Creating Safe Spaces: Rethinking Church Culture, Repentance, and Believing Survivors

Voxology

Religion & Spirituality, Philosophy, Society & Culture

4.7 • 1K Ratings

🗓️ 16 October 2018

⏱️ 59 minutes

🔗️ Recording | iTunes | RSS

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Summary

How the church can move from silence to safety by acknowledging its complicity in marginalizing abuse survivors and unpacking what repentance truly looks like—for individuals and communities. Kicking off a new Justice Series, Mike Erre and co-host Kevin No. 2 respond to a heartfelt letter from listener "Betty," offering an open, vulnerable discussion on sexual assault, politicization, and the Me Too movement through a gospel-centered lens.

Mike shares reflections from past church leadership and his personal journey of repentance while affirming that healthy, just communities must create space for survivors to be believed, heard, and supported—without minimizing truth, due process, or grace. With cultural dialogue often divided and polarizing, this conversation challenges the binary of “believe all women” vs. “protect men,” and instead proposes a Jesus-patterned third way marked by truth, love, and safety for all.

Key Takeaways:
• Building a Church That Believes Survivors – Why an overcorrection is far more redemptive than maintaining a harmful status quo, and how churches must be the safest place to talk about anything—including abuse.
• Redefining What Repentance Looks Like – Mike discusses repentance not as guilt, but as embodied change in leadership structures, conversations around sexuality, and empowering women through shared authority.
• Politics and Polarization in the Church – Dissecting the harmful merge between evangelicalism and partisan allegiance, and how centering our identity in God's kingdom disrupts political idolatry.
• False Dichotomies and the Need for Nuance – Exploring how followers of Jesus must reject simplistic narratives—like “believing all accusations uncritically” or “always trusting authority”—in favor of humble, truth-seeking discernment.
• A Broader Gospel and Deeper Invitation – Mike also responds to a separate listener question about why he no longer does traditional altar calls. He highlights the need for a fuller picture of the gospel rooted not in conversion formulas, but in lifelong discipleship.

Resources Mentioned:
• Mike’s Previous Episode with Nicole discussing trauma and survivorship
• Book of Deuteronomy – Addressing accusations and justice systems
• Nicole’s Ongoing Advocacy and Work Around Abuse Recovery
• Biblical Views on the Role of Elders and Leadership Ethics

Listeners are invited into a posture of humility and reflection—on the state of the church, its responsibilities, and the kind of redemptive presence Jesus calls his followers to embody. Stay engaged with future installments in the Justice Series, and share the episode with someone who may be wrestling through similar questions.

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Music by Timothy John Stafford – @GoneTimothy

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Music in this episode by Timothy John Stafford

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Transcript

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0:00.0	Hey, everybody. Welcome to the Vox podcast. Mike Erie here with my very special friend,
0:22.9	very special friend, Kevin number two. Say hello, Kevin.
0:25.6	Hello. Why? Why do you say special every time?
0:28.3	Well, because they're among the Kevins. Each has a unique role.
0:33.8	Okay. Kevin number one is number one in my heart. There's, there's utterly no question.
0:37.4	And that's fine. I don't want to be number one. No. But Kevin number two, I mean, there's a, there's a camaraderie. It's a peer, it's more of a peer relationship. And so... Special. It is special. Perfect. In the, in my realm of Kevin's. I'm okay with this definition. If you're new to the podcast, welcome to the Vox
0:55.2	podcast. Vox is Latin for voice, and we want to do our best to represent Jesus' voice to the world.
1:03.2	We think Jesus is God's voice to the world, and so if you want to know what God is like or what God
1:09.0	is thinking or doing or what God prioritizes. You look at Jesus, and that
1:14.3	gives you the picture of what God is like. And so we often, very often engage with current topics.
1:22.5	There's so much fodder for conversation, not just in biblical theology, but in cultural movements. And Kevin
1:32.0	number two, of course, it kind of has this pulse on the culture as a coffee salesperson.
1:38.3	And so this is a man who eats and sleeps and breathes coffee, literally, because he loves it.
1:46.6	The word drink might be more appropriate than that. There you go.
1:49.7	Yeah, but you breathe coffee after you drink it.
1:52.0	In the sense that coffee breath is a real menace.
1:55.3	Coffee breath is one of the greatest things that God has given us.
1:58.6	That is false.
1:59.7	True.
2:01.0	I don't think so.
2:03.4	So, yes, certainly caffeinated people seem to be happier in the morning.
2:08.2	No question about that.
	...

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