The ERLC, together with the Sexual Abuse Advisory Group of the SBC, has continued working to try to prevent more terrible instances of abuse from happening in the future and to care well for victims. That’s why we wanted to focus this issue of Light Magazine on educating and equipping Christians to stand against sexual …
Continue...The disruption of my life began at age 14 in my small Southern Baptist church a few miles outside of Birmingham, Alabama. For months, my youth minister had showered me with flattering attention, telling me that God had chosen me to help his ministry. This grooming led to 18 months of progressively worse sexual abuse, …
Continue...It was a Sunday in the spring of 2003. Our youngest son, Wesley, was weeks from his 9th birthday. Sundays were (and still are) busy days in our household as my husband, Marty, is a pastor. Wesley and a friend had gone camping with a family friend and colleague of my husband’s over the weekend. …
Continue...As pastor, on Sunday mornings I always got to church way ahead of most others. On this particular Sunday, Wesley had just returned from a camping trip. But when he saw me for the first time, he grabbed me tightly and would not let go. I couldn’t even walk. I thought he was just happy …
Continue...Redeemed. Forgiven. Justified. Chosen. Safe. Loved. Set free. A new creation. Free, indeed. Child of God. More than a conqueror. Never alone. Free from condemnation. Reconciled. Joint heirs with Christ. And complete in him. I have heard these words my entire life. As a three year old, sitting alongside my twin sister at my Southern …
Continue...It’s hard to describe the indescribable, especially considering age and how it makes memories dim and inaccurate at times. I don’t remember plot points. I don’t know what color shirt I had on. I don’t know if it was blue or orange or black like the room it all happened in. And I don’t remember …
Continue...I’m 53 now, some 40 years after my abuse started. Time has been a good teacher, but also a very painful one. It has only been about 14 years since I told my wife that I was abused. For male survivors my age, we often don’t get professional therapy until later in life—after kids have …
Continue...Horrible atrocities have been done in the name of Christ. This should not be. In Redeeming Power by Diane Langberg defines power, addresses the various ways power has been abused in the church, and shows how power can be redeemed. Power rightly used is Christ-like power. Power abused, however, is “power used for the control …
Continue...Into The Light is a seven-week Bible study that addresses trauma and healing by looking at Scripture. Author Mary DeMuth helps the churches not only care for the survivors in their midst, but care for one another in general. This study provides a theological understanding of shepherding, care, the church, sorrow, lament, justice, and repentance. …
Continue...You would think abuse would be easy to identify, but because of many dynamics of oppression including coercion, blame-shifting, manipulation, threats, and danger, it often takes patient care over time to identify domestic abuse. Abuse can be disorienting and distressing for victims and for those walking alongside. Because of this, many don’t venture into those …
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