Journeying with forgiveness

If our churches and places of worship are truly sacred spaces offering sanctuary for all, we have to ensure we respond with Christ’s love to anyone who discloses or reports abuse. Having a clear safeguarding policy, readily accessible, that provides details of both the safeguarding advocates within the church as well as how to report externally is vital. There are various titles given for those with safeguarding responsibilities within the church, this can be for example safeguarding co-ordinators, officers, or advocates. Additionally, the safeguarding policy should include details of law enforcement and civil authorities with child and adult protection responsibilities such as police and children’s social services, and adult social care. Pastors and all ministry leaders should adhere to, endorse, and promote a safeguarding policy which reflects local circumstances, as to which statutory authorities and organisations should be immediately contacted whenever a safeguarding concern arises. Realities A disclosure or discovery of abuse WILL affect the church. It means that someone has been harmed. It means that there is a victim of abuse, possibly other victims too, there is a perpetrator of abuse, who may also be in the church, and there may well be other family members of both victim and perpetrator. The victim and perpetrator may hold roles within church, and they are likely to have friends within that place of worship. This is why it is vitally important that churches appoint safeguarding advocates to act independently of the church and on behalf of the victims of abuse. Having safeguarding advocates insulates against actions being influenced by friendships, or as is often the case due to church allegiance actions take having at their heart the desire for reputational protection. We simply should not ignore personal motivation and assume that all safeguarding advocates will respond robotically to all safeguarding matters. Instead we should ensure we have processes in place to not simply mitigate against this but remove it completely. If a safeguarding advocate has a personal connection with either the victim or the perpetrator then another safeguarding advocate should deal with the safeguarding concern. Where this is not possible then the person who raises the safeguarding matter should be assisted in making a direct report to the statutory authorities for child or adult protection. No church should ever want to negate caring for those who are hurting within their community; so the pastoral response should be undertaken where possible in parallel with any investigation conducted by police or social services or other civil bodies, but with clear boundaries so that it doesn’t interfere with any such investigations. The churches response must always be rooted within the principles of justice, and must always be victim-centric, focusing on the needs of those who have been hurt and abused. Such principles will help shape actions and priorities when managing an allegation. The church is not there to make a judgement, or to investigate any safeguarding allegations. Based on statistics alone, which show that false allegations are extremely rare, it is likely that any allegation is factual. It is though not for the church to decide this, but to report concerns so that they can be scrutinised by the statutory authorities, which may then lead to either through a criminal court, on the criteria of beyond reasonable doubt, or through a civil procedures working to the threshold of on the balance of probabilities. The sensitivity of the language used is always important, and some who have been abused prefer the term survivor. Many churches will have policies for managing those who may pose a risk of harm, which includes the boundaries and support on offer from the church. A church should have a survivor care strategy that dovetails the safeguarding policy. A church demonstrating a victim centred response to allegations of abuse is one that liaises with the statutory authorities and offers pastoral care and support to victims and their families. Listening to what they say with an empathetic ear, and journeys with them over the long term.

