David Orr is the pastor of St. John’s United Church of Christ in Holgate, Ohio, and a Dove’s Nest board member. April is Child Abuse Prevention Month. You can visit the Dove’s Nest website for more resources for your congregation to use this month. 

Like most pastors, the protection of children is not one of my favorite topics. When I preach or teach about it someone invariably asks, “Why do we have to talk about that?”

Two recent experiences underscored for me the importance of “talking about it” and of the child protection work of Dove’s Nest.

A couple of months ago the pastor of two small churches in our rural area was suddenly arrested and extradited to another state. He faced 10 felony charges related to the sexual abuse of a girl in his previous congregation. Although he had left that church under a cloud of suspicion, the news came as a complete shock to both of his current congregations. They were left grieving the loss of their shepherd and, at the same time, wondering if he might have offended in our community.

How could such a thing happen? Had the denomination failed to do its job? Had the congregations neglected recommended steps? We certainly need to talk about it.

This morning Rachel came into the church office. “Pastor, please pray for my sister, Ann. Our family tries to talk with her about faith but she won’t listen. She is 71 years old and doesn’t want anything to do with God.”

I promised I would pray for Ann.  But then I asked, “Why do you suppose she is so closed to God?”

“Oh, because when we were teenagers we went to a church conference. One of the ministers there tried to do things with her. Of course, I didn’t find out until many years later. She was afraid to tell anyone. Who would have believed her?”

Nearly 60 years have passed and Ann is still closed to God. How might her life have been different if church was a place where she could “talk about it?”