proposed database is predicted to be one of a number of suggestions presented to hundreds of delegates attending this 12 months’s national assembly, scheduled for June 14-15 in Anaheim, California.

“These recommendations will probably be open to questions, debate and feedback on the meeting ground,” mentioned SBC President Ed Litton.

He expressed hope that the shocking findings within the Guidepost report will carry “lasting change” to the SBC, America’s largest Protestant denomination. It has been shedding membership steadily lately, while being wracked by inner divisions over race and gender roles.

The Guidepost report mentioned survivors of abuse by SBC clergy repeatedly shared allegations with the Government Committee, “solely to be met, time and time again, with resistance, stonewalling, and even outright hostility from some inside the EC.”

“Our investigation revealed that, for many years, a couple of senior EC leaders, along with outdoors counsel, largely controlled the EC’s response to these reviews of abuse ... and were singularly targeted on avoiding legal responsibility,” the report mentioned.

The motion for an impartial investigation was put forward eventually year’s national meeting by the Rev. Grant Gaines, senior pastor of Belle Aire Baptist Church in Murfreesboro, Tennessee.

Studying the Guidepost report, Gaines said he was struck by repeated examples of a callous disregard for survivors, as well as leaders prioritizing protection of the SBC from legal responsibility over abuse prevention.

“We’re at a fork in the road,” Gaines said. “I think this report offered the information that we needed for there to be a groundswell of support to take the suitable actions.”

Particularly, Gaines stated he supports the proposal to create a system that alerts communities to recognized offenders.

“I think that’s one of many first issues we must always do,” he said.

Lawyer and author Christa Brown, who says she was sexually abused as a teen by the youth minister at her SBC church, has been pressing the SBC since 2006 to create a publicly accessible database of recognized abusers. She was heartened that Guidepost was recommending such a system, but stated questions stay about its implementation.

“What is totally important is that the local church can not function as the default or presumed starting place for a survivor to try to acquire an investigation of clergy intercourse abuse,” she said by way of electronic mail. “If the native church is deemed to be a requisite first cease for survivors to pursue action, then many survivors’ voices will likely be choked in their throats earlier than sound is ever uttered.”

Among the Guidepost report’s findings was that the Govt Committee saved a secret listing of hundreds of SBC-affiliated clergy and other personnel recognized as sex abusers. Brown said the committee, at a special meeting Tuesday, ought to conform to release this listing.

“I urge you to make public the whole thing of your listing of pastors & ministers accused of sexual abuse, in no matter type it’s been kept for lo these many years,” Brown tweeted. “Submit. It. Now.”

The final decisions about suggestions to undergo the Anaheim delegates will be made by the SBC’s Sexual Abuse Process Drive, comprising seven members and two advisors. Its work over the previous 12 months has been an emotional journey, said Pastor Bruce Frank, who led the group.

“We noticed patterns and issues that have been deeply regarding,” he said. “Our fundamental job was to empower Guidepost to do their job, they usually have accomplished a very outstanding job within the last nine months to look at occasions that occurred over 20 years.”

Within the next week or so, the duty force will carry forth formal motions in “exact language,” which will likely be made public and offered to the delegates in Anaheim for a vote, said Frank, lead pastor of Biltmore Baptist Church in Arden, North Carolina.

Frank stated the crux of the duty pressure’s recommendations based on Guidepost’s report will be summarized in two words – prevention and care.

“Our main goal must be stopping sexual abuse,” he stated. “And if abuse does happen, how can we take care of survivors in a much better pastoral manner? How can we better communicate to ensure (abusers) don’t go from one church to another?”

His hope is that this report serves as “a catalyst for change.”

“Any one that is fair-minded will look at what’s in that report and demand that things be better,” Frank stated. “SBC is a big family with 48,000 church buildings. There could be some disagreement on learn how to make things higher. But I’m confident that we’ll work by the difficulties.”

In addition to sex abuse, the agenda for the assembly in Anaheim includes election of a brand new SBC president to succeed Litton.

One of many main contenders is Bart Barber, a pastor from Farmersville, Texas, who expressed dismay on the mean-spirited behaviors attributed to some SBC officials within the Guidepost report.

If elected, Barber mentioned in a broadcast interview Monday, “I’m praying that God will give me the wisdom to know what to do.... We’re sailing into uncharted waters.”

“The work’s not completed,” he added. “We’ve gotten the report, however I think everybody within the survivor community that I’ve heard from has mentioned studies are one factor, but we’ll see if this family of churches has the courage and resolve to take action.”

The intercourse abuse scandal was thrust into the spotlight in 2019 by a landmark report from the Houston Chronicle and San Antonio Categorical-News documenting a whole lot of instances in Southern Baptist church buildings, together with a number of during which alleged perpetrators remained in ministry.

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