Sexual HEALING
O ne in four women and one in six men are or will be victims of sexual assault in their lifetime. Someone in the pew at church sitting next to you may have been a victim of rape. Maybe you suffered sexual violence or violation.
Some have been abused right in our churches by parents, stepparents, pastors, priests and other spiritual leaders who preyed on them instead of protecting them. Broken. Wounded. Ashamed. The effects go beyond the physical and touch every area of life, including the spiritual. But there is hope for healing. Dr. Andrew Schmutzer, a professor of Biblical Studies at Moody Bible Institute in Chicago, has written several articles and essays about how the church can help survivors of sexual abuse and is himself a survivor. Dr. Schmutzer talks with The Well Magazine about how the Church can help victims of sexual abuse heal.
What are the effects of sexual abuse spiritually? It is the crushing of metaphor. The Christian leader, pastor, youth worker, parent are meant to be an example of the God who is not seen. Particularly when a child is abused, it really crushes
20 20 The Well The Well Magazine Magazine / Spring / Spring 2013 2013
Image courtesy of luigi diamanti at FreeDigitalPhotos. net this boy or girl’ s view of trust, of protection, of this good God— particularly if the abuse is by a Christian leader. Another effect is the mistrust of the goodness of God. How can a good God create a system of leaders that can abuse both physically, sexually and also spiritually? It is more insidious in a faith context. Some( abusers) may even say I have the authority to do this. There is an enormous mistrust of leadership. These folks don’ t want to follow anyone anymore. They don’ t even trust themselves. That is one of the difficulties survivors face. They need to be taught to trust and relate all over again.
What is your assessment of how the church has dealt with this issue? We haven’ t done well. I love the church and I am committed to the church but it doesn’ t always do well. The church is concerned first and foremost with its own image. They fall prey to image management. That’ s a result of pastors who are thinking more as CEOs than shepherds. They want to protect the organization.
It’ s not the victim who is center stage. It’ s the organization. Most abuse is from people the victim knows. These are not suspicious people in the church’ s eyes. So here’ s a teenager who has been abused. How is this teenage girl going to