When Christian Ministries Ask Their Ex-Employees Not to Talk

Quick to Listen

Christianity Today

Religion, Christianity, Religion & Spirituality

4.3 • 622 Ratings

🗓️ 6 November 2019

⏱️ 47 minutes

🔗️ Recording | iTunes | RSS

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Summary

Transcribed highlights of the show can be found in our episode summaries. Non-disclosure agreements (NDA) started in the tech world as a way to protect trade secrets. But they haven’t stayed there.A recent World Magazine story noted: "This practice from corporate America is now common among religious nonprofits. Done right, confidentiality agreements help institutions protect members’ privacy and can fend off ruinous litigation. But NDAs can also mask institutional disease and leader misconduct. And even when an institution doesn’t enforce its NDA, the widespread institutional fear of liability can lead to unintended, devastating outcomes." In her reporting, World Magazine’s Emily Belz examined a number of Christian ministry NDAs and spoke with former employees who had signed them. She joined digital media producer Morgan Lee and editor in chief Mark Galli this week on Quick to Listen to discuss why this practice has become so common among Christian ministries, who it serves, and who it hurts. This episode of Quick to Listen is brought to you in part by Intensional. D.A. Horton unpacks how God addresses these issues and where to take it from there in his new book Intensional. Go to dahorton.com to learn more about Intensional. This episode of Quick to Listen is also brought to you by Christianbook.com, your go-to source for everything Christian. Books, Bibles, gifts, music and more, all in one place. And always from people who share your values. Go to Christianbook.com. What is “Quick to Listen”? Read more Subscribe to Quick to Listen on Apple Podcasts Follow the podcast on Twitter Follow our host on Twitter: Morgan Lee Subscribe to Mark’s newsletter: The Galli Report Follow our guest on Twitter: Emily Belz Music by Sweeps Quick to Listen is produced by Morgan Lee and Matt Linder Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

Transcript

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0:00.0	This episode is brought to you in part by The Apologetics Guy Show,
0:06.0	the podcast that helps you find clear answers to tough questions about Christianity.
0:11.1	Learn to explain your faith with courage and compassion.
0:14.5	Join Moody Bible Institute professor Dr. Mikhail del Rosario at apologeticsky.com.
0:22.9	Over the course of the show, we have covered dozens of stories of misconduct in church
0:28.3	and ministries.
0:30.2	As longtime listeners of Quick to Listen Know, we've often covered these issues by telling
0:34.5	you the deeper story of a particular group of people or organizations.
0:39.4	They can also be helpful to look at the practices and behaviors from a 10,000 foot level and
0:44.8	observe larger trends. One particular workplace practice that has increasingly come up are
0:50.8	non-disclosure agreements. So according to a recent World Magazine story, and I'm
0:55.7	going to quote from it, NDAs appeared to have started as a way to protect trade secrets in the tech
1:01.0	industry in the mid-20th century, according to a Columbia journalism review history of the term.
1:06.6	But companies quickly began using them to protect all sorts of information.
1:15.8	And reporter Emily Bell's notes, this practice from corporate America is now common among religious nonprofits.
1:17.5	Then we wanted to discuss why this practice has become so common among Christian ministries,
1:21.8	who it serves, and who it hurts.
1:25.3	Today is Wednesday, November 5th, and you're listening to Quick to Listen, where we go
1:30.6	be on hashtags and hot tags discuss a major cultural event.
1:34.9	I'm Morgan Lee, digital media producer here at Christianity today.
1:38.2	And I'm Mark Kelly, editor-in-chief.
1:39.8	Thank you. All right, Mark, so I thought we should do our gut check today just about the idea of non-disclosure agreements and how, when you hear that Christian ministries are using this practice, what does that make you feel?
	...

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