Regarding the Sexual Abuse in the Southern Baptist Convention
On Sunday, May 22nd, an independent firm called Guidepost Solutions released a nearly 300 page report commissioned by the Messengers of the 2021 Southern Baptist Convention that details sexual abuse and its cover-up within the highest levels of the denomination. The report expands upon and confirms the worst of what was first revealed by the Houston Chronicle and San Antonio Express in early 2019. Looking at only the 20 years between January 2000 and June 2021, the report identifies 703 known abusers and an untold number of victims among SBC churches, with reports increasing over time. Included among that number are the 2008-2010 SBC President and the 2010-2018 Executive Committee President (who was also Convention President from 2006-2008). Moreover, an extensive trove of e-mails, texts, interviews, and other documents indicate that a pattern of disregard and cover-ups among the Executive Committee and its lawyers kept justice from survivors and knowledge from denominational Trustees and the Convention at large. Time and again the leadership of the SBC allowed known abusers to transition from church to church creating new victims without so much as lifting a finger.
The abuse is systemic. The cover-up is systemic. The indifference and contempt toward victims is systemic.
Though I can’t tell you when it began, Chesterfield Baptist has been in friendly cooperation with the SBC for some time. I suspect culturally our church thinks of itself as Southern Baptist, though we don’t really actively participate with the denomination. To my knowledge our main activities with Southern Baptists come in the form of Lifeway curriculum, our budgeted contributions to the Cooperative Program (funneled through Virginia Baptists), and our annual Lottie Moon Missions giving. I couldn’t name a year in which our church sent Messengers to the annual Convention, and I know of no other practical involvement had between our church and the SBC. Moreover, let me state quite clearly, there is no indication, nor am I aware, that any of the 703 individuals noted in the report or any other instance of sexual assault has occurred at Chesterfield Baptist Church.
That being said, there is an 800 year old proverb which states that “the fish rots from the head.” For some time it is has seemed obvious that corruption within the SBC extended to its highest levels. This independent, third-party report brings the receipts to support that impression. There is a reason reputable men and women—men like Russell Moore and women like Beth Moore (no relation, by the way)—have been leaving the Convention in droves. In his comments on the report on Sunday, May 22nd, Russell Moore stated, “I was wrong to call sexual abuse in the Southern Baptist Convention a crisis. Crisis is too small a word. It is an apocalypse. … It’s even more than just a crime. It’s blasphemy. Any anyone who cares about heaven ought to be mad as hell.”
Dr. Moore is right. The ramifications of this report demand a response. One of the lawyers for a victim named in the report stated in her response directly to SBC Member Churches, “More than anything, SBC members, I want you to know two things. First, survivors everywhere are living in [a terrifying] moment right now. As they watch you [rightly] react with deep emotion, as they watch people scramble to grasp what they’ve read, as they [rightly] read outrage or grief, they are left with stillness. [The survivors] have always known. We’ve always known. They tried to tell you. … They are waiting to see if you pick up the mantel and start fighting with them. Waiting to see if you have even an inkling of what they have been through over the last several decades. They are reading the stories of children they couldn’t save… they are waiting to see what you do, when the emotions stop swirling.”
The ramifications of this report demand a response. I, for one, do not believe we can sit idly by and silent on what we now know. Research indicates that somewhere between 15% and 30% of all women have been the victims of some form of sexual assault. Every day it feels as if we hear new instances of sexual abuse, assault, and harassment in the news or through social media. Such abuse is ubiquitous. Moreover, as Pastor, I have had numerous conversations with people in our own congregation who are themselves the survivors of molestation, sexual assault, and rape. The effects of this abuse are often lifelong, leaving survivors traumatized. Perhaps even worse is a church that is silent, does not listen to survivors, and does not support them or stand with them in the face of threatened leadership.
God always hears the cry of the oppressed … and He takes action. So must our church.
First, when the Israelites cry out to God at the end of Exodus 2, the text says that God “heard,” God “remembered,” God “looked upon,” and God “knew.” Immediately, in Exodus 3, God moves and takes action to respond to what he has heard and seen and remembered and understood. The corruption within the leadership of the SBC does not reflect the God of the scriptures, even though the so-called leaders have perpetrated their acts in His name. As Russell Moore has rightly said, not only was this behavior likely criminal, it was also blasphemy. The God of history embraces the traumatized, works for their healing, and the restoration of all things so that such sin might not continue to abound.
Second, we will work to emulate our God. Chesterfield Baptist stands with victims and survivors. We will work to provide safe spaces for those who have endured such trauma, and we will listen attentively. We will use our resources and energy to make sure survivors are not forgotten or brushed aside. Where it is safe and does not re-traumatize, we will stand with survivors to understand and bear the burden with them.
Third, we will begin taking action at Chesterfield Baptist among our leadership and staff to ensure our policies and training are such that they reflect the best practices for handling instances of sexual abuse. This will include, but not necessarily be limited to, ensuring clear, safe pathways for folks to report abuse; ensuring that we have clear policies regarding sexual abuse and harassment; providing training on sexual abuse, and ensuring that training is trauma-informed; and developing clear policies by which sexual abuse is received and reported.
Finally, we call for accountability within the SBC and demand that the Convention work to implement the recommendations of the Guidepost Solutions report. We call for justice and prosecutions where laws have been broken. We call for resources to be made available to aid survivors as they bear the weight of their trauma. As it has begun to do in recent days, we call on the Executive Committee to assist churches by helping them be aware of abusers. And we call on the entire Convention to continue to do the hard work of reckoning with this grievous, systemic evil in its midst.
In the coming days and weeks, we will have additional conversations about this within our church. If you have questions or concerns, we encourage you to reach out to Pastor Sammy directly (pastor@chesterfieldbc.org; 804-380-5405) or a Deacon. We also encourage you to read the Guidepost Solutions report as well as the investigative journalism from the Houston Chronicle.