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Hey pastors: children are not objects. 1/ https://religionnews.com/2020/07/06/megachurch-pastor-john-ortberg-family-member-attraction-to-children-secret-menlo-church-daniel-lavery-whistelblower">https://religionnews.com/2020/07/0...
There are a lot of things about this story that make me incredibly angry, some of which I& #39;m maybe not qualified to comment on. Ortberg knowingly put kids in harm& #39;s way. He harmed the kids through this choice, and he harmed Johnny, who needed professional help. 2/
It& #39;s entirely possible that no children were harmed in Johnny& #39;s 16 years of volunteering - and I hope not - but the egregiousness of John Ortberg& #39;s choice here wouldn& #39;t change.
Ortberg took Bill Hybels down for something similar, if not in type, then in grievousness. 3/
Ortberg took Bill Hybels down for something similar, if not in type, then in grievousness. 3/
But the one thing that keeps popping up into my head is this: Daniel says that Ortberg let Johnny continue volunteering as a type of therapy; Ortberg denies this. But why, then, continue allowing Johnny to volunteer for eighteen months after he disclosed unwanted attraction? 4/
I believe Daniel, and here& #39;s why: seminaries do not train pastors to treat children as fully human. 5/
Pastors, how many of you were required to take classes on children& #39;s ministry in seminary?
How many of your speech and preaching classes focused on children& #39;s messages? 6/
How many of your speech and preaching classes focused on children& #39;s messages? 6/
How many of your systematic theology classes gave you the opportunity to formulate how high level concepts like election and perichoresis inform the place of children in the body of Christ? 7/
How many of your church history classes delved into the terrible, brutal history of children in the church?
How many of your field education placements placed you in direct connection with children? 8/
How many of your field education placements placed you in direct connection with children? 8/
The answer is, of course, none.
Children& #39;s ministry is completely absent from seminaries. At best - at best! - you might get to talk about kids as part of a required Christian Ed class. This, despite the fact that every church any pastor serves will have children. 9/
Children& #39;s ministry is completely absent from seminaries. At best - at best! - you might get to talk about kids as part of a required Christian Ed class. This, despite the fact that every church any pastor serves will have children. 9/
This is why Ortberg decided it was okay for a volunteer, his son, to continue to have contact with children even after disclosing his unwanted attraction to children. The church does not treat children as fully human, full members of the body of Christ. Children are objects. 10/
Sometimes, they are objects *for* ministry:
“We have to provide childcare so the parents can come to worship." (True, but what about getting kids in to worship?)
“Let& #39;s do a VBS so the community can see how cool our church is." (Yeah, that& #39;s not a good reason to do a VBS.) 11/
“We have to provide childcare so the parents can come to worship." (True, but what about getting kids in to worship?)
“Let& #39;s do a VBS so the community can see how cool our church is." (Yeah, that& #39;s not a good reason to do a VBS.) 11/
"If we can get the kids interested in our Tuesday night program, then their families will eventually join up." (Cool, so you don& #39;t want the kids, you want their parents& #39; tithes.)
Kids are treated variously as a burden, as an incentive, as a treasure. 12/
Kids are treated variously as a burden, as an incentive, as a treasure. 12/
This is one of the problems with Menlo& #39;s response. It& #39;s not enough to re-background check all of your volunteers or have your staff undergo mandatory reporter training again - good and necessary protocols, but they wouldn& #39;t have prevented Ortberg from doing what he did. 13/
It& #39;s security theatre that pretends to be about protecting kids but is really about protecting Menlo. Kids are objects that need to be protected, not full partners in ministry that deserve a voice. 14/
Other times, kids are objects *of* ministry:
“I like hearing the kids’ choir sing because it reminds me that God is good." (There’s nothing intrinsic to the kids that does that too?) 15/
“I like hearing the kids’ choir sing because it reminds me that God is good." (There’s nothing intrinsic to the kids that does that too?) 15/
“Let’s get the kids to rake leaves around the church, to teach them why service is important." (No, pay these kids a living wage or get a landscaper.) 16/
"A kid can read the liturgy because people like it when they see kids in worship." (Kids should be leading in worship, but not because you need the token kid up on stage.)
The ministry of kids isn& #39;t taken seriously, and they are used instead to "bless" other people. 17/
The ministry of kids isn& #39;t taken seriously, and they are used instead to "bless" other people. 17/
That& #39;s what Daniel says Ortberg did: allowed Johnny to continue volunteering because, citing a discredited theory from "Virtuous Pedophiles" (which, woof), being around children can be therapeutic to someone who is attracted to children as long as they don& #39;t act. 18/
The idea is ridiculous on its face, of course; abuse isn& #39;t limited to the sexual, and anyway, you don& #39;t put an addict next to what they& #39;re addicted to and hope for the best. Even if Daniel is wrong (Ortberg denies it), it doesn& #39;t matter because the result is the same: 19/
John Ortberg allowed someone who confessed an attraction to children to still be around children, never mind that the children didn& #39;t have a choice in the matter. 20/
Jesus says in Mark 10 that we adults have to become like children in order to enter the kingdom of God, but our churches are shaped so that our kids become like us. There are historical reasons for this. There are societal reasons for this. They are all wrong. 21/
Being at @ptseminary taught me to think theologically about my work. It& #39;s time seminaries started thinking theologically about churches& #39; work with children and started training pastors how to take kids seriously - instead of continuing to produce pastors like John Ortberg. 22/22
