#IICSA #CofE - from a heavy heart & troubled mind, some unfinished thoughts on #risk, #leadership, #abuse & #church.

1. "I am sending you out as lambs among wolves...be as wise as serpents & as innocent as doves." Too many in #church manage the doves part - high above, unable to imagine such horrible things could be or that X could possibly be guilty. Ignorance is not holiness.

2. Holiness is more knowing, more robust, more active than that - it is the balance of the #dove & the #serpent.
Serpents crawl on the ground, taste the air, sense vibrations, they know when all is not well. If our leaders are truly humble this is the space they will occupy.

3. But too often #leadership distances us from the ground & the gut knowing that exists in our congregations. We don't hear/ see/sense the wrongness in an #abuser or situation open to abuse & are not close enough to hear the faint cries that are often all the #crushed can manage.

4. Another issue with the elevation of innocence is the #protection of it. If we equate innocence/ignorance/holiness then our holy innocence becomes something that needs to be protected: that includes protected from hearing the dark & terrible #truths of #abuse.

5. The tellers of these #truths become threats instead of #victims: threats to our protected holy innocent ignorance. Their stories are suppressed, hushed, hidden because of the mistaken belief that sharing such darkness & trauma will contaminate holiness. Thus, we add to abuse

6. & we #infantilise congregations by cutting them off from such truths, instead of nurturing their God-given gut instincts about people. So instead of a vigilant flock, we are an oblivious or self-deceiving one, protecting the unwounded at the expense of the #vulnerable & harmed

7. Of course actual children should only hear these things in age-appropriate ways, but for the rest of us (unless triggering) there's no excuse to turn from the suffering of #victims. We are called to bear one another's burdens & in the case of abuse victims have failed to do so

8. The harmful myth of innocence=ignorance=holiness is partnered with the myth of #God only blessing the #pure. I've heard various iterations of this but basically it's the idea that someone's ministry can't be blessed if they're sinning: a poisonous offshoot of Prosperity Gospel

9. So if a person did you some good, preached #truth or shared something of God that helped you grow, they can't be an abuser? Not true. Only in films do the #baddies wear black hats & always do evil. By propagating a 's/he couldn't possibly...' culture, we make church dangerous.

10. We are all #flawed, human, subject to #temptation. We all need watching: to #protect us from others, to protect others from us. It is only by searching the #darkness in ourselves & our neighbours with the light of God & honest #scrutiny that we can begin to heal & be whole.

11. So I hope my fellow #Christians will #watch me & watch over me - both are a gift of love. I pray God will give me the wisdom of the serpent as well as the innocence of the dove. Because I am both lamb & wolf - most, if not all, of us are. & I pray we can be better & do better

12. Most of all, I pray for those hurt by a flawed church full of selfish, imperfect human beings: vulnerable adults & children who God sees, knows, treasures & weeps over. Prayer is always twofold: word & action. Wanting better, doing better, with the help of God. Amen.

A link to the longer version: https://workplayrestpray.wordpress.com/2020/10/24/serpents-and-doves-leadership-abuse-and-the-church/