“Three years ago, I probably would have been asked to leave,” said Williams. “It would have been ruled out of order…but they understood that if they said no to a survivor, survivors have the power, and that would not have been the way of integrity for the Executive Committee. And so that was encouraging to me. And that’s a good step forward.”
Another hopeful aspect of the recent EC meeting was its tone. “There were still people in the Executive Committee meeting,” said Williams, “who just frankly are rude to survivors.” But she believes there was less tolerance for such rudeness this week than there has been in the past and that it was “less comfortable for people to be as vocally mean and as vocally hateful…That was encouraging. It wasn’t enough, but it was encouraging.”
Hannah-Kate Williams on Changes Still Needed
Hannah-Kate Williams did not have a positive view, however, of the EC’s statement of apology, issued Feb. 22, to fellow survivor Jennifer Lyell. “I think it was poorly written,” she said. “I think it’s too little, too late. And I hope it does not set a precedent.”
Lyell has expressed gratitude for the EC’s apology, while also recognizing that other survivors, including Williams herself, are still awaiting for their own resolutions. “I’m glad that the statement means something to [Lyell],” said Williams, “because I think that’s important that she gets what she needs. But I hope that is not the standard for how survivors will be handled.”
Williams explained that she takes issue with the phrase “nonconsensual sexual abuse” in the EC’s statement of apology, pointing out, “There’s no such thing as consensual sexual abuse.” She also noted that even though the EC has apologized for how it failed Lyell, the statement gave no explanation of how the committee is going to avoid such failures in the future. “You said sorry,” said Williams, “but now what? What are you going to do differently?”
One change Williams hopes to see within the SBC is for leaders to address specific instances of sexual abuse instead of generally addressing sexual abuse. “Everyone talks about it in code,” she said. “They’re like, ‘Well, I care for survivors in my church every single day’…That’s good that you do that. But you have to care for the survivors the church harmed.”
As a specific example of what she means, Williams said that in 2019, she and other survivors, including Jules Woodson, Christa Brown, and Tiffany Thigpen, were asked by SBC leaders to document their experiences of abuse within the SBC and send that information to the SBC’s Credentials Committee. This they did, after which “months went by, and the Credentials Committee had the option to present to the Executive Committee whether or not a church should be disfellowshipped,” said Williams. “Instead, the Credentials Committee came back to us survivors and said, ‘Sorry, there’s really nothing we can do.’ And then they disfellowshipped other churches over theological differences…and they did that after telling us we had to send all of the details of our worst moments to them. And so that’s a problem.”
Even so, Hannah-Kate Williams is hopeful that change in the SBC is possible. “I don’t speak for survivors because everyone has their own voice and their own experience,” said Williams. When she looks to the future, however, “My hope is that I serve a God who changes hearts and brings people together. And so when I’m in a room and I’m having to say hard things [to others] that feel like we’re in opposition of each other, I am so comforted knowing that 100 years from now, I will be in heaven with Jesus and…I will likely see a lot of the people in the same room if they turn to the Lord. And so that’s my hope.”
