Our blog contains ACNAtoo statements and updates, community resources written by the ACNAtoo team, articles on abuse-related topics by outside experts, and more.
Loose Canons: Unsure Foundations
Keeping an eye on the laws of our church is part of our duty to the most vulnerable in our midst. It is never enough to rely on church leaders’ good intentions or verbal assurances regarding the church’s procedures. It’s not just for canon lawyers – church governance concerns everyone.
Community Grooming in the Church
How can pastors and other church leaders, tasked with roles that require discernment, character, and spiritual care, be so incapable of identifying abusers, safeguarding the vulnerable, and responding appropriately to disclosures? How can entire communities that are in many ways safe havens for hurting people fall in lockstep behind these leaders, ostracizing victims who rallied the courage to come forward, seek help, and try to prevent their abuser from harming others?
Leaving Well
In the stress, pain, confusion, and unspoken assumption that Christians don’t suffer abuse from churches, hurting Christians don’t often stop to ask themselves: Am I leaving well? That is, am I leaving in a state of wellness?
A Petition to the Province
Of the two firms chosen by the PRT, it is our opinion that neither one meets even the basic criteria for trauma-informed and survivor-centered investigations. Not only do these firms fail to meet minimum standards, but their own words stand in blatant disregard of survivors' carefully stated requests to the Upper Midwest Diocese and the Province to make the investigation safe for survivors to participate in.
Judy Dabler, Matthew 18, and the Silencing of Survivors in the Church
Recently, Christianity Today examined the allegations of silencing, manipulation and abuse perpetrated by Judy Dabler and a ministry using “Matthew 18” as a model for conciliation. Contributor John Perrine explores why Jesus’s teaching in Matthew 18 is so often taken out of context and what Jesus is really saying for victims who suffered abuse.
