Messengers in Anaheim approved what was considered a friendly amendment to the first recommendation for the ARITF. Instead of operating through recommendations produced by Guidepost as in the original language, ARITF members would do so in accordance with “best practices in keeping with Southern Baptist church polity.”
On June 8, Send Relief announced it will be providing $3 million to fund the first year of work related to the SATF recommendations, with another $1 million toward the establishment of a survivor care fund to provide trauma care for survivors and trauma training for pastors.
The $3 million will come from Send Relief undesignated funds and not Cooperative Program, Annie Armstrong Easter Offering or Lottie Moon Christmas Offering funds, said Send Relief President Bryant Wright, International Mission Board President Paul Chitwood and North American Mission Board President Kevin Ezell in a joint statement.
The $1 million gift will come from Send Relief funds designated for its ongoing mission to protect children and families.
Whatever the ARITF produces, Barber said, will then be placed before Southern Baptists for a response. The ARITF will convene for an initial retreat with the outgoing Sexual Abuse Task Force before beginning its work.
“The authority to adopt the Task Force’s recommendations will rest with the messenger body of the Southern Baptist Convention,” Barber said. “The ability to apply the resources and recommendations that this process produces resides with the various autonomous churches that cooperate through the Southern Baptist Convention.
“We can only be successful as we earn their confidence and supply their needs. I am confident that this task force is well equipped to do just that.”
This article originally appeared here.
