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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. Keep reading
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Preventing Sexual Abuse in the Church [Video]
"He volunteered to teach a Sunday school class"
ReplyDeleteI come from a tradition that actually bans Sunday school as unscriptural. They say the Bible teaches that the church assembly must be undivided (due to a passage where Paul says "When you assemble in one place"). Its a good practical thing to not have it, since its rife for abuse.
David,
ReplyDeleteI am aware of number of traditions that based upon their interpretation of the Bible did not adopt the practice of conducting a Sunday school. Some traditions for the same reason do not use musical instruments in worship. Others recognize the local church as the only manifestation of Christ's Church on earth.
Sunday schools were first established in the eighteenth century. They were schools held on Sunday for poor children who worked in the factories and mills on the other days of the week. Their purpose was to teach these children to read and to write. The principal text book the early Sunday schools used was the Bible.
In the nineteenth century Sunday school, which by then was no longer just used to teach reading and writing to poor children, would eclipse the Sunday worship service in popularity. So much so that a number of churches were forced to reappraise the practice of conducting a Sunday school. Many church members who attended a church's Sunday school did not attend its worship service. For these folks Sunday school was "church."
In the Church of England after the Reformation until well into the nineteenth century the practice was to catechize children on Sunday afternoons. Parents, masters, guardians, and other adult church members were expected to attend along with the children. To ensure their attendance the rubrics of the Prayer Book were revised in seventeenth century, requiring the catechizing of the children after the second lesson at Evening Prayer.
Whatever its practice a church needs to adopt procedures to safeguard the children in the congregation. For example, no unrelated adult should be allowed to be alone with a child except in the full view of other adults. All allegations of physical or sexual abuse involving a child in the congregation should be reported to the appropriate authorities. And so on.
That's very interesting information.
ReplyDelete