How can we ensure that churches and houses of worship are safe place for everyone, especially children and any adult who may be vulnerable? Whilst the simple often given reply is that safeguarding is everyone’s responsibility, and there is much truth in such a response, it ignores the power dynamic embedded within the culture of our religious institutions, and the influence of those in positions of clerical authority. For safeguarding to be effective requires not simply having policies and procedures and protocols but adoption through a culture of safeguarding. It requires an outworking theology of safeguarding, that is firmly rooted in Micah 6:8 ‘to do justice, to love mercy and walk humbly with God.’ Sadly, there have been occasions where scripture has been used to silence victims of abuse, with churches dealing with incidents of child abuse internally with no recourse to the civil safeguarding agencies. This is despite Romans 13:1-2 and 1 Peter 2:13-15 being very explicit that Christians should come under the God delegated authority of governments. A failure to do so is an act against God. Similarly, Jesus was very clear in Matthew 22:15-22, when the Pharisees asked about paying taxes, that citizens should come under the law of the land: “Therefore render to Caesar the things that are Caesar's, and to God the things that are God's.” The abuse of children is not simply morally and ethically wrong but are also criminal acts. The sexual abuse of a child is a crime. In circumstances where someone becomes aware of child abuse, they should report this to the civil authorities such as law enforcement. This act can protect a child from further abuse, along with giving the police the opportunity to conduct a criminal investigation and enable other civil agencies such as social workers to safeguard and protect. One chapter of the bible that promotes the welfare of children is Matthew 18. In answering ‘who is the greatest in the kingdom of heaven’ at the beginning of the chapter, Jesus instructs us all to humble ourselves like children. He then pronounces in verse 6: “If anyone causes one of these little ones—those who believe in me—to stumble, it would be better for them to have a large millstone hung around their neck and to be drowned in the depths of the sea.” (Also found in Luke 17: 2, Mark 9: 42). These are damning words from Jesus, as he forewarns that anyone who harms a child or anyone who is vulnerable - the ‘little ones’, who causes them to sin, (in Greek the word ‘skandalizo’ also means to draw someone away from whom they followed), it would be better for such a person to drown in the depth of the sea. Here we see how God takes the abuse of the vulnerable seriously, with dire consequences for those who offend. This goes beyond just the individual but includes institutions who do so corporately by not providing safe spaces for all, and who fail to act to protect those who are vulnerable. God holds all those in positions of power, authority, and trust accountable for their behaviour as they shepherd those in their care. Yet, Matthew 18:15-20 has often been used by churches as justification for them to handle allegations of criminal behaviour themselves, rather than report to the criminal justice systems in place within their jurisdiction. Rather than report sexual abuse and other crimes against children (and adults) these verses have been used as a means of church discipline and to pursue interpersonal reconciliation: “If your brother or sister sins, go and point out their fault, just between the two of you. If they listen to you, you have won them over. But if they will not listen, take one or two others along, so that ‘every matter may be established by the testimony of two or three witnesses.’ If they still refuse to listen, tell it to the church; and if they refuse to listen even to the church, treat them as you would a pagan or a tax collector.” (Matthew 18:15-20) Churches have used these verses to advance that Jesus is advocating that Christians can adjudicate on criminal matters, through church discipline and through reconciliation, rather than seek legal address and through the statutory safeguarding authorities. These verses actually address immoral matters and disputes between believers and church discipline, not criminal matters. They have been weaponised to silence victims of abuse, especially where the abuser has been a leader in the church. Too often they have been used to silence children, and to keep the knowledge of the abuse in-house. Imagine a situation where a child has disclosed abuse to a trusted person within the church. The church leadership have then run a ‘kangaroo court’, undertaken their own internal investigation, and forced a child to disclose their abuse to a group, all men, of leaders, with the abuser present. Where, the accused leader has admitted to the abuse, the child is forced to accept their apology and forgive and be reconciled to them. The leader may face some church discipline but is then quickly restored to leadership. Often times where a child has been sexually abused, they have been discipled along with their abuser, for what the church leaders describe as their ‘sinful’ behaviour. Alternatively, where the abuser denies they are a sexual predator, the rest of the leaders say abuse cannot have taken place because the child is not able to prove the abuse happened through the ‘testimony from two or three witnesses.’ Sexual abuse in particular is carried out in secret. To misapply scripture in the defence of a perpetrator of abuse, not only denies justice for the victim of abuse, but causes untold spiritual harm in addition to the physical, sexual, and emotional harm the abusive act will have caused. Such action prevents healing and creates a roadblock on the journey along the path of forgiveness. Too often the reputation of the church and good name of the perpetrator has been the overriding priority, above seeking justice. Consequently, actions taken by the church have been about damage control rather than ministry to those hurt and affected by the abuse. Victims of abuse can be reluctant to disclose. Fearing that they won’t be believed and that they will be ostracised by the church, and hearing the clarion call by all those in church authority is towards restoring a fallen minister of religion showing grace and mercy, with the victims care being an afterthought, at best and often an inconvenience. This is addressed with a clear understanding of the theology of safeguarding, practically applied. A church grounded in a clear understanding of the theology of safeguarding, one which works in partnership with the governing authorities and defers investigation to them and one that has a survivor focus, is a church that understands the marriage between Romans 13 and Matthew 18.