A month after groundbreaking report, SBC creates another task force to oversee reform plans: “Without action, there isn’t repentance.”
With a wave of yellow ballots across a massive meeting hall in Anaheim, thousands of Southern Baptists voted to reform their denomination’s response to abuse, including adopting the database of abusers that survivors had long called for.
Two survivors in attendance hugged and cried, and supporters of the measure rose in applause as the move passed at the SBC annual meeting on Tuesday afternoon. The much-anticipated vote came less than a month after the landmark investigative report into the Executive Committee (EC).
While the EC kept a secret list of hundreds of abusers, the new “Ministry Check” website will keep a public record of credibly accused abusers who have served in Southern Baptist churches and entities. It will be maintained by an independent firm, which will take and evaluate submissions.
A new task force, authorized by Thursday’s vote and to be appointed by the new SBC president, will coordinate the creation of the website as well as evaluating additional reforms over the next year.
North Carolina pastor Bruce Frank, the head of the previous task force that oversaw the investigation, spoke forcefully about the need for the convention to act and called the two recommendations that passed “the bare minimum for what could be called reform.”
“Without action, there isn’t repentance,” said Frank, who referred to the decision as a “Kairos moment” for the convention. “Today we will choose between humility or hubris ... we will choose between doing the best for the glory of God and the good of people or we will choose again business as usual.”
There were a few efforts at limiting or dismissing the calls to reform, including messengers coming to the ...
from Christianity Today Magazine https://ift.tt/bdPrz2X
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