Disunity Out of Unity

The Lord has called us together as part of His body, and He desires for us to function under the power and love of the Holy Spirit, even when we are dealing with difficult matters. In Matthew 18, after Jesus provided a prescription for confronting those who have committed sin, He states this:
18 Assuredly, I say to you, whatever you bind on earth will be bound in heaven, and whatever you loose on earth will be loosed in heaven.
19 Again I say to you that if two of you agree on earth concerning anything that they ask, it will be done for them by My Father in heaven.
20 For where two or three are gathered together in My name, I am there in the midst of them."

There is great power and ability to solve problems if we place ourselves in agreement with one another.  Agreement comes as we humble ourselves before God and one another and allow Him to show us how we can move forward as one.  This does not mean to compromise on issues that Scripture clearly addresses, but we can seek the Lord regarding how can solve specific issues at hand in a reasoned, Christ-centered manner.  Prayer obviously is a key element to carrying this out. 

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In attempting to address the challenges we encounter in our relationships and in the Church, it's important we maintain a sense of peace between brothers and sisters in the Lord. Ephesians 4 states:
1 I, therefore, the prisoner of the Lord, beseech you to walk worthy of the calling with which you were called,
2 with all lowliness and gentleness, with longsuffering, bearing with one another in love,
3 endeavoring to keep the unity of the Spirit in the bond of peace.

Next week, thousands of representatives from churches who belong to the Southern Baptist Convention will be converging on Anaheim, California for the annual SBC meeting.  There has been much activity in the SBC, which is a coalition of over 47,000 churches with similar aims and goals, bound by a devotion to Scripture, highlighted in a document known as the Baptist Faith and Message.

The Convention consists of local churches, with their own mission and the governance to carry it out. The SBC, while setting guidelines for remaining in good standing, does not have authority to control its local churches.

The financial engine for the SBC is the Cooperative Program, to which local churches donate for the purpose of funding the furtherance of the mission.  This includes the administrative arm of the SBC, called the Executive Committee.

At last year's convention in Dallas, messengers voted to empower a task force, called the Sexual Abuse Task Force, which would be charged with examining the actions of the Executive Committee regarding instances and allegations of sexual abuse within Southern Baptist churches, with an expectation of recommendations being brought to the convention.  The Task Force hired a third-party firm, Guidepost Solutions, and it has released its report, which in large part was a review of sex abuse instances from the past 20 years.  Guidepost made recommendations, and the Task Force has taken information from the report to make its own proposals for addressing sexual abuse within the ranks of the SBC. The report contended that people in leadership in the SBC did not sufficiently address reports of abuse, a contention that was disputed by some of those named in the report. 

According to Baptist Press, one of the prominent names was a former Executive Committee vice-president named Roger "Sing" Oldham, who said: 

“From time to time we considered whether hosting a web page with published news stories about ministers or church volunteers arrested for a variety of matters, including sexual misconduct, would be a helpful resource to assist churches in their hiring processes,” Oldham told BP.

A determination was eventually made that the National Sex Offender Registry through the Department of Justice was a better option, as it was “much more extensive than anything we could create, and was already posted on our website,” he said.

Another prominent name was that of attorney Jim Guenther.  The Baptist Press article said:

While expressing appreciation for Guidepost’s efforts to cover 20 years in a single report, a statement from Guenther and Jaime Jorden of Guenther, Jordan and Price, PC said the document “contains misstatements of fact and quotations from us which are misleading because they are reported out of context.”

Specifically, the statement expressed sharp disagreement “with many of the characterizations in the report and its assignment of ill will and bad motives to men and women of the Executive Committee who struggled year after year with complex issues” as well as “the lack of understanding the report shows for the role and responsibility of legal counsel.”

The Executive Committee recently released a database that had been kept, consisting of those who had been found to be abusers and perhaps received punishment from law enforcement.  Out of just over 400 instances, only nine were found to currently be in ministry, but it's uncertain how many may be in SBC churches.  

We should all be devoted to eliminating sexual abuse in our midst - these actions are clear violations of Scripture and do not contribute to a healthy church.  It seems that Southern Baptists, and all Christians, can find common ground in order to address sin and promote holiness.  A trustee of an SBC entity, the Ethics and Religious Liberty Commission, contends that was not done by those in leadership of that entity.  Attorney Jon Whitehead wrote:

We have fought to overcome Baptist inertia about sexual abuse; when abuse comes to light, we must respond to the proper authorities immediately with allegations of abuse. What I am opposed to is sitting on allegations of abuse for political ends, and then deceiving legal authorities who should know about them – apparently out of a mix of pride and revenge.

The Executive Committee is a fiduciary. It should act in the Convention’s best interest, and that means making sure the Convention is fully informed about the facts and consequences of its actions before taking harmful action.

Recommendations brought by the Sexual Abuse Task Force were summarized in an article at the MBC Pathway website from the Missouri Baptist Convention.  It states that the Executive Committee...

