Dear Editor,
I write as someone who loves Jesus, whose life has been shaped through faithful Bible preaching. In recent years my faith has also been significantly damaged by abuse in a church setting, the subsequent handling and hiding of the truth. The isolation and inability to trust church leaders is soul crushing. Many victims of abuse in our churches have been caused to fall. We can’t be Christians in isolation, yet churches have been places of hurt.
I am troubled by the lack of awareness in evangelical culture. Victims are often seen as troublemakers, over-sensitive, even threats to our institution, rather than the oppressed whom the Bible calls us to uphold and defend.