Christian Response to Suspicions and Allegations

Paul acknowledged that it's difficult to talk about what the disobedient do in secret, but he told the Ephesians in 5:11, “Have nothing to do with the fruitless deeds of darkness, but rather expose them. Everything exposed by the light becomes visible.” This is a difficult subject, but the Bible tells us to expose it to the light.

We think of the church as a safe place to give and receive ministry, but there have been many examples of behavior displayed by church leaders and staff, volunteers, parishioners, and visitors to indicate that the church isn't always the safe place that we'd like it to be. We're required to be good stewards of the people and facilities that God has entrusted to us. Church leaders must find a balance between providing a spiritual sanctuary and a physical sanctuary which is peaceful, safe, and secure.

Today's reality is that churches, along with their denominations, are legally and morally liable for what occurs in the church. They're targets of lawsuits now more than ever before. And many of the problems that occur in churches have harmful effects on the rest of the congregation and the denomination, as well as the physical, emotional, and spiritual impact on the victims—and those accused, even if improperly, of misconduct.

So what do we do when we hear suspicions and allegations of improper behavior? I'd like to help church leaders develop general guidelines to determine how to make the difficult decisions on how to follow up on these things while guarding against overreaction.

If you ignore allegations
In April 2005, a civil court ruled in favor of Teresa Norris, who sued the West Missouri Conference of the United Methodist Church. It awarded her $2 million in compensatory damages and $4 million in punitive damages (though a judge later lowered the punitive damages to $1 million). It was alleged that denomination officials failed to act when they received numerous complaints from parishioners and church employees that the pastor, David Finestead, used sexual innuendos and made inappropriate sexually charged comments.

The jury believed Teresa Norris, the church music director, when she claimed that the denomination's failure to adequately supervise the minister and to act on the complaints against him placed her in danger. According to Norris, this ultimately resulted in Pastor Finestead raping her in her church office. If the denomination had investigated complaints and allegations, the incident and the lawsuit could have been avoided.

Note that this was a civil suit, not a criminal case. As the Norrises attorney said, "You've probably heard (that) in a criminal case, you must be convinced of something beyond a reasonable doubt. This is a civil case, and the burden is that these things are more likely to be true than not true," he said. (http://gcsrw.org/newsarchives/2005/05043.htm)

In other words, people don't have to prove allegations to win a lawsuit. They only have to convince a jury that their contention is probably true.

What to Look For
Church leaders should develop a healthy suspicion of inappropriate behavior by anyone associated with their church. Without becoming unreasonably paranoid, we need to be aware of behavior that's inappropriate for the setting, violates common sense, or defies logical explanation. This can pertain to issues involving the care of children, paid and volunteer staff relationships, theft or misuse of church property, and even behavior of a staff member or parishioner that does not involve the church but may have an impact on the church.

Practical Guidelines
When misconduct is detected, what should church leaders do? S ituations differ, and the dynamics are often peculiar to those specific circumstances, but there are general guidelines that church leaders can employ when confronted with inappropriate behavior.

•  Regardless of how embarrassing or harmful the situation may be to those involved, always approach the situation with honesty in the pursuit of truth. A thorough investigation into the facts of the allegations must be implemented.

•  It's natural to be concerned about the reputation of the church and its leadership, adverse media coverage, and the negative impact on those involved. Churches often feel that if they ignore the problem it will go away. But every complaint or suspicion of wrongdoing must be evaluated and investigated. Ignoring a problem will make it worse and the church will be exposed to civil liability and further harm to the victims. As the example we described earlier illustrates, doing nothing is a response—but the wrong response. Action is required.

•  If the incident or behavior constitutes a violation of criminal law, you must report it to local law enforcement authorities. Even though this may be traumatic to the person accused and cause emotional pain for those involved, a violation of law must be treated as such and be taken seriously. This is especially significant when children are involved.

•  It's hard to address rumors and other information if there's no real evidence. We all know that rumors are often untrue, and we want to avoid unnecessarily offending someone who's the subject of a rumor. Many times a short, private conversation or a wait-and-see attitude for a short time may be appropriate to allow an opportunity for additional evidence to come up.

•  All situations should be handled with fairness. Fairness must be applied to the suspect of wrongdoing, and the victim of the misconduct must be treated with sensitivity as well. Often victims of misconduct are treated as if they were partially guilty, but—especially in the church—the victim should receive special care in order to get through the situation.

•  A very difficult question is what action, if any, the church should take against a member of the church staff with regard to an allegation or suspicion. Do you relieve the person of his duties while the situation is being investigated? Depending on the seriousness of the allegation and the level of evidence, this may be a good idea in order to demonstrate that the matter is taken seriously and something is being done to resolve it. It's necessary to balance the needs of the victim as well as those of the perpetrator.

•  Often the first inclination of church leaders is to cover up the situation in order to avoid detection by the congregation and community, or to portray the situation inaccurately in an attempt to minimize responsibility. We've seen many examples of church leaders, politicians, and celebrities attempting to dishonestly respond to allegations of misconduct. These examples have taught us that many times the cover-up may have a more detrimental effect than honestly addressing the issue in a scriptural manner. Regardless of how embarrassing or hurtful the incident may be, we must act upon it with the honor and integrity that would be pleasing to God.

•  If misconduct is discovered and proved against a member of the pastoral staff, the church's denomination should be informed in order to respond appropriately. In one case, a senior pastor was terminated from his church only to be allowed to accept another church in the same denomination in a different city. He later had an inappropriate relationship with a member of the congregation, which caused irreparable harm to the church and his family. The denomination could have prevented that if they'd been informed.

Hopefully this article will encourage discussion among church leaders and congregations that will result in a safer place where people can worship God. God's protection is still available to us, but he also expects us to utilize common sense and the resources he's given us.

Robert Cirtin is founder and president of Safe At Church, L.L.C. (www.safeatchurch.com), which provides consulting services to churches and religious organizations in the area of church safety issues. He has 22 years of experience in the area of law enforcement and investigations, and has served in full-time church ministry. He also serves as assistant professor of criminal justice and director of the criminal justice program at Evangel University, Springfield, Missouri. He created Church Volunteer Central's online training class on Dealing With Threats of Violence .

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