The assertion here that Rez is tangential is nonsense. a) Rez is Stewart's seat and a large percentage of those involved in handling the abuse investigation are there
c) Any church plant that comes out of "Mother Resurrection" is absolutely connected to it. You are not allowed the role of church planter out of Rez without being significantly tied to and part of that broader culture. "Daughter churches," is what they call their plants.
When church plants come back to visit Rez, as they do on occasion, it's talked about as them "coming home". You cannot separate them from each other.
d) Mark was in ministry at Rez for decades and was highly connected to all the leadership there. This abuse is not separable from Rez, no matter how you spin it.
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Interesting that within two weeks of the public becoming aware of their mishandling, @ChurchRez is able to put out a full list of resources, but sat on these for two years when they knew there were more potential victims in their church. #acnatoo churchrez.org/resources-for-…
...despite survivors and their advocates having been pleading for them to provide resources of this kind from the very beginning.
I am glad they realize they need to provide resources. I am galled at how quickly they can put it together when the urgency is there. And that this is what it took for the urgency to be there.
This whole 🧵 that Brian put together is worth your time. But this & the tweets following really stood out to me as I'm remembering countless instances when we attended @ChurchRez and the Bp would extemporaneously burst into "a word from God" during the middle of many services.
Mostly these were unconnected almost stream of consciousness tangents mid-prayer & reminded me of the tools in trade of charlatan mediums in Agatha Christie or Dorothy Sayers novels - pick a vague claim that will almost certainly hit home with multiple people in the congregation.
As Brian says, the hearers (many of whom will resonate with the just vague enough "word" and believe it to be about them) feel this as confirmation of the Bp's already touted "divine hotline." How could you know better than someone who is so connected to God's voice?
Since reading this thread, I keep coming back to one line in this email: "Protocol should be developed out of an understanding of these patterns and fundamental changes in thinking and culture." Why? Because @MidwestAnglican chose culture over victims.
Culture, for both @MidwestAnglican and @ChurchRez has become an idol. RezCulture, as I've heard it called, is something glorified and revered as an integral part of how church is done. It is joked about and used as a punchline, but it undergirds how the whole system operates.
At times, they identify themselves as much by this culture as they do by being Anglican - it's part of their religion. I remember many "jokes" when Provincial Assembly was hosted in Wheaton that being around "RezCulture would show ACNA how things should be done".