Childhood Sexual Abuse
All mental health professionals are mandated to report knowledge of child sexual abuse to their states’ Child Protective Services or the police…or both. Clergy are also increasingly mandated in many states, though in some there is an exception for knowledge gained in the confessional (something that rarely exists in Protestant circles). Regardless of potential legal mandates, church leaders must also consider the moral and spiritual factors that exist. It is critical that churches know when and whom to report to and have the humility to know that they are not trained in forensics or criminal investigation. No church would presume to investigate a murder. Yet, many do presume they are qualified to investigate the life-altering crime of child sexual abuse. That is a failure to obey the law of the land (Romans 1:1-2) and, frankly, arrogant. The Church is desperately needed by the abused, faithful truth tellers, as well as the ones who weep with those who weep… but not as an investigator.
Effects of Child Sexual Abuse
Though not all sexual abuse is irreparably traumatic—it is always damaging and causes suffering. Abuse that begins at a young age and is chronic causes life-shaping damage to malleable children, for they have been marinated in the acid of premature sexual exposure. The assault is happening to a child who is, by definition, limited, dependent, vulnerable, and malleable. Sexual abuse of a child is, of course, often physical in excruciating ways. It also carries emotional, relational, mental, and spiritual baggage, impacting development again and again.
As a child, your options are very limited. You have few resources, little knowledge, no support, and no physical strength. And in many cases, you are dependent on your abusers for food and housing. Those who should, in fact, rescue, protect, and comfort are the very ones delivering the blows to your personhood. The betrayal is enormous. You are left with whatever you can find internally. You desperately need an oasis. How will you get that when repeatedly being abused? You must find a “narcotic”… a way to numb the pain. You find a way to self-protect. You find a way to leave. Whatever it takes, that is what you do. The only other option is insanity. Hence, we find drug and alcohol addictions, self-injury, risk-taking behaviors, repeated abusive relationships, and overwhelming anxiety, dysregulated emotions and dissociation. Sexual abuse also has a profound spiritual impact. God is viewed through the lens of abuse. Who He is and what He thinks about the survivor is understood based on who daddy is, or grandfather, or youth pastor, or whomever. Victims have learned about love, trust, hope, and faith through the experience of sexual abuse. They have also learned about the unseen through the visible. They have been taught lies.
God’s call to the Christian world—mental health professionals and the Church—is to label this ungodly, life and soul-damaging evil by its right name. It is not a mistake. It is not poor judgment. It is evil done to a child and God’s response is that death would be an appropriate option for the perpetrator (see Matthew 18:6). To minimize that is to step out of God’s truth. Truth is to be spoken to both victim and perpetrator. To fail to do so is a failure of love. Our task is to live out before them the character of God Himself in the flesh. It is to follow in the footsteps of our Savior who boldly spoke the truth, who welcomed the children and extended Himself as a refuge to the wounded and afraid. It has long been my prayer that instead of protecting our institutions, reputations and wealth, that we, in the body of Christ, would follow our heads faithfully in caring for His little ones. Failing to do so is failing perpetrators, victims, and God.
This article originally appeared in Christian Counseling Today, Vol. 23 No. 1. Christian Counseling Today is the flagship publication of the American Association of Christian Counselors. To learn more about the AACC, click here.
Endnotes
1 https://www.cdc.gov/violenceprevention/pdf/childmaltreatment-facts-at-a-glance.pdf
2 https://www.nsopw.gov/en-US/Education/FactsStatistics?Aspx
3 https://www.jimhopper.com/pdf/holmes_&_slap_1998.pdf
4 https://www.childmolestationprevention.org/pdfs/study.pdf
6 http://www.azquotes.com/author/17776-Gavin_de_Becker
