We knew @The_ACNA Province folks weren’t fans of Chris’ podcast.

But why does Bp. Morales of @DioQuincy care? Is he getting nasty phone calls from fellow bishops? Did Stewart Ruch tell him the podcast is a Vicious Spiritual Attack of the Enemy against a Robust Gospel Mission?

https://twitter.com/postcnsumrchris/status/1803499700798321076

Are Breedlove, Hawkins & Lawrence over at @ADChristOurHope feeling nervous about what might come down the pike? Is Bp. Atwood feeling a bit exposed after Deborah’s Story? Perhaps a few other bishops have some vested interest in shutting this down early?

acnatoo.org/international-…

This is the dangerous conceit of community spaces that are relatively more progressive than whomever they’re generally compared to.

You know who loves a self-congratulatory “progressive” organization?

A predator or manipulator with progressive-flavored camouflage skills.

https://twitter.com/annelisewiens/status/1794937943351816336

You know who hates facing abuse in their midst as much as patriarchal, politically conservative leaders?

Egalitarian, “progressive” leaders who feel they’ve addressed abuse but who have actually failed to reckon with the basic realities of power dynamics and abusive behavior.

Listening to @MegJtuck in this episode talk about all the small @MidwestAnglican churches in Minnesota who quietly worked really hard on their child protection policies back in 2021 while the diocese itself was doubling down on self-protection in the wake of #ACNAtoo. 🧵

https://twitter.com/postcnsumrchris/status/1782759964274012574

Thinking about how Megan and the other authors of the presentment against Bp. Ruch are easily vilified as disgruntled parishioners with vendettas. Rather than people who rooted every step of the way for their diocese to do the right thing, and experienced the opposite.

When I first read Deborah’s story draft I cringed at how quickly a part of my brain raised victim-blaming questions — even though I’m a survivor of forms of abuse that were less suffocating than domestic partner violence, but which still trapped and immobilized me. 🧵

https://twitter.com/acnatoo/status/1777718439966318997

The conditioning dies hard. Why didn’t she leave? Why didn’t she do more to protect the even-more-vulnerable victims?

But I know precisely why I didn’t, and couldn’t, do these things.

Nobody chooses to be coerced. But we still want to blame victims for not escaping sooner.

Helpful thread summarizing the now-public presentment against @MidwestAnglican Bp. Stewart Ruch.

QTing with a few clarifications:

1. Bp. Stewart didn’t pressure J.G.’s victim not to go to the police. He just did a lot else wrong.

2. It’s unclear due to the presentment’s…

https://twitter.com/arliecoles/status/1761410076319920548

…passive voice whether Bp. Stewart dictated Fr. Josh Moon’s inadequate discipline. Technically he (Stewart) was on leave so the acting bishop would’ve handed down the punishment. We can surmise that Bp. Stewart had a hand in it, but it’s unclear.

3. It could be inferred from…

#IHOPKCtoo survivors and witnesses:

Think long and hard before participating in an investigation where you can’t see the engagement agreement.

What confidentiality are you guaranteed? How might your information be shared?

See details from the SBC’s 2021 engagement agreement:

https://twitter.com/ericvolz/status/1736890060211888514

Then ask yourselves: does the IHOPKC-Lathrop agreement guarantee reporting parties’ information will be kept confidential and specifically that it will not be shared with @ihopkc leaders?

This is basic stuff to minimize the risk of retaliation against vulnerable whistleblowers.

Introducing yet another case of the evangelical pastor “struggling with a sex addiction” to “abuse of power and predatory behavior” pipeline.

A breakdown and key takeaways from the latest leak of allegations in the second presentment against @MidwestAnglican Bp. Stewart Ruch: 🧵

https://twitter.com/alivingtext/status/1724774318133952935

Former Presbyterian minister Josh Moon disclosed his “history of sexual addiction” and 2013 arrest for soliciting paid sex to Bp. Ruch, who allowed him to preach starting in 2015, ordained him in 2020, and installed him as rector of a new @MidwestAnglican church plant in 2021.

Since @ihopkc has now hired @stinsonllp to do something or other in light of the allegations against Mike Bickle, let’s talk about three types of investigations into abuse cases, how they differ, and why it matters:

1. Internal
2. Third-party
3. Independent

🧵 1. Internal

Internal investigation = the org investigates itself. Evidently silly. This is the equivalent of a court having an accused party and his friends decide if he’s guilty of a crime and if they’re guilty of aiding and abetting the crime.

10/10 would not recommend.

Most of the backlash I’ve seen against @ACNAtoo’s Statement of Commitment to LGBTQ+ Abuse Survivors is either blatantly homophobic, willfully obtuse, or laughably obsessed with conspiracy theories.

However, a few people seem perhaps legitimately confused.

So here you go. 🧵

https://twitter.com/acnatoo/status/1701687219537453445

(Fair warning that this thread is long and rather repetitious on some basic points. Tl;dr: maybe you don’t understand @ACNAtoo, or maybe it’s just not your cup of tea; either way, feel free to start your own anti-abuse initiative.)

One fascinating part of helping @ACNAtoo publish @steveslagg’s story was discovering a copy of the workbook used in the Redeemed Lives program Steve went through at @ChurchRez in 2009.

Chapter 16 is entitled “Transference” and it is…interesting. 🧵

https://twitter.com/ladyjessicahaze/status/1700866341991821754

(Quick note to say the RL workbook I have is copyright 2002, so I’m not sure if it’s identical to the one Steve would’ve used in 2009. Either way, this thread is a deep dive into the philosophical underpinnings of Rez, so 2002 serves as a good entry point.)

I’ve seen a bit of the predictable commentary pop up since @steveslagg’s story was published:

It was a non-affirming church. Why did he go there in the first place? What did he expect? Why not leave sooner?

