Should Churches Handle Sexual Abuse Allegations Internally?

….is that in ancient Rome, only citizens, a small portion of the population, had bring a civil or criminal case to the magistrates. Non-citizens of means might hire an orator to bring their case at significant expense, but I’d have to guess that most early church members would see the Roman courts in terms of what they could do TO them, not FOR them, and that Paul may be implicitly reproving wealthy citizens in the church for destroying their brothers financially by dragging them before the magistrates. That’s what James does regarding the rich, after all.

So the main recourse a poor non-citizen would have would be church courts, but we then have to view that in light of Romans 13 and 1 Peter 2:13-17, where believers are to submit to those secular magistrates. We would therefore infer that even though a poor believer’s primary redress was in the church, there was yet something to be gained when certain infamous criminals were brought before secular courts. For starters, church courts did not have the power (e.g. the Sanhedrin, famously) of execution. Given that rape is a capital crime in the Torah….

Which is a long way of saying that I don’t believe we can just use the phrase “small matters” in 1 Cor. 6:2 to assume that little things belonged to the church, and big things elsewhere. It’s little because it’s earthly, not because it seems a small criminal matter in our eyes. However, we can apply the notion that “the scepter has departed from Judah” to reflect the fact that God, in His providence, assigned the investigation and punishment of certain crimes to the state.

And if we’re talking about sexual abuse, let’s be blunt; how many churches have members who know how to administer a rape kit correctly (or facilities for the same), and how many states will allow a rapist to be imprisoned by a church to keep the rest of us safe? I would argue that when you’ve got an allegation of criminal sexual abuse, Romans 13 dictates that you’ve got to involve the state. At the same time, the church needs to keep internal documentation so that those who abuse don’t end up in a pulpit or teaching Sunday School.

Let me present a nuanced, fair, and professional perspective:

1. If you’re a leader in a local church or para-church organization
2. and you become aware of a sexual assault allegation
3. and you decide to launch an “internal investigation,”
4. and you do not report it to the authorities
5. then you are a complete idiot, incompetent, stupid, moronic, unfit to lead a horse to water, and should be fired as soon as possible.

I’ve been in law enforcement and investigations at the federal and state level my entire life. Trust me, you are an idiot if you decide to do an internal investigation and not report to the authorities. The ABWE report, in particular, is a tragic example of how far this stupidity can go. So sad.

If you’re a leader in this position:

• People will try to convince you to not report it.
• There will be appeals to “Christian love.”
• Interestingly, people will rarely mention justice, which is the other side of the coin that people conveniently ignore or minimize at the expense of a pseudo-forgiveness.
• There will be idiotic appeals to 1 Cor 6

This is where you actually get to be a leader, ignore these foolish objections, and act decisively. This is when the posturing, the books, the seminary classes on “leadership,” and your common sense all combine to produce a decision. Will you have the courage to act decisively in this matter, or not? Are you a coward? Will you be cowed by frightened Deacons, pleading church members, or power factions?

I strongly suspect this kind of thinking is the result of an echo-chamber context, especially if the leader in question has been raised in a Christian bubble, and his professional experience and context has always been inside that bubble. His ignorance of leadership and processes in the “real world” may be hindering him. All the more reason for Christian leaders to have meaningful careers and leadership experience outside pastoral ministry.

In my experience, the worst leaders I’ve ever seen have been in local church, pastoral ministry. However, the best organizational leaders I’ve seen have been in Christian institutions (e.g. MBU, SBTS, BJU, Faith, etc.).

Many “leaders” are frightened. They’re cowards. Hopefully, you won’t be one of them. Report it.

https://www.poynter.org/news/baptist-minister-sentenced-60-120-years-ch…

According to the judge at sentencing, this guy had been “internally investigated” countless times and was a great “repenter” with tears and promises and enablement by his pastor father and wife. All ages were victims from junior high to married women. The judge showed remarkable restraint as she gave this guy the max.

In one of my early years as a school administrator I had an allegation brought to my attention. I found out later that the pastor was reluctant to allow “the state” into the school for things like this. I told the authorities to come ASAP and hoped that, if there was a perp, they’d find them before I did! The investigation was thorough, professional, and found nothing. It became school policy for anyone to contact the authorities if they suspected abuse.