TWW wishes to be a support to those folks who are introducing child sex abuse resolutions at SBC conventions in various states. We thank you from the bottom of our hearts. If your state's convention or legislature is introducing such resolutions, please feel free to send us the information and we will post it. TWW stands firmly behind any effort to highlight and prevent child sexual abuse in churches.
We also commend those who would stand up to protect our children. In North Carolina, Pastor Tim Rogers of Ebenezer Baptist Church, Indian Trail, is championing this resolution. Good for you, Tim! Far too many pastors and churches prefer to protect their "imagined image" over protecting the children.
We, in particular, draw attention to this part of the resolution. It never ceases to amaze us that self-proclaimed leaders would affiliate with individuals or churches which have a poor history in advocating for the children harmed by predators.
we encourage all denominational leaders and employees of the North Carolina Baptist Convention to utilize the highest sense of discernment in affiliating with groups and or individuals that possess questionable policies and practices in protecting our children from criminal abuse
RESOLUTION ON SEXUAL ABUSE OF CHILDREN
The 2013 North Carolina Baptist Convention, November 11-12,
Greensboro, North Carolina
WHEREAS, The Bible is clear in its affirmation that children are a gift from the Lord (Psalm 127:3–5); and
WHEREAS, The Lord Jesus demonstrated His love for children by encouraging them to follow Him, correcting those who hindered them, and condemning those who harmed them (Matthew 18:3–6; Mark 10:13–14); and
WHEREAS, The sexual abuse of children remains an ever-increasing criminal offense with more than 1.8 million reported victims of sexual abuse by more than 750,000 child abuse perpetrators identified in the United States alone; and
WHEREAS, Tragically, instances of sexual abuse have been perpetrated within Southern Baptist congregations, churches of other denominations, and other Christian ministries; and
WHEREAS, The 2013 Southern Baptist Convention meeting in Houston, Texas considered and adopted a similar resolution supporting victims of child abuse, both recognizing the abuse of children as a potential threat within Christian congregations and urging all Southern Baptists to perpetuate a culture of protection within our respective children’s ministries; now, therefore, be it
RESOLVED, That the messengers to the North Carolina Baptist State Convention meeting in Greensboro, North Carolina, November 11–12, 2013, call upon all North Carolina Baptists to stand with our Lord Jesus in loving and protecting children as He does; and be it further
RESOLVED, That we remind all North Carolina Baptists of their legal and moral responsibility to report any accusations of child abuse to authorities in addition to implementing any appropriate church discipline or internal restoration processes; and be it further
RESOLVED, That we likewise call upon all North Carolina Baptists to cooperate fully with law enforcement officials in exposing and bringing to justice all perpetrators, sexual or otherwise, who criminally harm children placed in our trust; and be it further
RESOLVED, That we strongly urge North Carolina Baptist churches to utilize background checks like those provided through LifeWay Christian Resources (www.lifeway.com/backgroundchecks), databases of sexual predators such as the US Department of Justice sex offender database linked at SBC.net (www.SBC.net/localchurches/ministryhelp.asp), or other relevant resources in screening all potential staff and volunteer workers, particularly those who minister to children and youth; and be it further
RESOLVED, That we encourage pastors and church leaders to develop and implement sound policies and procedures to protect our children; and be it further
RESOLVED, That we encourage all denominational leaders and employees of the North Carolina Baptist Convention to utilize the highest sense of discernment in affiliating with groups and or individuals that possess questionable policies and practices in protecting our children from criminal abuse; and be it finally
RESOLVED, That we urge all North Carolina Baptists to pray for children who are victims of abuse, to stand for their protection from abuse, and to support safe and healthy children’s ministries in our churches and communities.
Submitted by Tim Rogers, Indian Trail, NC, messenger representing the Ebenezer Baptist Church, Indian Trail, North Carolina on October 4, 2013.
Thank you Pastor Rogers!
(kind of off topic)
APA to correct manual: Pedophilia is not a ‘sexual orientation’
Dear Pastor Rogers, absolutely brilliant. Please encourage all churches everywhere to sign something similar.
Only yesterday I worked with a family where the father went to prison twice for abusing his daughter…8 years later the family still deal daily with the fall out, & it’s now affecting the next generation as the children of one of the other siblings have been removed from her care as she’s just too chaotic to care for them properly. These are the results of abuse…they go deep & they go wide. Anyone who glosses over, belittles, or God forbid, hides abuse is not fit to call themselves Jesus’friend.
I hope they turn inward and take a long, hard look at their own, not just evangelical affiliations, and that they take action to back up these words when their own cover up abuse and fail to protect children.
At First Baptist Church of Mango in Florida…The pastor’s wife doesn’t mention the victim: Vest Dickerson, wife of the church’s pastor, says all the congregation can do at this time is pray.
“I have to trust in God to see us through,” Dickerson told the station. http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2013/10/31/william-richardson-minister-molesting_n_4183501.html
From Christa Brown’s blog http://stopbaptistpredators.blogspot.com/2013/06/southern-baptist-leadership-is-lacking.html
But what style of leadership is more important? Leadership that provides impressive preaching and big dollars, or leadership that prioritizes the protection of kids?
Apparently, Southern Baptist officials think it’s the former and so they present Jack Graham as a “leadership” model. In doing so, the Southern Baptist Convention sends this message: “Clergy sex abuse cover-up? No big deal.”
And she has this helpful resource on how the Baptist identity masks clergy sex abuse:
http://www.stopbaptistpredators.org/documents/BaptistIdentity.pdf
and this reality makes the Southern Baptist Convention’s position
on church autonomy a “shaky” one.31
For example, in 2009, when the Southern Baptist Convention’s Executive Committee in
Nashville “received information” that there were five openly gay church members in a fourteen
hundred member Texas church (and that two of the five were assigned to a church committee),
the Executive Committee took on the task of sending out an “investigative questionnaire” to
assess whether the church was acting “to affirm, approve or endorse homosexual behavior.”32
Though the church responded that it extended “Christian hospitality to everyone” but did not
“endorse, approve or affirm homosexual behavior,” this was not enough for denominational
officials, who continued with their investigation and ultimately ousted
33
the church from
denominational affiliation based on the church’s “perceived toleration of gay members.”34
Somewhat related; Christa Brown posted on Patterson’s recent comments: stopbaptistpredators.blogspot.com/2013/10/why-paige-pattersons-anti-outsider.html