Ministry Context: The Church's Response to Abuse if Grounded in the Gospel

Do you remember what was on your mind when you took leadership role in your ministry?

Youth

I was going to be a leader who sacrificed for the kids in the group the same way others did for me.

Choir/Worship leader

When first taking over, I was going to try and provide some stability during a rough time at the church

Jesus

Jesus goes to the synagogue, as was his practice for the Sabbath Day. He stood up to read, and it was from .

“The Spirit of the Lord is on me, because he has anointed me to preach good news to the poor. He has sent me to proclaim release to the captives and recovery of sight to the blind, to set free the oppressed, to proclaim the year of the Lord’s favor.

He sat down after this, and the room was dead silent. He than began to tell them the scripture had been fulfilled through him.

In the statement he made, Jesus not only was telling people that he was coming to set the captives free on a spiritual level, he was also concerned about their physical captivity as well.

We’re all born in to spiritual captivity. We must be aware of and work towards the salvation from sin. But, we must also be aware of those who live in fear of physical abuse at home or in churches, who are raped, who are preyed upon as minors, and others like them.

James, Jesus’ half-brother, understood this. He knew the need the church needed to have to see the weakest in the flock and take care of them. He would say the if we didn’t do this as a church, we had become stained by the world, in which we were to make a difference.

If we think of abuse as a social issue, then we think more government (laws and enforcement) or private facilities (shelters, groups, etc) will help take care of this matter.

While this is a social issue, we can’t totally write it off. We need to be working through and recognizing this problem so we can be the shelter in the storm for people who are facing these issues.

We also need to be careful not to look at this issue as just a sin problem. If we do this, we are merely wiping the offense under the table and not truly understanding the violation of the person who has been the victim.

We can become part of the problem.

So what do we mean by

The church’s response to abuse is grounded in the Gospel

We must realize the Gospel invites the sinner to find forgiveness in Christ through repentance and it also invites the sufferer to find refuge in the Comforter from a harsh, broken world where things like abuse occur.

The reality of this is, we are all sinners and sufferers.

We find ourselves on both sides of this.

With abuse, our priorities should be: first, remove the opportunity for further damage, and second, to address the sin that creates the damage.

The church historically has been more skilled at applying the Gospel to sin than suffering.

We focus more on getting the abusive person to stop their abusive actions more than we

Assess the safety of the victim

Evaluate whether a criminal act has been committed.

Help the victim understand the impact of being abused.

Intro of the experts who created this study.

questions were asked to this group:

questions were asked to this group:

Why is it vital for pastors and leaders in the church to understand that caring for the abused and oppressed is a gospel issue?

What will be lost if we don’t grow in this area?

How have you seen churches enriched from leaders being more skilled in this area?

Play the video. Time - 5:46

Why are we more skilled at addressing sin than suffering?

Not due to a lack of compassion

Usually we don’t like not feeling we have some sort of control of the situation.

Also possibly a lack of training.

This study will help us on this pathway. It won’t have all the answers. Each situation, while having a lot of similarities, will be unique with each individual person.

Hear from the experts: How do you maintain hope when your vocation has you perpetually in situations where the most important things that need to happen are outside of your control?

Watch video. Time - 13:45

What do we do when we feel we aren’t in control of a situation?

We will typically change the direction of the interaction to try and get more control of it.

When we do this, we miss the underlying issues of power and control and leave the person still vulnerable.

Examples

The overloaded schedule

Putting God first

The most cooperative person takes the hit.

God will also use these situations to make us look at our own weaknesses when we see this as a Gospel issue.

2 Corinthians 12:9 ESV

But he said to me, “My grace is sufficient for you, for my power is made perfect in weakness.” Therefore I will boast all the more gladly of my weaknesses, so that the power of Christ may rest upon me.

As we go through this, you need to put aside any preconceived notions you have on this subject. If we are truly family, as we like to say, then we are all involved.

Be open to being

Comfortable with the Uncomfortable

This will allow you to be an anchor to those who are fighting with real issues they may be facing while we’re going through this study.

Hear from the Experts: What are your prayers and goals for the pastors and leaders of the church as they go through this study?

Play video - 19:56 on video

Questions & Comments