Of course they would say that; they don’t want the bad PR. Remember, they didn’t communicate with you BEFORE the blog, either.

Believe me, you keep this up, and they will talk. You take down the blog, and you are right back where you started.

Shame on NTM. They should have done something about this years ago.

This is very similar to what the Catholic Church did, and would likely be prosecuted similarly. Since what happened within the Catholic Church was in multiple local dioceses, but “hidden” or “investigated/dealt with internally” by a national organization, the investigation was bumped to the federal level. I am sure that a conservative evangelical organization is not thrilled with that statement, or being compared to the Catholic Church, but the series of events are the same. IE- multiple alleged victims, multiple alleged abusers, over time, covered up, ‘dealt with,” not reported to law enforcement, and moved elsewhere in the organization.

Just by way of reference for anyone who begins to research the Catholic Church cases for similarities… many of those cases could not see criminal charges (just civil: ie- law suits) because of a statute of limitations. (the crime was so old it could not be prosecuted). That varies by state.

The difference with NTM, is that these were international crimes that occurred overseas. Our US laws for sex crimes abroad have no statute of limitations. Therefore, technically speaking the Dept. of Justice can prosecute a criminal case against NTM for negligence, not following mandated reporter laws by choosing to not report it, and being party to covering up criminal action they knew was occurring (think what happens to politicians who know of white collar crime for instance and refuse to report it.. they get prosecuted too.. just because they didn’t do it, they are still criminally culpable). The Dept. of Justice can then prosecute each individual perpetrator, and the victims can sue for damages, particularly uncompensated mental health bills for the families, and potentially even loss of income for the parents who had to leave mid-missionary career to protect their kids from an organization who choose to do nothing.

What I would recommend is to contact your local law enforcement (start with police instead of child welfare, they tend to move faster and you can directly call the special victims unit). If you know one of the alleged abusers has current contact with children, report it to Child welfare where they live. You can do so anonymously, and are not required to give your name in many states.. it is also illegal for them to tell anyone who reported it. Since these abusers were never reported or prosecuted, they now have free reign to live anywhere or take any job with any kids or God forbid! another ministry! This is exactly why the law prosecutes negligent organizations… Because then justice does not happen, and other kids are at risk.

Keep up the courage, you are fighting for many besides yourselves. Your own children will be helped.

I do not understand what the “CPC” is that NTM is utilizing to conduct these types of internal investigations. According to child welfare laws, IN EVERY STATE IN THE US, it is NEVER the job of the agency or organization to do any sort of internal investigation with regards to sexual abuse, physical abuse, or neglect. If there is even a hint of abuse, the agency is BOUND BY LAW to report it immediately to the authorities to investigate. The only conversation that should ever take place is them initially hearing of the abuse. Whether or not they think it happened is completely irrelevant. Whether or not the perpetrator went on to receive counseling is irrelevant. Whether or not the child welfare office is run by Christians is irrelevant. The only relevant item is that someone made an allegation of abuse (in this case, multiple people did), and it needs to be reported to the authorities by NTM, according to the law.

In many states, NTM can now be held liable under criminal charges if they do not report the matter to the child welfare office. As an agency in contact with children, they are known as “mandated reporters,” meaning they are mandated by law to report any suspicion of abuse, and can face literal jail time if they do not do so. Needless to say, the penalties are far more severe if they refuse to report an alleged abuser to the authorities and that person re-offends. They will then be held legally culpable for the original abuse, plus the second one. This is not conjecture, I have personally been involved with cases of church leaders facing prosecution because they chose to handle something internally that they had no business, legally, ethically, or experientially handling. This is not a matter of a board vote on whether or not they should pursue legal action, that is against the law. Similarly, it is never the decision of a local elder board whether or not to pursue reporting an alleged crime.. they too, are bound by law to do so.

It is unethical and in some states ILLEGAL for the organization to request the “alleged victim” (I use alleged as a legal term here, not as an indication of disbelieving what these MK’s have said) take it upon themselves to contact child welfare on their own. It is also unethical to provide counseling through their own staff members or associates.

At one point on this blog, I read a comment stating that NTM’s lawyer said that they could not pursue legal action because the crime happened overseas. This is woefully incorrect. 1. They still have an obligation to report it to child welfare because the alleged perpetrator could have current contact with children. The mandated reporter status still applies to oversease cases. 2. Under new anti-trafficking laws, the US can now (and has 25 times since 2003), prosecute it’s citizens in US court for sexual crimes (including child molestation, which is what this is), that occurred overseas. 3. There is no statue of limitations on the allegations. This means, that even though this happened several years ago, the perpetrators can still be prosecuted now. 4. Don’t even get me started about the illegality of having someone accused of abuse still working for NTM or associated with them in any capacity. That is beyond reason.

Look no further than the Catholic Church for an example of how the law and the public respond when an organization tries to sweep something under the rug, skirt the law, and deal with something internally that is a crime punishable by law.