Photo by Billy on Unsplash
A few weeks ago, I shared my perspective on how the leadership of The Austin Stone is complicit in creating a culture that allowed former pastor Aaron Ivey to commit abuse against at least four males starting in 2011. You can read my article here;
Aaron Ivey — Another Case for Why Evangelicalism Needs to be Torn Down
After having multiple conversations with former staff and congregants who reached out to share their trauma stories at the Stone, I wasn't sure if I'd write about this topic again. However, I randomly received a suggestion from Instagram regarding a post from Johnna Harris on Threads. The post was simply an announcement that the newest Bodies Behind the Bus episode had been released.
What caught my eye was the episode title, "MinistrySafe & Austin Stone." You can find out how to listen to the episode here. Once I saw the title, two thoughts immediately came to mind.
- I needed to listen to the episode.
- As a former staff member and partner at the Stone, if Bodies Behind the Bus spoke out in support of the victims of Aaron Ivey's abuse, I would need to consider using my voice to support and amplify their message.
Johnna and I Have Crossed Paths on Another Church Abuse Case
For context, Johnna is one of the hosts of Bodies Behind the Bus, a podcast that focuses on trauma and abuse experienced at the hands of Acts 29 and SBC churches. I don't know if she remembers me. Still, a few years ago, when I spoke out against abuse I experienced and witnessed taking place at Hope Community Church (also in Austin) while serving on staff, Johnna was one of the first people on social media to support the congregants at Hope who were willing to speak out.
There was a window where I tried to go radio silent and not talk about Hope. I didn't want to keep reliving that experience, and I needed to prioritize caring for my family as our spiritual lives crashed into a million pieces. However, as congregants from Hope continued to speak out, they were consistently gaslit and given ultimatums by Hope's elders.
I decided to break my silence when I learned about the elders' response and how congregants were treated. For months, I was blasted on social media, mainly by pastors and elders. However, a small group supported the victims of Hope. Johnna was one of the few people who believed our story and spoke out, supporting us.
I share this to be transparent that Johnna and I have previously crossed paths. She was a source of hope and strength in a season where hope and strength were hard to come by. As someone Johnna advocated for, and also a former staff member at The Stone, when I saw she was also speaking out about what happened at The Stone, I knew the least I could do was use my voice to support her work.
Context on the Nature of MinistrySafe and The Stone's Relationship
If you have listened to the podcast episode, I don't think I'm bringing anything new to the conversation beyond my perspective as a former staff member at The Stone. If you haven't heard the episode, please do. I hope this article helps provide clarity on the podcast.
The parts of the episode I won’t address discusses:
- The founding of MinistrySafe
- Special guest Christi Braggs's personal experience with MinistrySafe
- A partnership between MinistrySafe and Church Mutual.
For helpful context on what we’ll cover below, here is what you need to know about the sections mentioned above.
What is MinistrySafe?
MinistrySafe was founded by legal professionals and sexual abuse experts, Gregory Love and Kimberlee Norris. Through their litigation practice representing victims of child sexual abuse, they recognized a vital need to equip churches and ministry programs to better protect children from sexual abuse. (from the MinistrySafe website)
- What's worth noting about this statement is that both Love and Norris represented victims as litigators. Still, the current need MinistrySafe meets is to equip churches and ministry programs to better protect children from sexual abuse.
- The phrasing can be misleading, so let me state what is being said plainly. As lawyers, Love and Norris did represent victims of child sexual abuse. However, MinistrySafe does not represent victims; it represents churches.
I'll bring this up again below, but I want to mention here, too, that MinistrySafe does not represent or directly help victims of sexual abuse because they represent churches. For example, when a child is sexually abused in Church A, MinistrySafe is there to provide legal counsel to Church A, not the victims of the abuse that took place in Church A.
It would be a conflict of interest if MinistrySafe advocated for the victims as they represent the church under which the abuse happened.
This context reveals the nature of the relationship between MinistrySafe and The Stone. MinistrySafe exists to provide legal counsel to the church, in order to protect the church from repercussions. As a former staff member and one-time Children's Director at The Stone, I can personally attest to this being the case.
To be fair, MinistrySafe trainings are helpful; they raise awareness around signs of abuse to look out for, best practices to avoid creating an environment where abuse can occur, and what to do when it is reported. These are all good things. At the same time, all these measures are taught to protect churches, which isn't inherently wrong.
However, the reality is that MinistrySafe is paid by the church to help structure policies and protect the church's brand, not to care for victims. This reality becomes especially worrisome as we unpack what The Stone said about MinistrySafe’s role in the Aaron Ivey tragedy.
