Who Can You Trust?

Recent revelations of the widespread sexual abuse scandals have been disheartening. From the Catholic church, to Willow Creek, to many other less publicized events, the Church as a whole should be mourning the failures of our pastors, elders, and other leaders. Many thousands of people have been wounded either directly or indirectly by the sins of those in positions of authority.

Mark Galli has written of the misplaced loyalty that has led to churches covering up the accusations that arise. I agree with him completely, though I think that beneath that is a misplaced trust in those we hire to lead our churches. The idea of running background checks before hiring is, unfortunately, a fairly new concept. I would hazard a guess that a vast majority of the churches in our country have not done background checks on any of their staff. Added to that is the problem that those checks can only reveal legal actions taken, not accusations made. Reference checks can be helpful, but applicants will only provide references that they trust to say good things. Various denominational structures may make it either harder or easier to obtain unbiased information.

The fact is that sin is all too easy to cover up with minimal effort. It’s not as if we’re all walking around with a scarlet letter on our shirts revealing how we’ve sinned in the past. With the mobility of our culture, any of us can move to another state and start a new life where no one knows of our past indiscretions. It can be hard for pastors and parishioners to really get to know one another when there is constant turnover in church attendance and leadership. Even if a leader admits to prior sins, there is rarely any followup to make sure those sins were properly addressed and aren’t going to recur. In some cases, it’s a bit like putting an alcoholic in charge of the wine cellar.

So, long before accusations of sexual abuse or other misconduct become public, churches have already failed by creating a culture of misplaced trust that is further compounded by a lack of accountability. There seems to be a collective assumption that “If this person says God called him to ministry and he is willing to work for what we can pay, surely he can be trusted to do only what is right for our church members.” We are willfully ignorant of the weakness of sinful men and the deceitfulness of sin. We think that because Satan “prowls around like a roaring lion” (1 Pet. 5:8) that we’ll always be able to see him coming. We forget that “even Satan disguises himself as an angel of light” (2 Cor. 11:14). We have a very real enemy who will try all kinds of subtle deceptions to cause people to sin and to discredit the work of the church. His efforts to undermine us are often more persistent and creative than our efforts to keep watch over ourselves and one another.

Russell Moore wrote in Acting the Miracle:

“If you see something, say something. That’s what you’ll see on signs everywhere in and around New York subway stations. These signs are part of a public campaign meant to encourage citizens to be on the watch for potential terrorists... Not a single terrorist has been caught as a result of this campaign... The problem, then, is that no one can call in and report suspicious activity because they don’t know what qualifies as suspicious. They don’t know what normal is supposed to look like.

“That’s not only true on the subway in New York City. Part of the obstacle that those of us in Christ face when it comes to growing in holiness is that we ourselves don’t know what normal looks like... And in the midst of all the fallenness around us, what seems to be perfectly normal can, in fact, be sinful. What seems to be perfectly normal, and in some cases even respectable, can be completely overlooked for the sin that it is, simply because one is living around so many other people who have similar sorts of slaveries and bondage to sin such that it doesn’t even seem abnormal” (107-108).

We overlook the sin in our own lives and disregard the possibility of sin in others, because compared to the rest of the world we look okay. We may not be perfect, but at least we aren’t blatantly sinning in ways that others can see. The Pharisees thought they looked pretty good too. Alistair Begg said on Truth for Life:

“No amount of isolation from the bad stuff or the bad people could protect them from the immorality and the idolatry of their own hearts. That is ultimately the folly of any kind of religious system that suggests that... The idea that somehow or another as long as I keep myself externally from the bad stuff and the bad people, I will be fine. Loved ones, we can take ourselves to the furthest point of the universe and lock ourselves in a closet, but we will not there be able to deal with the immorality and idolatry of our hearts” (9/19/18).

Although in Christ we are given new hearts, we still have to work out our sanctification day by day. It only takes one bad choice to make ourselves vulnerable to sin, and if we think that those in ministry are somehow free from temptation we are fools. Everyone needs accountability and church discipline to help us avoid sin and grow in holiness. Russell Moore went on to write,

“All too often, we express our outrage at everything going on ‘out there’ in the world and all the while ignore the wickedness in our own midst. And yet the discipline of the church is designed to reorient our lives and affections. The discipline of the church changes our mission, because it changes the way we see people... being diligent in spurring on toward obedience those who bear the name of brother, knowing that the church is called to love one another and form one another with the Word of truth. In the end, the discipline of the church drives us toward love, because the present of Jesus is in our midst by his Word and Spirit” (118).

If anything good can come out of the church leadership scandals that keep hitting the news, I hope that at least these three things will happen:

1) Make everyone more aware and cautious about trusting people without question. It’s not that we need to go on a witch hunt, but we need to take simple precautions to protect our churches and all who attend them.

2) Take church membership seriously. If we don’t know who “belongs” to our fellowship, how can we pursue the radical love, accountability, and confrontation that Scripture outlines?

3) Give the abused and wounded a voice to speak out. It shouldn’t require a news reporter to uncover someone’s sin. Within the Body of Christ every one of us should have people we know we can talk to who will listen to our story and respond faithfully.

Ultimately, this is not just about any particular church or individual—it’s about the glory of God. When anyone who bears the name of Christian acts in a way that is contrary to Scripture, they are obscuring the glory of God and casting doubt on God’s ability to save and sanctify.

“Brothers, if anyone is caught in any transgression, you [all] who are spiritual should restore him in a spirit of gentleness. Keep watch on yourself, lest you too be tempted” (Gal. 6:1).

© 2018 Dawn Rutan. Unless otherwise indicated all images are copyright free from pixabay.com. The opinions stated do not necessarily reflect the views of my church or employer.