...voted to reallocate both the 2021-22 and 2022-23 National Cooperative Program allocation budgets to provide up to $9 million combined for funding recommendations made by the Sexual Abuse Task Force (SATF). The EC also voted to authorize the use of up to $5 million from the EC operating reserves to pay for legal fees.

The article reports that the allocations will strip around "$4.5 million during the next 15 months" from the world missions arm of the SBC, the International Mission Board.  Some have pointed out that the removal of these funds will harm the work of missions and there are questions about whether or not the funding should come from other sources; the ERLC and EC have been recommended.

The Task Force's recommendations include additional staffing and training resources to deal with sexual abuse and the creation of a new task force, authorized for three years moving forward, to study the Guidepost report further and to make further recommendations. The Task Force also proposes a "Ministry Check” website, as well as a "process for maintaining a record of pastors, denominational workers, ministry employees, and volunteers who have at any time been credibly accused...of sexual abuse....and who have been or are associated with a cooperating Southern Baptist church or entity."

While instances of sexual abuse have been identified by the Guidepost report and a list of offenders has been kept, there is disagreement among Southern Baptists about how to deal with instances of abuse moving forward. And, concerns over "due process" have emerged on social media. Aaron Renn, writing at First Things, warns:

Demographer Lyman Stone has suggested that the report shows the SBC has lower levels of abuse than we would expect, given its size. Yet even if that’s true, it certainly doesn’t excuse the evildoers or those in positions of authority who failed to adequately take action. Churches must respond forcefully to these real problems. But how should they do that?

The 30 pages of recommendations in that third-party report are troubling in this regard. The report addresses some of the most heinous felonies on the books: sexual assault and sexual abuse. Yet the criminal and civil legal systems play little role in the recommendations.

It appears, and has been pointed out, that Guidepost would like for the SBC to establish what is in essence a sex abuse police force, which is odd, considering that the Convention is a consortium of local churches, not an overriding authority.  Renn points out:  

The heart of this new entity would be a register called the “Offender Information System” (OIS) to “alert the community to known offenders.” To be added to what is effectively a privately run sex offender registry would likely permanently destroy a pastor’s career. How would somebody get put on this registry? All it would take is an accusation. A person would be registered as an “offender” for “having been credibly accused…of acts including sexual abuse or those established to have aided and abetted in the cover-up of such conduct.” What does it mean to be “credibly accused”? The third-party report defines a credible accusation as any allegation that is not “manifestly false or frivolous.” To be accused, according to the report, is essentially to be guilty.

The Bible is clear on types of authority and witness testimony is key - 2nd Corinthians 13 says, "By the mouth of two or three witnesses every word shall be established."

And, when you subcontract matters of church or ministry policy to a third-party organization, can you guarantee that policy will be consistent with Scripture?   After Guidepost Solutions posted an LGBTQ-friendly tweet this week, their credibility has been called into question.  Keep in mind that their recommendations are not the final word on the matter - the Sexual Abuse Task Force has submitted proposals, which have been presented to the Executive Committee, and there will be a motion or motions made to the SBC messengers next week.  Baptist Press attempted to cover the controversy, and included a quote from a Task Force member that reveals, at least to me, a major problem with the way the SBC is dealing with documented sexual abuse. It says: "Task Force vice-chair Marshall Blalock called the controversy 'an excuse not to deal with sexual abuse and mistreatment of survivors within the SBC.'"

Why is this problematic?  Because it impugns the motives of people who disagree on methodology, which has become too common, it seems, concerning this issue. I think that all Christians can and should agree that sexual abuse is wrong in the sight of God.  It is sinful and churches should take necessary steps to prevent it, calling its members to a walk of holiness before the Lord. And, there are options to dealing with sexual abuse when it occurs, based on credible evidence and including due process for those who are accused, and including church and civil authorities. I recall an instance in which a notable Biblical character was falsely accused of trying to sexually assault a particular ruler's wife - he was imprisoned and ultimately used mightily of God.  But, nevertheless, we have to guard against falsely accusing people or mischaracterizing people's actions...

...and motives.  The deep division on an issue on which there ideally can be a certain degree of universal agreement is indicative of a lack of trust among believers. We see instances in which people take sides and once a particular philosophy is established by a dominant group, those who have a different viewpoint are accused of "not caring."  Can Christian believers of good will come together to make progress, following the dictates of Scripture, to address an issue that has become problematic?  Through the power of God and prayerful devotion to unity, we certainly can.  While we should stake out positions with Scriptural justification, we may not agree on how to solve the dilemmas of our day. Sexual abuse is wrong: we should agree on that!  How to deal with it moving forward: up for discussion - have we lost the ability to enter into trust-based conversation between men and women of good will, who claim the name of Christ?  Surely, it seems like that is the case.  But, there is hope with prayer and reliance on God.  Meanwhile, we can continue to implement the resources that God has given us - prayer, a renewed commitment to holiness, training men to respect women, and learning to recognize temptation and take the "exit ramps" that God has provided, according to 1st Corinthians chapter 10. We need a fresh outpouring of the Spirit of God and a dependence on Him to, as the Scriptures say, to be holy as He is holy.