Examining The Austin Stone's Statement
With the above context, let's look at a specific section of The Stone's statement about Aaron Ivey's abuse that caught the eye of Johnna and the other speakers on the Bodies Behind the Bus podcast. Below is the statement in full:
The specific lines we’ll focus on are:
"We rigorously train all our staff and leaders to prevent this with our partners at MinistrySafe. We are devastated to learn that those measures have been circumvented. MinistrySafe has been informed and will walk with us to ensure that we do everything possible to serve the victims and those who have been sinned against."
There are three points about this portion of the statement that are mentioned in the podcast that I want to highlight and offer my perspective on:
- This statement is disingenuous: let's call a spade a spade here. As discussed in detail above, MinistrySafe does not represent or offer care for victims of church sexual abuse. The Stone will not walk with MinistrySafe to do everything possible to serve the victims because it would be a conflict of interest for MinistrySafe, and they do not offer victim care.
- The statement waters down crimes that have been committed: Notice again, in the last part of the section, I quote that the church will do everything possible to serve the victims and those who have been sinned against. I can tell you doing the minimum to serve the victims isn't yet being done. What Aaron did, based on what we know, is a criminal act. Specific crimes have been committed against a minor, not 'sin' in some ethereal sense. This isn't like Aaron had some inappropriate thoughts and confessed them. Actual laws that come with jail sentences have been broken, and instead of owning that, the church spiritualizes the incident and waters it down.
- The statement gives platitudes, but the church, and most importantly, the victims, need action: In the end, the church is committing to nothing specific. I mentioned this in my original article, but it is worth saying again here: the church very much lays the total weight of the abuse that transpired on the shoulders of Aaron while passively removing all blame from themselves.
Based on this statement The Stone is already failing the victims of Aaron Ivey. In one paragraph, they have been dishonest about the role MinistrySafe can play in supporting the victims; they’ve watered down the crimes committed against a child, and instead of giving us tangible action, they’ve given us “Jesus will be glorified through this tragedy” rhetoric. These victims deserve better. The Stone needs to do better.
My honest question to Stone leadership is, “what specific actions are you going to take and what resources will you offer to support these victims?” As it stands, it appears the only counsel and resources you’ve shared are to serve you in denying culpability and avoiding litigation.
Furthermore, based on my experience having spent a decade with these leaders, this statement is likely the extent of the action they intend to take to care for the victims. Changes will likely come, but they will be to tighten the hatches to protect the brand. If the church can help it they won’t make another public statement about this. If their hand is forced, it will be more PR spin to separate the church from responsibility and erase Aaron from our collective memory.
Having spent weeks hearing from trauma victims who have been deeply wounded under the ‘care’ of The Stone, this statement is tremendously discouraging. I’m discouraged for the victims of Aaron Ivey. As far as I know, the Stone has yet to apologize to these victims, and the words in the statement are dishonest and hollow. I’m discouraged because if these four victims aren’t getting support and justice from The Stone’s leadership, neither will all the other victims wounded by this institution.
What Steps Can Be Taken?
Here are multiple things mentioned in the podcast that anyone can do to hold The Stone accountable for doing better than their best in supporting these four victims and any other victims that may come to light. I've experienced the “best” support these elders can offer, and their best isn't nearly good enough. Let me say it again, all victims of The Stone deserve better. The leaders of the church need to do better.
- Anyone with a relationship with The Stone should speak out. The only way change will come is through the people speaking out, forcing transparency, and holding accountable specific actions that support victims and not just cover the church brand.
- If you give financially to The Stone - advocate for setting aside funds to care for victims from a third-party resource. I know there's the Austin Stone Counseling Center, but that isn't a third party. The counseling center is just as reliant on their paycheck coming from the church as MinistrySafe is.
- If you're a Partner - Call your campus staff and elders and have them share the church's plan to care for these victims. The way the church calls you to live up to a set of standards as a partner, you should hold leadership to even higher standards; that expectation cuts both ways.
- Former Staff and Partners - So many of us have stories of trauma experienced at The Stone that this tragedy has resurfaced. Let's use our platforms and voices to ensure these four men don't have to struggle and go through processing their trauma on their own.
- Everyone - One of the most incredible tricks churches use to deflect responsibility is to argue that 'church autonomy' means what happens in a church is only that church's business. This is complete and utter nonsense, especially when crimes have been committed, laws have been broken, and children have been hurt. We need to use our voices to know what the church will do to offer long-term care and support to care for these victims throughout their healing journey.
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Thanks for stopping by and reading this article! If my work has served you or you want to contribute to creating authentic faith connections, consider becoming an Authentic Faith Advocate.
Thanks for stopping by and reading this article! If my work has served you or you want to contribute to creating authentic faith connections, consider becoming an Authentic Faith Advocate.