How to Find the Cracks in the System (So You Can Avoid Falling into Them)
Maybe you’re about to send your teenager on a summer trip to another country with your church or a ministry. Or perhaps you’re thinking of joining a church that seems refreshingly different from the toxic one you just left. Or you might be considering moving across the country—or across the world—to take a job with a Christian nonprofit that seems to be a welcome departure from the rat race of modern life.
Adventure. Opportunity. Purpose. A bright future. Those seem obvious possibilities. But what are you missing?
The cracks.
If an assault happens to your teen while in another country, will the leaders report it to authorities? If you uproot your life for an organization, what types of toxicity could you encounter far from home? As you consider joining a faith community, are there enough safeguards to protect you and your family if something goes wrong?
Some of the cracks are caused by big forces that seem beyond our control like separation of church and state, country borders, and human nature’s propensity to hide wrongdoing. But there are some things you can do to find specific cracks, and then make some choices to avoid them or ask the organization how they’re addressing them.
Ask about the organization’s mandatory reporting policies. This is especially important if the organization does work in other countries that may not have or enforce mandatory reporting. Since there is currently no international mandatory reporting law, the organization has a huge loophole through which they could slip to avoid reporting abuse to any authorities. Make sure you get something in writing from your organization on this. Or if you’re already working there, start a conversation with your managers and team about this.
Inquire about protocol for reporting sexual misconduct. If the organization works overseas, they may have an unwritten culture of not reporting possible criminal behavior to local authorities due to their concerns (warranted or not) over corruption in that country’s justice system. But do they have any protocol to notify any authorities, like the FBI, which sometimes will work with local authorities to investigate crimes? If not, consider the huge crack you or your loved one could fall into if a co-worker sexually abuses or assaults you. You have a right to report a crime to the FBI or local authorities on your own. But if the organization has a policy (possibly unwritten) of quickly moving an accused employee out of the country to avoid scrutiny for both him and the organization, you could lose a chance for an investigation and justice.
Ask for copies of survey results and investigative reports done by consultants, attorneys or third parties. These could point to past failures, and hopefully, recommendations that the organization should be completing to do better.
Request copies of employee or member manuals, including specific ones that pertain to the role you’ll be doing or the location you’ll be working. Some organizations have multiple employee or member manuals, which may even have conflicting information about what is expected. These can point to cracks in which you think you have access to a procedure, resource, or protection, but a conflicting manual may trump those, according to your direct manager. Look also for whether the policies lean heavy toward protecting the organization’s resources or reputation as opposed to offering you protection. A policy that emphasizes conflict resolution, such as a Matthew 18 process, rather than clear abuse reporting protocol and support for employees is a red flag. Lack of whistleblower protection and whistleblower protection that is too narrow (only covers one type of claim like discrimination) are red flags, too.
Just because the organization puts something in writing doesn’t mean they follow what it says. Ask if the organization has ever been sued. Or look up the lawsuits online yourself. Lawsuits can show how the organization has been negligent in either following its own policies or in following laws. A good place to start looking is the district courthouse of the county where the organization is headquartered. Civil lawsuits are usually public record in the United States and can be seen through online searches. Since you may have to pay a fee for a full copy, ask for the original complaint as a starting point.
Have a conversation with your church’s leaders over power differentials and fiduciary responsibilities, especially pertaining to a pastor’s or missionary’s behavior toward congregants or members. Do the leaders understand the dynamics of Adult Clergy Sexual Abuse, or rather, do they categorize a sexual relationship between a minister and a member as an affair with responsibility assumed of both parties? Do leaders know about rape myths that can mask some instances of criminal sexual assault in otherwise seemingly “consensual” intimate relationships, including marriage? Knowing your church’s or ministry’s culture and reporting procedure when a pastor or missionary is engaged in sexual misconduct is especially important if you live in one of the 36 states in which ACSA is not yet criminalized, or if you’re serving overseas. Also, ask if the denomination or elders typically restore ministers who’ve engaged in ACSA, and ask what that restoration process is. Find out if they have a zero-tolerance policy including defrocking or decommissioning for such misconduct. Some organizations may simply not know enough about these dynamics, so a conversation with humble, willing leaders could further their understanding to prevent future harm.
Want to know if your organization likely silences whistleblowers? Check out my piece on this here.
Thinking of moving overseas? If so, I write in this piece about the extra hurdles you may face in reporting abuse (which I hope prompts deeper conversations in mission organizations to mitigate these).
(Disclaimer: This is my own personal opinion, intended as general information, and not meant to replace legal or psychological advice for your specific situation.)
This is really good information! Some years back, my then-high schooler was going to go on a “mission” (if I told you the whole story you’d understand the quotation marks) trip to Cambodia from Korea, where we lived at the time. We went to the informational meeting and I kept having a really bad feeling. I didn’t know if it was just because the leader kept bringing up things that reminded me of my boarding school that weren’t necessarily abuse, so I tried not to influence my daughter too much and just prayed. I was SO relieved when she said, “I don’t think it’s what I’m looking to do.” The leader guilted her for not going at every youth meeting thereafter. But the trip ended up being a huge disaster on many levels, and I just thanked God over and over for His direction. I didn’t have to figure any of this out, but I wish I’d read it before because I think I would have more firmly just told her no. There were lots of red flags like you’ve described here.