Some of y’all have never watched a cult documentary and it shows. 🧵

https://twitter.com/acnatoo/status/1699801182217355679

(“OMG ARE YOU SAYING REZ IS A CULT?” No, I’d probably call it a high-control church, not a cult. Take a breath and keep reading; this is a whole-thread kind of a situation.)

So Christ Our Light, now defunct, housed a catechist who sexually abused numerous victims, and @cherinmarie2’s lawsuit discovery shows that the church had no insurance.

@greenhousemove planted Christ Our Light within @MidwestAnglican.

What’s up with the insurance, Greenhouse?

https://twitter.com/nymag/status/1699032618895905013

If I remember correctly, more than half the churches within @MidwestAnglican were planted by @greenhousemove. Do these churches have insurance to cover them in the event that they are sued for institutional negligence? Is it legal for churches not to have this insurance?

“How do we stop sexual predators?” people ask.

First step: understand how they operate.

This 🧵 is a chapter-by-chapter breakdown of the book Predators and why it’s essential reading for non-predators.

(Note: the book contains explicit abuse details; my excerpts below do not.) Introduction

Dr. Salter explains how she got into her work of interviewing sexual predators and what this book is about:

- why and how sexual predators prey on their victims
- how they hide this from the rest of us
- why we’re so bad at seeing through this and stopping them

After I exposed my abuser, one person texted me this crucial observation:

“An honest person is no match for a con man.”

This 🧵 is about the con man’s list of tricks and how you, as a presumably honest and well-intentioned person, are no match for them: Are you a receptive listener?

The abuser will feed you bits of apparently vulnerable information about themselves to make you feel specially connected to them, and to prompt you to reciprocate.

“I don’t usually tell people about this, but when I was a kid ______.”

Yesterday my rapist pled guilty.

I felt relieved. A bit numb.

The joy came later, at our small post-court gathering, seeing @cherinmarie2’s daughter — whose courage won the first guilty verdict — smile and chat and cuddle her dog, surrounded by people who love and support her.

https://twitter.com/rns/status/1646302176283877376

This little girl is Mark’s youngest survivor I know of who’s come forward, and I’m the oldest. She spoke up before any of us and paved the way for all of us.

She was scapegoated long before I was. Dismissed as a liar and abandoned by friends, relatives, church, and community.

Why do I celebrate that Mark Rivera is headed for prison?

Because abusers like Mark hold vulnerable people inside invisible prisons. They imprison souls, and they torture nervous systems. And the torture continues long after the direct sexual and emotional imprisonment is over.

https://twitter.com/alethiawrites/status/1604184255307055105

Putting abusers like Mark in prison is the only way, in the world as we know it, to keep them from torturing their victims inside invisible prisons.

As a middle-aged adult, my soul and nervous system were trapped inside Mark’s prison.

How much worse is that prison for a child?

In light of @ACNAtoo revealing that a convicted child molester has been attending @ChurchRez for three years, people are asking hard questions about church restoration plans for abusers.

The best plan I’ve seen so far, written by @DianeLangberg, is linked in the tweet below.

https://twitter.com/ladyjessicahaze/status/1599171302631256066

Spoiler: Dr. Langberg says the answer is not to have the abuser attend church, but to bring church to the abuser. As she illustrates in the article, this is hard work. But if @ChurchRez is serious about ministering to people like John Hays, then they need to put in the work.

Rez shuns survivors and sics cops on its own members for being advocates, yet welcomes in a child molester and protects his anonymity.

@ChurchRez, was John Hays allowed to attend your “family meeting”?

Is he “safer” than @LuhmannAudrey and @Bookof_kell?

https://twitter.com/acnatoo/status/1598387384667627520

This isn’t a rhetorical question. I don’t know if John Hays was at the “family meeting.” I just know about people @ChurchRez kicked out or tried to kick out, and why.

And I’m curious if a registered sex offender was welcome where survivor advocates and a victim’s mother weren’t.

https://twitter.com/acnatoo/status/1591160261016055808

Hi Sean Luke, I hope you don’t mind me responding to your comments in a quote-tweet. Long replies done as individual tweets get messy.

First off, I am fine with you praying for Mark’s repentance. I would love it if Mark would repent. I just believe the chances are minuscule.

https://twitter.com/seanluk99575433/status/1581059601138864128

I say this because I’ve spoken with countless survivors, and with mental health professionals and other abuse experts, and not only does Mark check a whole lot of boxes for sociopathic behavior, but people who serially abuse multiple victims the way Mark did rarely change.

.@The_ACNA and @ChurchRez:

Yes, I am an “outsider.”

But my Christian friends who are in/supporting/corroborating @ACNAtoo?

They love the Church. Deeply. Even though you have wrought destruction on them and, in many cases, their families.

See all comments on this thread:

https://twitter.com/LuhmannAudrey/status/1572803166990905344

A number of my dear friends have been in @The_ACNA for years or decades.

They are devastated. They still love Jesus. They cannot reconcile their love of Jesus with what you are doing to “the least of these.”

They are crying out, and you’ve rebuffed them by scapegoating me.

There are so many ways to deceive without technically lying.

Facts are not the same as the truth.

My abuser lied, but much more frequently he wielded facts and omissions to gaslight me.

@The_ACNA comms team reminds me much more of Mark Rivera than they remind me of Jesus.

https://twitter.com/alethia24689/status/1567910716275068930

[collective gasp]

“How can you compare ACNA leadership to a serial sexual predator?!”

Because it was not the sexual assaults, per se, that nearly destroyed my soul.

It was the pervasive co-optation of my reality.

The theft of my lived experience.

The erasure of my humanity.