In late 2021, United Bethel Mennonite Church pastors were made aware of allegations of rape by two brothers, one of whom was regularly attending our church and one who was a member of our church, but had been living in another state for 7 years. In March 2023, these men were ultimately sentenced to 5 years in prison on two counts of gross sexual imposition. In the meantime, statements were made on social media and in a public blog alleging that the UBMC pastors were covering up abuse, had not properly responded to past instances of abuse in our congregation, and had neglected to care for victims and protect the vulnerable.
To help the current UBMC Leadership team and our church understand accurately what abuse has happened in the past, and how we could and should have better responded to those instances of abuse, we engaged an independent third party, GRACE (Godly Response to Abuse in Christian Environments), to do an investigation and report on incidents of abuse that have happened since 1995.
We have recently received this report and have made it available to all of our church members and regular attenders. This report outlines a number of instances from 1999 to 2016 in which individuals, mostly within our congregation including young children, were sexually abused and mistreated by individuals within our congregation. It outlines which cases were known, and not known, by anyone in church leadership. The report informs us of ways the situations that were known by us as church leaders were not handled adequately. These include but are not limited to:
- A lack of adequate care and concern for the victims.
- Failure to adequately question and find out the extent or the severity of the abuse.
- Failure to inform those who should have been made aware, whether the congregation or others who were exposed to risk.
To those who were harmed, we deeply regret the wrongs you experienced by the sins of individuals among us. We are sorry for our lack of care, concern, and protection. We pray that our holy and gracious God would grant you healing, and that God would forgive us for the ways we failed you during very difficult times. We thank you for sharing with GRACE recognizing it may have been difficult. We would like to continue communicating with you about ways we can help.
This report also details ways that we as leaders, as well as our church can improve awareness and prevention of sexual and other abuse. It gives us direction on how to best respond to abuse, when it does happen, including reporting to authorities, and best practices in caring for the victims of abuse. It details dynamics that hinder open communication to authorities and relationship dynamics that are factors in abuse and disclosure, or lack thereof. We as leaders of UBMC are firmly committed to making changes that minimize the risk and increase awareness of abuse. We are also committed to responding to any future abuse and sexual misconduct in the best way possible for everyone, especially the victims.
The UBMC Leadership Team
9/10/2024