Any training related to sexual abuse/mandated reporting/domestic violence, etc.

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[Rebel in a Good Way]

I am wondering if anyone ever received training from GCC on mandated reporting?  Any training on how to deal with disclosures of abuse of any kind, currently unsafe domestic situations, or any other suspicions that a member of the church was at risk, particularly a child or vulnerable person?

I have not found this addressed in their materials but that doesn't mean it didn't happen...which is why I ask. 

[GodisFaithful]

I'm hearing crickets.

Anyone out there know if Evergreen has a policy/plan in place for dealing with child abuse, spousal abuse, sexual abuse by one of their workers or pastors?

I have personally seen two examples of spiritual leaders taking responsibility and doing the right thing.

We were in a church here in the Twin Cities for 10 years.  A much loved missionary to South Africa, sent out by our church, was found out by his wife because of a little note in his wallet (while on furlough here), to have been with women outside of his marriage in South Africa.  She frantically called our pastor and she was able to convince her husband to meet with our pastor that night.  The husband was in bad shape at that point.  He confessed it but was not thinking clear at all.  Our pastor called some pastors in a church many states away who had experience in helping in these kinds of situations.  The family loaded up all their kids that night and traveled to this church.  They were surrounded with love and help.  The missionary husband needed a LOT of help, but he stayed under the supervision of these pastors, his marriage was reconciled and healed and restored. He has been required to stay out of formal ministry but the family is joyful.  They run a coffee shop together.  They came back to our church and other supporting churches, he confessed and asked forgiveness and stood at the front of the church to talk to anyone who wanted.  One of our sons had done two mission trips to South Africa to help with their work there.  It's painful, heart breaking, but God can restore and bring beauty for ashes. As soon as this moral failure happened our pastor got everyone in our church together, a without going into gory details, he laid out exactly what was going on and we prayed and this was not swept under the rug at all.

Also, my youngest sister was abused in a boarding school in Africa as a young girl.  By a "dorm parent" who did that whole grooming creepy stuff.  She buried this inside of herself until she was in her early twenties, when  her first marriage had fallen apart.  She blurted the truth out to my dad. My dad did the right thing. He took the information to the mission board.  They did the right thing.  They did an extensive investigation not only of our boarding school but others in Africa and found that this abuser had abused multiple girls, and there was at least one other abuser in another school.  They paid for all these "girls", now adults, to come together and bring their spouses if they wanted.  They paid for years and years of therapy for anyone who wanted.  They facilitated the healing.  They did everything they could to "out" the abusers.  My sister's abuser lives in the state of Washington and there is a statute of limitation, but at least I believe he is on some kind of watch. 

This is SO serious, and covering up abuse in the church of Jesus Christ is so awful and wrong. Men, what if this was your sister, wife, daughter.

Evergreen, Wake Up, and do the right thing.  Get the help you need to do the right thing.

[margaret]

My husband was an elder. He said that no, there was never any "mandated reporting" in their training. He recognized that he and his fellow elders were ill-equipped to deal with certain situations.

[Rebel in a Good Way]

GODISFAITHFUL, thanks for those examples.  I think people who speak against abuse in the church realize that because of evil in the world, bad stuff WILL happen.  The church's responsibility is to do what they can to prevent harm to the sheep (and there are many practical steps that can be taken), and if/when it is uncovered, to go above and beyond to hold the person accountable, make sure it doesn't happen again, and provide healing to victims.

Your first example shows that people can disqualify themselves from ministry and still be okay in life.  Sounds like, for this family, even better.  Being removed from leadership is no doubt painful, but it is sometimes necessary. 

The second example shows the love of Christ in offering justice to the victims as well as a pathway to healing through meeting together and getting therapy. 

It honestly just boggles my mind when people who claim to follow Christ do any less.  Well, I get the power and the pull and the need to protect their institution.  But that is opposite the love of Christ.

MARGARET, thanks for sharing your husband's experience.  The scary thing is that even though they were ill-equipped to deal with certain situations, the leaders (at my former church, anyway) would have acted like they knew what they were doing to the detriment of the member.

Granted, the church in general has been slow to catch on to the need for protective measures.  But the Boy Scouts actually have a pretty good training program for parents and leaders, and it describes grooming.  Which is so important because it has been determined that molestation can happen around others.  So paying attention to grooming patterns can help adults identify the potentially predatory behaviors of other adults.  No policy is perfect, but I would hope that the church could do as well or better than scouts (and other organizations that do this well).