First let me say that no amount of any protection (education, policy, etc...) is going to completely eradicate sex abuse from the mission. That is impossible this side of heaven. However, what I believe is needed in NTM is a paradigm change that places the value of the MKs and their family relationships above the value of the "lost souls". (That's heresy!! -did he really just say that?) Yes I did. Until that new paradigm is in place, everything falls apart. No education, policy, external monitoring and auditing, etc...will fix this problem. With that in place though, with MKs and their families being treasured the way Christ treasured them, then all that will naturally fall into place. Education, policy, best practices, audits, will be just other layers of protection that support the mission's paradigm and practice that MKs are priority number one, even above lost souls. If practice of that paradigm were in place, NTM would have many more missionaries on the field overall, with healthy families and healthy kids. It would be an attractive mission to prospective missionaries, not the mission it is now that hits so many people's "ick factor".
|