12 Questions You Should Ask Your Pastors
If a pastor argues that reporting child sexual abuse is a matter of personal judgment, the congregation has the biblical duty to ask further questions. It is essential not only to ascertain whether it’s safe to remain at the church but to also ensure that all vulnerable people are protected.
The Danger of Inadequate Child Protection Policies
Inadequate child protection policies are often more dangerous than the absence of a policy because nominal policies allow church members to believe that they are safe when they are actually in grave danger.
An Introduction to Child Liberation Theology
In today’s world that sees children as having no rights themselves, but rather sees parents as almighty rulers over their property, Jesus’s point stands out. By lifting up children, Jesus really is making the last first. He is making clear that children deserve the same rights, and bear the same value, as adults.
Suffer the Children: Developing Effective Church Policies on Child Maltreatment
Although churches, synagogues, temples and other places of worship are increasingly implementing policies to protect children from abuse, the policies adopted are often inadequate and of limited value. This article includes ten concrete suggestions for faith institutions that will aid in developing and implementing policies more likely to keep children safe.
Protests, Apologies, and Zaccheus
The role of the surface apology is not repentance or restitution. The purpose of a surface apology is twofold: to make the person you hurt go away and to absolve you of your own guilt.
So how do you issue a sincere apology and work towards restitution if you have wronged someone? And conversely, what type of apology and restitution should you expect if you are wronged?
Dear LGBTQ+ Survivors
We want you to know that we are a safe space for LGBTQ+ survivors and we value your stories and your partnership as we learn and grow. We are proud to stand alongside our LGBTQ+ survivors and support them as we all heal from our experiences at CFC.
The Quiverfull Families Next Door: Part 4
Because Quiverfull communities like CFC preach patriarchy as the only biblical framework, individuals who challenge the gender hierarchy must be labeled rebellious and sinful.
The Quiverfull Families Next Door: Part 3
Homeschooling can be a dangerous tool in the hands of abusers and those who believe they have a God-given right to exert total control over another human being. Children who are homeschooled have very little access to mandated reporters. Sometimes homeschooled children are also “home-churched,” further isolating them, or participate in churches where abuse or neglect is endorsed or will go unreported.
Broken Arrows: Abuse is not love
CFC explicitly teaches that physical violence, emotional neglect, and isolation are necessary tools if loving parents want to make their children become faithful disciples of Jesus.
News Conference: Michelle’s Statement
Church should be a place where children are safe. Where children are protected and where the evils of the world stop at the door. Pastor, elders and leaders are the gate keepers. They have an obligation to protect the least of these. During this divisive political climate it's important to stress that reporting CSA is not now nor has it ever been a political issue.
Broken Arrows: Our Bodies
When parents deny children basic human rights of bodily autonomy, agency, and privacy, their children learn that their bodies are not their own but always under the authority of someone else. The practice of deliberately humiliating and breaking a child’s spirit lays harmful groundwork for their future relationships as adults, teaching them that love means submitting to abusers who claim authority over their bodies.
Broken Arrows: Obedience
Training children to respond to instructions with nothing but immediate and cheerful obedience (under threat of physical and emotional harm) leaves no room for a child to question whether the instructed activity is safe for them.
Training children to obey adults without questioning the why behind the command prepares them to do the same with any authority figure in the future.
Broken Arrows: High Control Religious Communities and Abuse
The Broken Arrows series names and identifies the layers of harm contained in CFC’s approach to child training. This type of child training sets children up for abuse by teaching them erroneous beliefs about themselves and their place in the world.
We are all complicit
One of the most complicated truths to acknowledge is that we have harmed others, yet this is an essential step in the journey to wholeness. There is freedom in acknowledging that we have been complicit in harm. It allows us to seek forgiveness, offer restitution, and find grace for ourselves and for others.
Rethinking Discipline
As parents emerge from CFC, one of their common laments is that they spanked their children. At the same time, learning how to parent without fear and physical pain can be daunting if that is all that you have ever known. If you have been spanking your children but would like to stop, here are some places to start.
Counting the Cost
For those of us who still identify as Christians, we understand that our lives are dedicated to Christ. We understand that Christ calls us to seek justice, even when it’s uncomfortable. We understand that our faith often puts us at odds with political parties. Our faith calls us to support the people around us – we help them move with our pick-up trucks and fifteen-passenger vans, we bring meals and take care of their older children when they have a baby, we lend them our generator when their power is out.
But there is a hidden cost that we didn’t count on: the cost of leaving Christian Fellowship Center.
Book Review: A Church Called Tov
In A Church Called Tov, by Scot McKnight and Laura Barringer, it’s all about the root and the soil. It’s all about character and culture and what is allowed to thrive and what is tamped down into compliance and told to hush because ‘we don’t talk about such things,’ ‘that’s gossip’, ‘you need to trust that we as leadership have this in hand.’
This book may not be for everyone, but it’s pretty darn close.
Understanding Domestic Violence
Domestic Violence impacts every community regardless of race, culture, or socioeconomic status. On average, nearly twenty people per minute are physically abused by an intimate partner in the United States. One in four women and one in nine men experience some form of severe intimate partner violence at some point in their life.
Librarians are the best
If you’re interested in a book-length exploration of a certain topic but you don’t have the financial resources to purchase your own book, never fear! The librarians at Potsdam Public Library have purchased many books from our resources list and they can be requested from anywhere in the North County Library System.
Researching the effect of trauma
It is projected that people who have experienced trauma are up to seven times more likely to develop chronic health conditions like diabetes, hypertension, cardiovascular disease, and even cancer.
Trauma is more likely to cause health complications even in people who maintain a healthy diet, stay active, and do not indulge in drugs and alcohol. Young people are more at risk for the effects of trauma specifically because our brains are still developing and will not be fully developed until age 25.