Godly Response to Abuse in the Christian Environment

Godly Response to Abuse in the Christian Environment
Abbreviation GRACE
Formation 2004, recognized as nonprofit in 2006
Founder Basyle "Boz" Tchividjian
Type Non-profit Organization
Location
  • Forest, Virginia
Mission "To empower the Christian community through education and training to recognize, prevent, and respond to child abuse."
Website www.netgrace.org

Godly Response to Abuse in the Christian Environment (also called GRACE or G.R.A.C.E) is a Virginia 501(c)(3) non-profit organization formed by Basyle "Boz" Tchividjian to assist evangelical groups in confronting sexual abuse, particularly child sexual abuse, within their organizations.[1][2] Tchividjian is the grandson of Billy Graham and a law professor at Liberty University, who formerly worked as a prosecutor on sexual abuse cases.[2]

History

In the early 2000s Tchividjian became convinced that Protestant institutions had not properly addressed incidents of sexual abuse, incidents that he believed would eventually lead to scandals similar to those that had damaged the Catholic Church.[3] In Tchividjian's view, the legalistic, authoritarian culture of some Protestant organizations was particularly susceptible to what he called "spiritual abuse" — the attempt of religious leaders to silence victims or convince them that they deserved their abuse.[3] Tchividjian has stated that, "When it comes to child sexual abuse, too many churches and Christian organizations prefer to sacrifice individuals in order to protect themselves. We end up living out the very antithesis of the Gospel that we preach. The consequences are devastating."[4]

GRACE began in 2003 when a reporter called Tchividjian about a case of sexual abuse mishandled by a pastor. Tchividjian first contacted Victor Vieth, who previously headed the Gundersen National Child Protection Training Center, and Diane Langberg, a psychologist from Pennsylvania who specialized in trauma and subsequently the three invited a number of legal, therapeutic and clerical professionals to form a board that created GRACE,[3] an organization dedicated to educating churches and parachurch organizations about preventing, detecting, and dealing with sexual abuse.[3][4] For example, the children’s ministry OneHope and the relief organization Samaritan's Purse each requested help from GRACE to aid them with abuse prevention and response.[3]

In 2009 Tchividjian was asked by New Tribes Mission, an evangelical missionary organization with 3,000 missionaries in 20 countries, to investigate claims by former children of missionaries that they had been abused while attending a central mission boarding school run by New Tribes Mission in Fanda, Senegal. Because the statute of limitations had expired on all the cases, GRACE investigated the abuse with the goal of revealing the full extent of the abuse and allowing New Tribes Mission to confess, repent, and reform.[3] The investigation, which took a year to complete, demonstrated that the abuse had been more extensive than had previously been thought; the results of the investigation were widely discussed among evangelicals.[3][5] After the release of the GRACE report led to allegations of abuse at nine other New Tribes boarding schools, New Tribes hired a different organization, IHART, or Independent Historical Abuse Review Team. As of 2014 IHART had completed only one investigation and had published nothing.[3]

In 2011 the Association of Baptists for World Evangelism (ABWE), which had 900 missionaries in 60 countries and 5,000 supporting churches, asked GRACE to investigate allegations of abuse at its mission in Bangladesh. After 100 interviews over two years, ABWE fired GRACE just as it prepared to publish its report, claiming GRACE had mishandled the investigation. ABWE then hired an organization called Professional Investigators International (PII) to complete the investigation.[3][6]

In 2012 Bob Jones University asked GRACE to investigate the way it had handled reports of sexual abuse and sexual harassment. After a year of investigation, and just as GRACE was ready to release its report in early 2014, the university fired GRACE, a move widely reported in the media, including the New York Times and The American Conservative.[3][7][8] A month later BJU rehired GRACE, and in December 2014, GRACE released its report.[9]

See also

References

  1. ↑ Guidestar entry for Godly Response to Abuse in the Christian Environment Page accessed January 24, 2016
  2. 1 2 Amanda Marcotte for Slate. May 7, 2014 Billy Graham’s Grandson Is on a Mission to Root Out Sexual Abuse in the Evangelical Church
  3. 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 Kathryn Joyce for The American Prospect. May 5, 2014 The Next Christian Abuse Scandal: By Grace Alone
  4. 1 2 Allan, Turner (2015-10-28). "Billy Graham's grandson on Protestants' response to child sex abuse". Houston Chronicle. Retrieved 2016-01-26.
  5. ↑ Jamie Dean for World Magazine. September 10, 2010. Fear at Fanda
  6. ↑ Bobby Ross Jr. for Christianity Today. March 13, 2013 No GRACE in Sexual Abuse Investigation of Missionary Kids An ABWE vice-president said that GRACE's focus "appeared to be on building a case rather than finding facts." Tchividjian, responded that ABWE appeared "unwilling to have itself investigated" unless it controlled the investigation and that ABWE had refused to provide critical documents and other information.
  7. ↑ Richard Perez-Peñafeb for the New York Times. Feb 11, 2014. Christian School Faulted for Halting Abuse Study
  8. ↑ Rod Dreher for The American Conservative. Feb 11, 2014. Why Is Bob Jones University So Nervous?
  9. ↑ Perez-Pena, Richard (11 December 2014). "Bob Jones University Blamed Victims of Sexual Assaults, Not Abusers, Report Says". The New York Times. Retrieved 16 December 2014.

External links

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