The Lord has provided opportunities for me to present “Dressing the Wounds” at a number of professional conferences. Recently I was asked to make available the PowerPoint presentation accompanying “Dressing the Wounds” and have decided to do so.
If you do decide to download the PowerPoint – and you are welcome to do this – please consider the following:
I make no claims to be an academic, a lawyer nor a clinical psychologist. I am a practitioner – a local church pastor whom God has led to into the field of advocacy and training. Yes, I am fortunate to have earned graduate degrees in Pastoral Counseling and Theology. Further, 27 years of pastoral ministry in the local church has exposed me to a broad variety of responses to child sexual abuse and encouraged me to pursue pertinent academic research. But I remain firmly committed to the practical application of pastoral care by faithful spiritual leaders among God’s people. Those are my issues and passions.
Please feel welcome to contact me through my email address or by using the comment button. I can edit the comments and will not post a personal inquiry.
Thanks for visiting. I write for myself and hope to bless & challenge ... not necessarily in that order.
Why are most if not all comments regarding sexual abuse in churches referring only to children? If a minister has sex with an adult woman whom he is counseling is that not also abuse? Because civil courts only address abuse with children, should the church continue to refrain from addressing it as well? Perhaps it is because sexual immorality is so common within the church itself that leadership is afraid to address it; especially when it involves its own church staff.
Mike you are absolutely right. No doubt about it. I do not mean to minimize – at all – the terrible crime of clergy abuse in all its ragged forms. My purpose is one of focus. I am intentionally dealing with the abuse of children. Specifically, I am concerned to equip lay leaders to think through their own responsibility for pastoral care when children are sexually abused by anyone, including – but not limited to – clergy.
I fully support the good work being done by a number of organizations who address clergy abuse. Unfortunately the spotlight shines so brightly on the high profile cases of clergy abuse that, I feel, the sexual abuse of children by those who are not clergy (or who do not occupy positions of institutional authority) goes relatively unattended. Sanctuaries throughout the land contain family after family where the sexual abuse of children remains undetected and unreported. When these instances of sexual abuse are exposed, their effect upon the life of the congregation often cause immense upheaval, polarizing the people into factions and casting a pall upon the church for years.
I seek to help the spiritual leaders of those congregations prepare themselves for those times. Your observation of the material I have presented is accurate: I do focus upon children and not adults. As terrible and sinful as clergy abuse is – and it is! – the sad truth (statistically, as far as I know) is that the number of children abused by adults and older teens is greater than the number of adults abused by clergy. I do not draw attention to this reality to minimize clergy abuse of adults, its trauma and devastating consequences . Rather, my purpose is to focus upon how churches can protect children and become arenas of spiritually healthy pastoral care for all.
I believe in the potential of churches to become environments of safety and spiritual care. I know through experience and research that churches can be dangerous places. I am not content to be resigned to this sad reality. Things can be better, much better. I believe “better” can happen, over time, as lay leaders grow in the sense of their own spiritual responsibilities for their people.
Thank you for making your observation. I do appreciate your passion and your point is well made.