MK forum

Thank you, Deanna, for your very good, very wise words.

I too am an NTM MK, and my experience was much like yours. I grew up feeling relatively safe, and assumed that all the other MKs I knew were having the same positive childhood and adolescence. I think that is one of the things that fuels my activism at this time: the sense of how unfair it is that some MKs suffered so much, and I did not know, and thought they were all just like me.

Your call to repentance is so appropriate. This has been called for before. Several years ago. In the immediate aftermath of the GRACE report on the Fanda abuse, there was a certain sense of repentance from some of the NTM leaders, specifically from Larry Brown.

I have tried to express what a huge mistake I feel NTM made, at the point in time when they began using attorneys for the protection of their institution/corporation. That is not what I call a spirit of repentance. In the years following that decision, what I sense is not repentance anymore. It is: "Yes, that abuse was terrible, but it is not us who did it. It was other people. Now our main concern is just to go about our business as usual, reaching the tribes till the last tribe is reached. We will continue to recruit candidates, train them, send them out, solicit millions of dollars, expand our facilities, and modernize our methods and our buildings. Those who keep banging their drum trying to call attention to the "historic" abuse of children long ago are just distracting us from what is really important, and they are becoming quite irritating, because they just won't shut up."

That is my perception, Deanna. Thank you for expressing what is on your heart, which is that repentance is appropriate and necessary. Perhaps you will be able to catch someone's attention, because from where I sit, it feels like no one is listening.

I was talking to the lovely Mrs Bemused last night, as we watched groups of children wandering the streets in goulish garb.
Whereas some of the aspects of my childhood in NTM were bad the word I would use to describe my childhood is "weird". "Weird" isn't a crime, so what happened in my own past was not a crime and requires little action. But it is what I saw (and reported) happening to others that was wrong and was a crime. Sexual offending against a minor is a criminal activity and deliberately covering it up is also a crime.

Now I am under considerable pressure to shut up and stop dragging up the past. But the bottom line is, what happened was a crime and the criminals have not been held accountable nor those that covered it up been investigated thoroughly, so on we go.

So if I had a "weird" childhood, have I turned out "weird" myself for wanting to delve back into it and right the wrongs for others? No, I don't thinks so, for I like to think I am like my good colleague Raz and have a consience that says "in this matter I can make a difference". Because I was there and I know how "weird" it really was.

As for those who tell me to let it all go (or else), answer me this one. If this was the Catholic Church that I was investigating, you would be supporting me wholeheartedly, but because it is to close for comfort the truth shouldn't be uncovered and the hurts of the past not resolved, please explain why?

Thank you, Raz, for the history. I appreciate your post because as I said I am reading my way through ...how long..almost three years (!) worth of posts. From the outside looking in, I would have to agree with you. (My parents are mostly retired now, so my contact within the mission is limited.) It has been very thought provoking to read the posts here talking about repentance and what true repentance is and isn't. I just wanted you all to know that I am silent no longer, that i hurt for my fellow mks that were abused, and that I support you.

Thank you all for not giving up. It is a long battle. I went to Mamou in the Guinea W Africa run by the C&MA. My parents were with GMU what is now Avant. The abuse I witnessed against my room mate was 60 years ago. Just a couple of years ago I again approached the mission and was told it wasn't their fault. The institutions have become the most important "person" and real people should be willing to sacrifice all. In reality many of these leaders are just protecting their life style of ease. They get a percent of the support raised by those who go to the field. They live on a salary they live in luxury compared to those on the field. Why would they want to give that up. The institutions they control have become their god and they will do anything to protect it. We must tear down these graven images they worship. I am so happy some NTM MKs are tearing these down by taking them to court. Deanna your call to repentance is to late they don't worship the same God you do. Only if their idols are gone will there be any hope that they will actually seek repentance from the real God.

By the way Bemused a child who witnesses abuse has the same long term responses as the child who is abused. For years I did not realize this and did not deal with it. I just attend Penn State's conference on child sexual abuse to represent MK Safety Net. Outside the Christian circles people are realizing that abuse is evil and it must be stopped. Missions must take action and stop just sweeping everything under the rug. We must show them the rug is not big enough to cover their crimes.

I have been off this site for a long time because my job took all my energy but now I am retired and I am back in the battle. I believe our army is getting larger every day and we will win. Hopefully at least some of the missions will wake up and join us.

Hmm ... apparently the singular form is ethos.

Not to be confused with pathos.

By any definition, I'm hanging onto my ethics. My morals. And my integrity.

May God give us strength.

He has!
He will!
Maybe He will even send Bemused and Mrs. to the MKSN Conf!

Yes, we are going in the same direction, kind Sir Bemused.

As for helping me carry my load, well, you already have been doing that. For quite some time.

You are most welcome.

While the silent (but visible) majority wander in the Valley of Don't Care, the audible (but somewhat invisible) minority tramp the Trail of Hope upon the mountain tracks. Sometimes it is good to look down and see how far we have come, every so often it is good to check the condition of ones feet by looking at them, but most of the time it is best to look forward at where the path may lead. And if the path ahead looks untrodden and unmarked, that is because no human has been there before and we may actually be the first pioneers, that future generations will look too and say, "they were brave and had courage".