Journeys Toward Healing

After an investigation, the ministry has much work to do for healing and reconciliation, including humbly acknowledging that some of this may take a long time. An effective investigation should focus on uncovering the truth and ensuring recovery for those harmed, rather than simply managing risk. This journey demands justice, supports victims, and fosters an environment of repentance and reconciliation. Informed and thoughtful actions after an investigation (or judicial process) can ensure that justice is served, victims are supported, and the community can begin the healing process.

Serving and Supporting Victims

An investigation itself is not therapy and should never be treated as such, though it should be conducted sensitively. Those who have been harmed need ongoing support for recovery. This might involve counseling, time off, or other resources to aid in the healing process. A ministry may facilitate a journey of healing through pastoral care, public acknowledgment of harm, and tangible support measures. Victim support centers can be of great help. (Even if there have not been findings of abuse, there may be harms that need to be addressed.)

Repentance and Restoration

A first step before any type of restoration is church discipline. Offenders should receive fair but just discipline, and their misconduct should not be overlooked or minimized.

Ultimately, we hope that offenders will repent and be spiritually restored. But this process takes much wisdom. Offenders may or may not be telling the truth about their spiritual walk. Even if they are, those harmed need to be kept safe. Beyond addressing individual cases, ministries must implement systemic safeguards to prevent future harm, ensuring lasting safety and accountability. Certain offenses permanently bar offenders from serving in certain roles. For instance, current standards are that child sexual abuse should be a permanent bar to serving in ministry, and in many contexts from even being present around children. Spiritual restoration does not require positional restoration.

Needed Communications

After the investigation, the ministry must consider needed communications. Those harmed deserve some kind of update, but what can be said has legal limitations (such as the confidentiality of personnel actions and personnel files). Ministries should strive to communicate in a way that prioritizes transparency and accountability, particularly for those harmed, while balancing legal concerns. Ministries must also be careful to avoid defamation because investigations are not a judicial proceeding, and the facts are substantiated to a lower standard than that required of juries.

Ministry members may need a certain level of communication as well. Communication may be needed to determine if anyone else has been harmed. Depending on the level of public scandal, some type of report for the public may be appropriate.

However, a policy of total transparency (such as in a tell–all report), that reveals confidential information to those who aren’t stakeholders, can be more titillating than helpful. Anticipating a tell–all Report will also inhibit candor from people when an investigator interviews them, and will also inhibit candor in the Report.

Ministries must be just and ethically responsible when working with insurance providers and legal counsel.

Reconciliation Between Parties

Reconciliation cannot be rushed. It is not a quick “over and done” process, and it may be a long time before those harmed feel ready for any interaction.

Mediation and Christian conciliation can be powerful tools on this journey. Restorative justice approaches can be healing. Apologies, when offered correctly, can restore relationships and lead to reconciliation.

For those who fear to engage in reconciliation because of possible legal liability, case studies have shown that admitting errors restoratively, apologizing, and compensating victims can cut lawsuits against organizations in half and promote a culture of learning from mistakes. More importantly, it is the right thing to do.. Reconciliation, when possible, must be entirely voluntary for participants. Those harmed should be treated with respect, without expectation or pressure from the ministry. Often a trained third-party conciliator is the best option to lead the process. When reconciliation is possible, it involves trust, forgiveness, and setting boundaries for potential future contact. Reconciliation may be possible with some stakeholders (like with the ministry) and not with others (like with an unrepentant offender).

Conclusion

When there has been abuse, people are not healed overnight. But a humble commitment from the ministry to justice, healing, and the restoration of trust can create long–term healing.