A Time For The SBC To Refocus

The Houston Chronicle exposed pastors and leaders and churches, but the exposure was (thankfully) delicate in detail but clear in its calling out. The result: pastors aren’t what many think; churches too often protect; leaders hide under the cover of the autonomy of a local church.

Some significant voices in the SBC stood up to say the perpetrators are morally wrong and damaging the gospel and our Lord.

Fine, but that’s not the point.

Once again, the focus is on the SBC. The focus is on doing better. The focus is on not letting this happen again. Strategies of prevention are the focus.

The focus ought to be on the women and the vulnerable, sometimes young boys. The SBC wants to talk about its failure. It needs to talk about the abused. It needs to turn its attention to them.

If you want to focus on that failure focus on those who have been abused — some 700 of them.
This is about women who are vulnerable to overpowering men.
This is about young people, mostly women, who looked up to male leadership.
About mostly women whose trust in the (mostly) “man of God” was turned into a nightmare of moral violence.
About women and the collapse of confidence in the male leaders in churches.
About wondering how many other male leaders in churches are like this.

This is a story about what happens to the women, to the vulnerable, to the young boys who have been violated.

For once, focus on them.

This is a period of listening, to repent, to lament, to grieve, to weep.