Thread by @futuristguy

@tripleoxymoron @annakeith @Holly4Hope @1SHeRA1 @HunterCrowder6 @ERLC @MattChandler74 @villagechurchtx @wademullen @jdahlmd IMO this is why civil suits against church's corporation can be fitting action on systemic abuse. Corporation is separate "person" legally w/ institution designed to protect individuals who are in it. So, hold the entity's assets accountable when responsible parties refuse to be.

@tripleoxymoron @annakeith @Holly4Hope @1SHeRA1 @HunterCrowder6 @ERLC @MattChandler74 @villagechurchtx @wademullen @jdahlmd We abuse survivors witness much duplicity from Xn institution leaders/managers. They play whichever card - biblical "church" of people, or 501(c)3 corporation of protections - suits their current advantage (i.e., requires submission from us, denies responsibility for them). /1

@tripleoxymoron @annakeith @Holly4Hope @1SHeRA1 @HunterCrowder6 @ERLC @MattChandler74 @villagechurchtx @wademullen @jdahlmd "The church is people, the body of Christ together" -- but sign this legal contract membership covenant to prove you're a part of us.

Have a complaint about the organization or its leaders? "Don't sue your brothers in Christ!" And remember that covenant? Mandatory mediation. /2

@tripleoxymoron @annakeith @Holly4Hope @1SHeRA1 @HunterCrowder6 @ERLC @MattChandler74 @villagechurchtx @wademullen @jdahlmd If you look at what's underneath many of the call-outs & challenges from abuse survivors to such corporation-church systems, it's asking them to act consistent w/ biblical-church-as-people. When wrong's been done, transparently acknowledge it & set about repairing damage done. /3

@tripleoxymoron @annakeith @Holly4Hope @1SHeRA1 @HunterCrowder6 @ERLC @MattChandler74 @villagechurchtx @wademullen @jdahlmd The institutional response is typically whatever protects the legal-corporate entity: silence (because admission of culpability brings corporate liability), or equating legal remedies like mediation with reconciliation, or filing lawsuits/countersuits to silence victims. /4

@tripleoxymoron @annakeith @Holly4Hope @1SHeRA1 @HunterCrowder6 @ERLC @MattChandler74 @villagechurchtx @wademullen @jdahlmd You say we are brothers & sisters in Christ, & what we really wanted was for you to act like it--take care to do good plus do no harm like the Golden Rule Jesus gave us says to. Really reconcile w/ those you hurt, change the system, prevent this from happening to others. Amen! /5

@tripleoxymoron @annakeith @Holly4Hope @1SHeRA1 @HunterCrowder6 @ERLC @MattChandler74 @villagechurchtx @wademullen @jdahlmd Back to lawsuits issue: If you live by the sword, you'll die by the sword. When groups of individuals accept institutional advantages of incorporating as non-profit, they accept their entity has legal accountability. Lawsuits against systems/leaders become part of the package. /6

@tripleoxymoron @annakeith @Holly4Hope @1SHeRA1 @HunterCrowder6 @ERLC @MattChandler74 @villagechurchtx @wademullen @jdahlmd So, key disconnects in how abusive church/corporation system leaders relate to abuse survivors. IMO:

1. They DO act from legal/we're-a-corporation motives & mentality when they SHOULDN'T, and they DON'T act from biblical/body-of-Christ principles & practices when they SHOULD. /7

@tripleoxymoron @annakeith @Holly4Hope @1SHeRA1 @HunterCrowder6 @ERLC @MattChandler74 @villagechurchtx @wademullen @jdahlmd 2. Thus, leaders plus their PR management & lawyer back-up firms come across as protectors of corporate assets--instead of as pastors to people who've suffered abuse/violence, regardless of combination: sexual, spiritual, emotional, verbal, financial, physical, and/or social. /8

@tripleoxymoron @annakeith @Holly4Hope @1SHeRA1 @HunterCrowder6 @ERLC @MattChandler74 @villagechurchtx @wademullen @jdahlmd 3. US non-profit corporations are constituted on the premise they are supposed to provide social benefit to the public. Biblical churches are congregated on the premise they are supposed to provide people with the good news & spiritual care that nurtures whole-person growth. /9

@tripleoxymoron @annakeith @Holly4Hope @1SHeRA1 @HunterCrowder6 @ERLC @MattChandler74 @villagechurchtx @wademullen @jdahlmd 4. When corporation/legal emphasis overpowers & contradicts congregational/spiritual emphasis, why should anyone in the public or the pews trust those charged w/ oversight of the institution & the individuals in it? It's insidious set-up for onset of or ongoing systemic abuse./10

@tripleoxymoron @annakeith @Holly4Hope @1SHeRA1 @HunterCrowder6 @ERLC @MattChandler74 @villagechurchtx @wademullen @jdahlmd Pritchett: "The organizational can never be something the people are not."

Me: "The organization will eventually become whatever its leaders are."

We must ensure those set up as public role models ... are ethical ... observed for long enough to earn trust necessary to lead. /11

@tripleoxymoron @annakeith @Holly4Hope @1SHeRA1 @HunterCrowder6 @ERLC @MattChandler74 @villagechurchtx @wademullen @jdahlmd "Any Xn organizations that allow, enable, & conceal spiritual abuse / spiritual abusers are MISANTHROPIC, not PHILANTHROPIC. They will never qualify morally, ethically or biblically as non-profit organizations constituted for public benefit, & therefore should be dismantled." /12