Is it I, Lord?

Mortification of Spin

Alliance of Confessing Evangelicals

Religion & Spirituality

4.4 • 853 Ratings

🗓️ 21 March 2018

⏱️ 20 minutes

🔗️ Recording | iTunes | RSS

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Summary

In light of the Larry Nassar child sexual abuse case, the crew talks about Rachael Denhollander and the treatment she’s received from her church leadership. What’s the appropriate response to cases of sexual abuse in the local church? How do you support and love those who have suffered so deeply in this way?Carl and Todd reflect on their primary responsibility as pastors who have taken vows to protect and care for God’s people, while Aimee talks about ways to minister to the wounded. Together, they look at the circumstances surrounding Rachael’s case and do their own soul-searching by asking the question: Is it I, Lord?Join the conversation, and let’s examine what the pastor’s first calling is when a member brings an accusation of abuse to the church.This week we’re giving away On Guard: Preventing and Responding to Child Abuse at Church. The book is a generous gift from our friends at New Growth Press. Please sign up to win a copy!Show Notes/Additional ResourceRachael’s Story

Transcript

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0:00.0	Welcome to Mortification of Spin, a casual conversation about things that count.
0:21.7	With Carl Truman, Todd Pruitt, and Amy Bird, Mortification of Spin is a weekly podcast from the Alliance of Confessing Evangelicals.
0:30.6	Let's join this week's conversation. Well, welcome to Mortification of Spin Bullie Pulpit.
0:46.7	The usual gangs all here, myself, Carl Truman, Amy Bird, the housewife theologian,
0:52.0	Todd Pruitt, pastor of Covenant Presbyterian Church in Harrisburg, Harrisonburg, Virginia, which happens to be a university town in case you didn't mention that recently.
1:02.8	It is. It is.
1:03.3	We want to talk today about a serious and somewhat tricky subject. Many listeners will be aware of the very courageous stand and testimony
1:14.0	that Rachel Den Hollander took in the recent Larry Nassar child sex abuse case. How this
1:22.1	lady stood in some ways initially single-handed and blew the whistle on somebody who is probably
1:30.5	one of the most prolific paedophiles in the history of the United States.
1:37.6	One of the things, though, that emerged after the trial was the lack of support that she felt she had received from her local church
1:48.3	as she was going through this process. And also what was interesting, I think, to many of us
1:55.9	watching from the sidelines was the way that some who had initially lionized her distanced themselves somewhat
2:04.5	in the days and weeks after her statements on this front, precisely because she seemed to be
2:10.5	indicting the church to some extent in the sufferings that she had gone through. So what we want to do
2:17.0	today is address the question of how should the church respond
2:22.1	and support somebody like Mrs. Den Hollander when she takes the courageous stand, she does.
2:30.3	And I want to start Todd and Amy by saying this.
2:33.3	I think that looking at the aftermath of the case, I think that the first reaction of the church, when somebody indicts the church in a case like this, should not be to move immediately towards self-justification or refuting the
2:54.5	allegations. It seems to me that the first question should be that which the disciples ask,
3:01.2	when Jesus indicates that one of them is to betray him. They don't engage in self-justification
3:07.1	there. Their immediate question is,
	...

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