Jonathan was sick to his stomach. No pastor ever wants to see a child
hurt. Yet his church was facing a lawsuit over sexual abuse that
recently occurred in their children's ministry. He was bogged down with
conversations with a lawyer, shepherding the distraught families in his
congregation, feeling guilt over his failed leadership, and trying to
hold things together. In his own words, Jonathan said, "It felt like a
bomb just went off and I'm cleaning up the mess."
"Jimmy" was a friendly man who had joined First Baptist Church about a
year ago. He was kind, and the members of First Baptist took a quick
liking to him. He volunteered to teach a Sunday school class and got to
know "Peter," an 8-year-old boy. Things started innocently. A hug at the
end of class. Gifts for Peter. Lots of extra attention.
And then it happened. Jimmy took advantage of Peter. He made Peter
keep it a secret. Peter cried a lot over the next few days (which was
not like him), and eventually his mother got the secret out of him. She
contacted the pastor immediately, but the church made excuses. She was
so outraged that she sued the church.
When Churches Fail Our Kids
Sadly this is an all-too-familiar story. If you pay any attention to
the news, you know that sexual offenders show up in churches. Like
predators hurting defenseless prey, they do unspeakably horrible things
to our children. Much could be prevented, but many churches do not know
how to protect their children and how to respond when child sex abuse
happens. It all adds up to being irresponsible with the littlest ones
that God has entrusted to our care.
Why do churches fail our kids? Continue at Deepak Reju
No comments:
Post a Comment