MK forum

Because it may be easier to remain silent rather than to affirmative lie, perhaps either NTM or an investigative third party needs to send out a letter/questionnaire demanding an affirmative response to certain questions. I would recommend that this letter be sent to each missionary individually (separate responses demanded from husband and wife). Continued membership with NTM would in part be contingent on the timely receipt of a response.

(1) Are you aware of any current member(s) of NTM, or any affiliate of NTM, who has engaged, or who has been alleged to have engaged, in any physically abusive or sexually abusive behavior, at any time, whether prior to or during membership with NTM or one of its affiliates? YES or NO (note that an affirmative answer to this question does not require first hand knowledge of any relevant facts)

(2) If contacted by a member of xxxxx, would you be willing to disclose the names of all persons implicated by question 1 as well as the general nature of any abuse or alleged abuse?

(3) Apart from yourself, are you aware of any current member(s) of NTM, or any affiliate of NTM, who either knew or had reason to know of any of the abuse implicated by question 1? YES / NO / Not Applicable

4) If contacted by a member of xxxxx, would you be willing to disclose the names of all persons implicated by question 3 as well as the general nature of any abuse or alleged abuse? YES / NO / Not Applicable

(5) Did any current member(s) of NTM or one of its affiliates encourage you (or otherwise make demands of you), either directly or indirectly, not to report any abuse implicated by question 1 to the relevant authorities? YES / NO / Not Applicable

6) If contacted by a member of xxxxx, would you be willing to disclose the names of all persons implicated by question 5 as well as the general nature of any abuse or alleged abuse? YES / NO / Not Applicable

(7) Are you aware of any field policy, situation, or methodology that you feel gives rise to an undue level of risk that either physical or sexual abuse may occur or that if such abuse does occur would not allow for a sufficient means of quickly eliminating the risk of a repeat offense ? If so, please provide a general description of the policy, situation, or methodology.

(8) Would you be willing to submit to a lie detector test, administered by yyyyyyyyyy, to test the truthfulness of any answers contained in this questionnaire?

(9) Are you aware of any information, the disclosure of which may prevent future physical or sexual abuse from occurring?

There are smarter people than I that could formulate some questions demanding affirmative answers and who could determine the scope of questions that should be asked in this format. Certain answers may give rise to immediate termination of membership with NTM or other actions. Perhaps more specific questions should be asked in some contexts as "abuse" can be subjective. For example, "have you (or are you aware of any current member who has) ever spanked the child of a fellow missionary (a) in excess of x whacks, or (b) with the child's pants and/or underwear down?". Some of these question may require follow-up question to determine the context and surrounding circumstances.

May I suggest a questionaire go out to ALL MKs with a list of questions regarding their particular experiences? Does leadership at headquarters really want to know? Do they really want to clean it up? (Face the truth about their people who harmed children in God's name?) Do they really want to get us the help we need for healing?

Not a bad idea. Perhaps an online questionairre and/or survey would be the most administratively feasible.

There really should be a means for anonymous communications with NTM as well.

Let's get all of the information, feedback, and ideas on the table.

Former members of NTM should be included in this mailing list.
Good idea to contact all MKs.
I would suggest not limiting abuse to physical and sexual - add emotional at least.

I agree - questionarres could go out to former members as well. Really, anybody with relevant information.

I guess the reason I limited my original pool of respondents was because there is only one pool of people that can be FORCED to answer these questions - and that is current NTM members. What I am trying to break through is some of the silence within NTM itself. A questionairre boxes members with certain knowledge into a corner, because the options are either to (a) lie, (b) give the requested information, or (c) say nothing and be terminated. I'm operating under the assumption that, for some people, it is generally more uncomfortable to affirmatively lie than to tell the truth. But, it is often more comfortable to say nothing rather than to tell the truth. Essentially eliminating the option to say nothing (without termination anyway), changes the comfort analysis. Wouldn't be perfect, but I'm sure it would yield some needed information.

With all non-members, a questionairre does not take away the option to remain silent, so it does not serve the purpose of forcing a response. Having said that, MKs, former members, and current members should all still have a forum for the voluntary transmittal of relevant information.

If this idea moves forward, this could be done on Survey Monkey, online. It's very cheap, easy to use, and the results are valid. Only email addresses would be needed.