Tennessee Baptists present sexual abuse report, urging adoption of best practices

Members of a task force appointed by the Tennessee Baptist Convention on Tuesday urged churches across the state to adopt a series of recommendations meant to prevent sexual abuse.

“The most important feedback I received today is from a sweet sister in Christ who told me many, many decades ago she experienced sexual abuse in the church, and she wholeheartedly believes her pastor would have been better equipped to minister to her if he had this booklet,” said Attorney Victoria Tillman, chair of the Tennessee Baptist Convention’s sexual abuse task force.

One year ago, at the last meeting of the Tennessee Baptist Convention, the messengers — or voting delegates from local churches — approved a recommendation to create a task force to study policies related to sexual abuse prevention.

The task force was asked to evaluate the process of how The Tennessee Baptist Convention responds to allegations of sexual abuse, to evaluate the process of how the convention seeks to protect those it serves from sexual abuse and to evaluate the resources and assistance provided by the convention and the Tennessee Baptist Mission Board on best practices to protect congregants from sexual abuse.

The Tennessee Baptist Convention is the body of messengers that meets for a two-day annual gathering called the “Summit.” The Tennessee Baptist Mission Board is a standing entity comprised of staff governed by a board of directors that handles day-to-day activities throughout the rest of the year.

The Tennessee Baptist Convention is a state association of the Southern Baptist Convention, the largest Protestant denomination in the United States.

This year’s “Summit” took place at Bellevue Baptist Church in Cordova, with 773 messengers registering from 421 churches by Tuesday morning, the convention’s first day.

Bellevue Baptist has had its own share of controversy over the handling of sexual abuse. In 2006, an assistant pastor at the church confessed that he had sexually abused a minor — his son — in 1990 for 12-18 months.

Steve Gaines, Bellevue lead pastor, heard the confession but did not report the disclosure for six months. The assistant pastor was eventually investigated and fired. The incident was one of several noted in a report from Guidepost Solutions, a third-party firm, on how leaders in the Nashville-based SBC mishandled abuse reports and mistreated survivors. Gaines, who was SBC president from 2016-2018, was one of several prominent convention leaders mentioned in the report.

Also, in June, Bellevue reached a settlement with a separate victim of sexual abuse who sued the church, saying it provided a space for her abuser to groom and abuse her.

At Bellevue Tuesday, the convention’s sexual abuse task force presented a booklet of “preventative best practices” called “Ministering Well: Best Practices and Resources Related to Sexual Abuse Prevention and Response.”

The presentation of the booklet concludes the task force’s work. Since Southern Baptist churches are autonomous, the report recommends “widespread acceptance and implementation of the following best practices by all cooperating Tennessee Baptist churches.”

“This ‘Ministering Well’ booklet, along with the interactive website, is meant to provide a ready reference for our pastors and church leaders to prevent and respond to sexual abuse,” Tillman said.

The booklet includes practical guidance, such as instituting “the two-adult rule,” never leaving a minor alone with just one adult or with two adults who are husband and wife. It also recommends that people be members of a church for at least six months before being considered for work with minors.

When volunteers and staff are selected to work with minors, references should be sought, questions asked of prior churches and criminal background screenings conducted.

It also suggests the implementation of a communications policy including parental approval of any electronic communication between volunteers and staff with minors.

Sample guidelines and procedures for a church are included in full, with policies guiding appropriate physical touch with minors, appropriate meetings between church staff and youth, proposed application forms and directions on the obligation to report child abuse.

“To be able to sit down and come up with policies and procedures may be difficult, time-consuming, so we’ve provided those for you that you can use for your church to put together the best practices for your church and your ministries,” Tillman said.

The convention has grappled with the issue of sexual abuse for years, with attention on the issue increasing after a Houston Chronicle investigation in 2019 that found more than 700 sexual abuse victims in Southern Baptist churches since 1998. After the Houston Chronicle investigation, the Tennessee Baptist Mission Board created a previous task force to evaluate sexual abuse response and prevention policies.

Another resource is a “sexual abuse response checklist” for what church leaders should do upon learning of an allegation, including contacting all necessary authorities, implementing restrictions on the alleged perpetrator, maintaining the confidentiality of the victim, preparing a public statement and developing a program of support services for the victim and their family.

Readers are also advised that they may report churches “functioning contrary to and not in accordance with the ‘principles, programs, and policies of the Convention’” to the Southern Baptist Convention’s credentials committee, which considers whether a church is in friendly cooperation with the denomination.

And the booklet includes links to other resources ranging from companies that can conduct background checks to organizations that conduct prevention and response training. It also includes numbers for the Tennessee and national child abuse hotlines.

“I’m so proud of the work that has been done by the sexual abuse task force,” said Clay Hallmark, Tennessee Baptist Convention president.

Katherine Burgess covers county government and religion. She can be reached at katherine.burgess@commercialappeal.com or followed on Twitter @kathsburgess.

This article originally appeared on Memphis Commercial Appeal: Tennessee Baptists urge churches to adopt preventative sex abuse policies