The unfortunate #churchtoo movement

As our society continues to wrestle with the implications of the #metoo movement, we have become more and more aware of instances of abuse that used to remain hidden. And as the #metoo movement was beginning to grow, there were also another hashtag that began to be posted more and more: #churchtoo. Using this hashtag, people (mostly women) began to share stories of how they experienced abuse and misconduct while they were involved at a church. Tragically, many of these instances of abuse were at the hands of the pastors and clergy who were supposed to convey God's love and grace to their congregation. How will churches respond to these kinds of horrific stories?

Recently I was at a conference in which a presentation was being given on sexual misconduct in churches. The presenter was the Rev. Dr. Pam Durso, executive director of Baptist Women in Ministry. At one point she said, "Raise your hand if you know of an instance of sexual misconduct that has happened in the life of your congregation." To my utter amazement, every hand in the room went into the air.

We like to imagine that our churches are havens of pure safety that we have no need for such difficult conversations. However, we are naive if we think that there is not serious work that must be done to protect the most vulnerable in our congregations.

Tragically, oftentimes the institutional church has very poorly responded to allegations of sexual misconduct in the church. Churches often would rather "save face" than directly address allegations and properly care for victims. A friend of mine was recently fired from her ministry position because she reported to the lay leadership of her congregation inappropriate advances that were made toward her by her senior pastor.

All churches need to be willing to have difficult conversations about the prevalence of sexual misconduct in communities of faith and how best to ensure their congregation is well-equipped to prevent such abuses and is well-prepared to address instances if they do occur.

The organization that the Rev. Dr. Pam Durso serves, Baptist Women in Ministry, and the Cooperative Baptist Fellowship have partnered to form a Clergy Sexual Misconduct Task Force. This task force has developed a series of videos, together with leader and discussion guides, to help churches to have the necessary conversations to ensure that their congregations are communities of safety and love for those that God has placed under their care.

The worst thing that a local church could say to themselves is, "Well, this could never happen at my church." Misconduct can take place in any congregation. If you are involved in a local community of faith or if you serve as clergy in a church, please consider having your congregational leaders engage in dialogue about issues of sexual misconduct. The helpful videos from the Clergy Sexual Misconduct Task Force can be found at www.cbf.net/safe-church-videos.