MK forum

Greetings victims and concerned citizens,

I am writing this email to publicly stand in solidarity with the victims who have suffered all forms of abuse from NTM missionaries. I have lost all faith in the mission and have no hope that they will properly handle this ongoing tragedy. There is a colossal lack of communication, sympathy and understanding of what is the legally, morally and ethically right thing to do. The GRACE report helped me put soooo much into perspective regarding NTM and my own personal life. Like most of my MK friends that I have talked with since the release of that fateful document, I have cried for those who suffered the evil that went unabated, sometimes only a few hundred yards away from where I lived on the mission field.

Don't get me wrong, I have friends and a few family members still in NTM who are really good people and serve God faithfully, but the organization as a whole is broken, and in my humble opinion, no longer worthy to carry the message of Christ to the nations.

I am a product of New Tribes Mission. I had a relatively good experience growing up on the mission field, but I can't fight this feeling that I was one of the so called "lucky" ones. I never suffered abuse at the hands of a perpetrator, but I think it goes without saying, that everyone under the organization suffered spiritual abuse to varying degrees.

Although my memories of my days growing up on the mission field are fond, my respect for NTM as an organization no longer is. They are tarnished beyond repair. I don't wish NTM any ill will, but I do warn everyone I know who asks me about them, to steer clear, and that pains me greatly.

I weep and pray for all those who's lives have been damaged by the evil of abuse!
May God heal your brokenness.

Sincerely,

Dan Bailey
MK East Brasil
Class of 1990

Bravo, Dan!!!

I'm sure you've noticed that I'm in the same boat as you are even if I've not spelled it out so explicitly. Until many more of us come out boldly in this direction and let the NTM leadership know exactly how we now feel, I don't think they're going to get it, and maybe not even then.

Jerry Bacon
MK East Brasil
Class of 1973

Thank you, Dan and Jerry, for your courage.

Comments have been made about the lack of masculine participation on this site, but there are actually several men who have played very significant roles here. I am deeply grateful for the representation from both genders and several parts of the world.

It would be a relief if our boldness would cause NTM leadership to finally understand, and change their course in a major way. But I, like Dan, have lost all faith in the mission, and have no hope they will properly handle this ongoing tragedy.

Some days I wonder why I even continue to keep up the pressure, because truly I have no hope of seeing an appropriate response.

But I can't seem to back down or go away. So I am still here.

Rachel Schlatter Steffen
MK Thailand
Class of 1969

Hello Boys, nice to see you two prodigals back That's me that keeps commenting about the lack of testosterone about this place, well commenting when I'm here. Keep popping out for a bit of the old rehab, you know. Been sober for a few months now and aiming to stay that way.
Nice to see you three are brave and put your real names, that is cool. Me? nah, we've got Crossview Australian down here and they play a nasty little game of making threats when they are poked for the truth, so I'll just stick to being Aussie for a bit longer. Anyway I'm still trying to find out who I am, if you know what I mean.
Right, I'll go and get the fatted calf in, who wants french fries and salad?

Aussie
MK and Alcoholic

I like my new name "Bemused", I choose it myself and it doesn't come with the baggage of my real name. I carried some shame and guilt with the real name. I felt embarrassed by my MK past, because so much of it made little sense and the people who had been used along the way to support a life that I didn't like. I also felt I'd dragged along some of the hurt of the MK years into my adult life and there had been people hurt by myself, for which I am aggrieved.
So becoming Bemused was like being "Born Again", a chance to in some small way put behind me the past and yet to accept it was what was given me as my lot in life. It was an opportunity to write my socks off and hope it made some sense to whoever had the misfortune to read it and even be of use to the occasional weary fellow traveller on this strange road. It was also a chance to finally get rid of the last shackles of guilt and fear that lingered.
So that is who I am.

MK Bemused
PNG 70s and 80s
Escaped before graduating

To clarify: no one should feel under any obligation to give their name .... please don't feel pressure to do so.

I think for a lot of us, the anonymity offered here gave us courage to begin revealing our true feelings. Unlike on Facebook, our identities can be hidden here, and we have various reasons for doing so.

I think pretty much everyone who is curious, knows who I am by now. So I have nothing to lose.

But this does not obligate anyone else to be anyone other than the names we use here, which are now closely connected with personalities, histories and avatars.

I like it this way.

Thanks Raz. Doesn't matter who some of us really are, we were just so and so's kid anyway and when we got home some of our parents just dropped us off their radar because we didn't live up to their expectations. It's really nauseating talking to your parents and all they ever seem to talk about is how they have heard from their missionary friends and that their kids are doing so well because they are back on the field with NTM and when you ask about their other kids they don't know because they just dropped off the radar too. Then you figure, why bother with your parents, because all they ever seem to want to talk about is the good old days on the field and they seem to completely forget that they were treated like shit too. Yeah, they never mention that to their supporters do they!!!!! And it goes on and on and on, till one day you realise you have nothing in common with your parents any more, in fact you're just a big embarrassment because you didn't go back and do the missionary thing, so you just get together for Christmas sometimes and funerals.
Then you're parents get old and expect that you are going to take care of them. You've got to be joking, after decades of being off the radar, suddenly you are expected to turn back up on the scene and cater to their every need!!!!!!!!!

Bah!

Well, I still look for approval in everything I do, and to just be seen and appreciated. I have tried so hard to believe that NTM will do the right thing but alas it hasn't happened. A back ground of neglect, hate and punishment, God's Grace wasn't seen.

dbarney
Tambo 60 - 71 (reminds me of a tomb stone)
class of '73 but escaped