Yes, this "sending church" stuff has me really riled up.
The Recommendations Panel would make a suggestion like "a letter will be sent to the member's supporting churches advising them of these allegations and outcomes", and the EB would change it to, "NTM USA is notifying the member's current sending church of the findings related to him".
And in the case of Frank Parker, the recommendation from the panel was, "a letter should be sent to all supporting churches and individual supporters to make them aware of the situation with an apology for the years intervening during which this information was not shared", and the response from NTM was, "NTM USA was asked to inform his sending church of this change of status, however, in earlier years, sending churches were not identified as they are today. The sending church information for Frank Parker is not available".
So in the Parker case, no supporters from any era have been sent any sort of notification at all?? What a lame and shady excuse. All that is saying is, back in our day, no particular single church was specified on a missionary's personnel information with the term "sending church". (Note the dodgy vocabulary: "in earlier years, sending churches were not identified as they are today".) We used the term "home church", and I am quite certain that NTM knew which church was my "home church". (It was the one that sent me the largest monthly donation.)
New Tribes missionaries currently have to raise thousands of dollars per month in support. Without a doubt, most of them will piece that amount together from scores of sources: churches, individuals, all over the country and even abroad. There is a connection between these supporters and the missionaries. Often a very personal one. Missionaries spend time in these churches and these homes, and correspondence goes back and forth, and many prayers are lifted.
To think that only ONE single so-called "sending church" should be notified "of findings" (not even "of allegations and outcomes") is beyond preposterous. If I were supporting a missionary in any way, either through my church, or as an individual, I would be insulted if I was not deemed worthy to be notified if someone I cared that much about had hurt children.
This is insulting, unrealistic, and unacceptable. It seems to me, yet again, just one more desperate attempt to hide the ugly truth from the general public. I simply cannot fathom how NTM leaders can, with any good conscience, think they have done their due diligence when they notify only one church of "the findings" of these investigations into the sexual, physical and emotional abuse of innocent children.
Unacceptable!
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