Thrive (CRCNA)

This is such a good question, Hetty, and one that safe church staff are encountering more and more.  The church should not be a place where people are harmed - this is antithetical to the gospel of Jesus Christ. 

In terms of dealing with the trauma from abuse experienced at church, I would strongly encourage finding a good support person or persons, wise people who believe the one victimized by abuse and support their healing. Those who experience abuse need a safe place to share their story.  Also, I would encourage them to be gentle on themselves and give themselves time and space to process and heal.  It may be that for the sake of their own spiritual health, they need to find a new community of faith. I would also recommend finding a good counselor or spiritual director who can help process their experience and help them heal.  

To address the abuse by church leaders itself, we currently have two processes.  The first is the Advisory Panel Process which is designed to follow up on allegations of physical, sexual, or emotional abuse by a church leader.  The second is for abuses of power that don’t fall into these categories.  In this case, we would advise that you follow the process outlined in the article, What to Do When Council Won’t Listen, and reach out to the church visitors.  According to Church Order Article 42, the role of the church visitors is to ensure the church leaders are faithfully performing their duties and provide accountability to councils in the classis.  For those who have been harmed by the church through abuses of power from church leaders, this is an appropriate way to widen the circle of accountability.

Finally, don’t hesitate to reach out to [email protected].  We are happy to help support people in this journey and think through the best way forward.