After Smyth, after Makin – how does evangelical culture need to change?
Nicola Laver
The Makin Review into the horrific abuse carried out by John Smyth was always going to send shockwaves through the Church of England – and the evangelical world both within that denomination and beyond it. Smyth – QC, church reader and sadist – abused at least 115 children and young men over a period spanning some 50 years. Some later attempted suicide.
The report does not hold back. The victims’ accounts are harrowing; the failures of successive CofE leaders – including many evangelicals – from the top down are exposed. Makin could not be clearer: conservative evangelical culture facilitated Smyth’s abuse. His brutal proclivities were an open secret among a faction within the church who could have acted – but didn’t. The institution, its beliefs and reputation, were more important than the individuals being abused.
Makin Report: Smyth victims speak out
Victims of serial abuser John Smyth are speaking out in the wake of the publication of the Makin Report.
Smyth abused dozens of children and young men who he met at summer camps funded by the conservative evangelical Iwerne Trust in Dorset during the 1970s and 1980s. Readers should be aware that some of the details below are deeply distressing.
After Makin: what might evangelicals learn?
It’s not often we get asked to write something together, so this is newish territory for us. 'You write it,' said one of us, 'and I’ll correct it afterwards.' To which the other could easily have said, 'You write it… and I’ll make it readable afterwards.' But as one is in the pub watching the Rugby and the other is at home writing, I’ll leave you to guess which is which.
So, the commission was for joint authorship; the topic, what evangelicals need to learn post-Makin. Immediately, we encounter our second challenge. One of us has always (since conversion aged 13, anyway) been an evangelical: more precisely a 'Prayer Book Evangelical.' The other never has.