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.
“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.
