My first job out of college in 1990 was as a Youth Pastor in a small town in West Texas. I was not what you might call a “star student” in school so many in my family were quite pleasantly surprised I had found any job at all. I had been a part-time Youth Pastor during school and so I knew the routine: meet with the pastor and/or leadership council, then meet with some parents and the kids, and then wait a day or two for them to pray about it and then you either get the job or they found someone else. That was exactly how it happened in Denver City.
There was no calling of references and the “interview” questions were more about what I believed theologically and how I came to be in a relationship with Jesus. There was nothing about how I treat people, how I relate to kids or their families. No questions about what I might do in certain situations. And again, no one even asked for references, much less talked to them.
I didn’t think much about this process until a few months after I started as their new Youth Pastor. I took some of my youth to a high school summer camp that was deeply evangelical in their theology. I was also deeply evangelical at that time, but I was appalled by the behavior I saw in some of the “leaders.” I saw several male leaders/Youth Pastors hanging out exclusively with some of the prettier high school campers. You have to understand, a lot of the campers idolized these youth leaders and the youth leaders seemed more than willing to lap it up.
One male leader had what appeared to be a small group of female campers who followed him around everywhere. They even all played volleyball together with the female campers setting up the male leader for slams on every play, which then was followed by the male leader talking trash at the other team! This was summer camp volleyball being played during free time!
But that was only the second weirdest thing I saw that week. Each night for worship there was a long sermon and even more lengthy praise and worship songs, which all resulted in an emotional altar call for kids to commit or recommit their lives to Christ. After each night’s worship this same male leader then sat in a dark corner of the outdoor chapel, surrounded by his group of female campers and he went around and prayed for each girl, touching them on their thighs, stomachs, arms, and even upper chests. I was so freaked out that I went on the first night and told one of the camp leaders who seemed to share my concern. But yet, the next night the same thing happened. Nothing I saw was done to stop him or to address other male leaders in their very questionable behavior. I was a Youth Pastor in that same town for four years and for four years I went to multiple camps and saw similar behavior at each one.
I wish I could say I helped lead a change in the way in which male leaders behaved with youth in that United Methodist conference, but nothing changed at all. I learned in my time in youth ministry that though we often hear about the importance of investing in our youth, youth leaders were so often hired with the flimsiest of processes. I have worked in various positions for the church including Youth Pastor, Pastor, Urban Missionary, Missions Pastor, Advocate, and Organizer and I can say that I never once had anyone check my references. Not. One. Time.
That is unbelievable but true. And frankly, I was not – am not – unique.
Over the weekend I watched the film, Spotlight, which is the story of investigative journalists for the Boston Globe who, in 2000-2001, uncovered mass sexual abuse and child molestations by Catholic priests and the systematic cover-up for those priests that went back decades and included bishops and other church hierarchy. It is an amazing film and the work of those journalists helped uncover similar scandals in dozens of other dioceses throughout the world. There is no telling how many people Catholic priests have victimized. It was/is so prevalent that expert Richard Sipe called it a phenomenon. Sipe had been a monk and a psychotherapist and conducted a 25 year study of clerical abuse and determined that what happened in the Catholic Church did not arise from just a few bad apples. By calling it a phenomenon, Sipe was pointing out that mass molestations in the church were both observable and widespread. Sipe was able to determine that 6% of all priests were pedophiles and 50% of all priests were sexually active in some way. Predatory behavior in the Catholic Church has been a part of its structure.
Sipe attributes these high numbers in the Catholic Church to mandated celibacy and systematic secrecy, which is undergirded by a theology dependent on unquestioned hierarchy and paternalism. This is no less true in evangelical churches as my own experience suggests. In fact, I am guessing the percentages of evangelical church leaders involved in molestations and child abuse to be as high as that in the Catholic Church or perhaps even higher. It is more difficult to tabulate because of the secrecy that forces many victims not to come forward – a secrecy that is enforced through evangelical theology that denigrates the weak as feminine while uplifting the strong and independent as Christlike. Once more, evangelical churches are mostly independent or they are part of smaller networks so there is often little to no systematized accountability.
The total numbers and how widespread the problems are can be debated, but what is shared with the Catholic Church among evangelical churches is a hierarchical (patriarchal) theology where folks are not allowed to question authority and an over-emphasis on the original sinfulness of all people. A nonbiblical puritanical view of sex that is paired with an over-individualization of our relationship with God helps fuel secrecy and shame. What is shared by almost if not all victims of sexual and spiritual abuse is the feeling that the victims themselves are to blame.
It should be stated that sexual abuse is not limited to Catholics or evangelicals. Far too many liberal church leaders have been guilty as well. Sexual abuse is sin because it lifts the predator into a position of power they should never be given – the power to harm others made in the image of God for one’s own benefit. But regardless of the theological leanings of the predators, we must address the ecclesial structures and theological frameworks which allows this horrific behavior to continue without accountability.
