Should We Platform Survivors To End Abuse In the Church?

This is an article that is not likely to be popular, but one that is necessary for our current climate. Before you respond to the title, before you assume the content, read all that I have said and give it consideration. You do not have to agree with me, but please think about what I am calling for. With that said, I’ve been chewing through this for a minute, but I really think evangelicalism needs to stop platforming persons who are identified as “abuse survivors.” Note that I did not say “stop caring about abuse survivors,” but to stop “platforming” them. 

Here is my reasoning: abuse survivors have endured a traumatic, life-changing experience. There is much that must be done to care for and bring healing into their lives. In some cases, those traumas may even take a lifetime to heal from. As persons who care about such survivors, our first and most important priority is to bring these persons to the foot of the cross continually, helping them to find the peace and forgiveness (toward those to have hurt them) that only Christ can bring. This can absolutely mean that we not only hold accountable the abusers but also seek to identify the means by which the abusers took advantage and change what we can, biblically, to make such abuse more difficult, if not impossible.  

But, where we often err is that in seeking to hold abusers accountable and closing the means or opportunities for abuse, we look to the victims as the experts, giving them the responsibility to find ways to end those cycles of abuse. After all, they endured the abuse, who else would we think would know it better? 

Well, to be honest, that is incorrect thinking. God knows better than anyone the wicked heart, even the heart of an abuser. The most important resource we can go to is the Scriptures in dealing with those who have sinned against and hurt another. We must do so honestly, humbly, and with the willingness to be obedient to God in all matters, not seeking to cover up sin, but expose it and correct those who engage in such acts. But what we ought not to do is seek to take the hurting and vulnerable, putting them on a stage as an expert in abuse. We should not look to them, the persons we should be comforting and counseling to heal, to be the persons whom we listen to and learn from about how to handle abuse.

What The Church Needs to Be Doing

The role of the church in these matters is to come alongside the hurting and broken in these times and to lead them to the pure and undiluted Word of God which brings healing. Pastors and biblical counselors have the duty to guide the survivor to the all-sufficient Scriptures which not only identify the causes of the hurt but are the only true source for mental and spiritual healing. Where the world of psychology only keeps the survivor dwelling on the pain and never offering real solutions, the Word recognizes the wrong done, reveals that God alone can heal, and helps the hurting not identify themselves as a perpetual victim but a purchased and loved member of the family of God.

Likewise, it exposes the perpetrators of abuse as sinful rebels against God who, even if they escape justice in this life, will be held accountable for eternity by their almighty and righteous Judge. This works to not only assure the hurting that the crime committed against them will not be forgotten, but can also lead them to pray for the redemption of evil people that they may desire their forgiveness. The world does not offer such healing, in fact, it cannot. It can only leave us in perpetual fear and pain.

When we fail to rightly counsel the survivor in the Word, to bring them to the place where they see their identity in Christ, we leave them without the necessary tools to view what has happened rightly. We can end up leaving the survivor in a place of pain where they view the sin against them ought to be dealt with in a manner that is according to their own standards rather than God’s. No matter how much we think we are helping the abused by elevating them to a platform in this manner, we may be actually setting them up to lead themselves and others awry. We could find ourselves in a place where there is a debate between what the survivor believes is the right path against what the Word of God commands. Therefore, we ought not to be putting such persons in the spotlight to be leaders in this arena.

What Church Should Not Do (And Why)

Putting the abuse survivor in such a role can result in several problems: First, it solidifies their identity as a victim. Rather than being a Christian who has endured trauma, but is being counseled to be made whole again, the person remains in a perpetual state of victimhood. Their identity is wrapped up in this status and it is all they are seen to be. Can this truly bring healing in Christ? In truth, it causes them to hold tightly to their earthly category as a survivor rather than viewing themselves as a child of God. It puts them in the place of being their own avenger rather than seeking to trust vengeance to the hand of God. This is not healing, but slavery.

Second, rather than being a person seeking to rebuild their trust in Christ and the church, the body of believers with whom they are bound as family, the survivor becomes a watchdog against the church of sorts. Instead of seeing the abuser (and his or her accomplices which may have aided in the abuse – including hiding it) as persons within the walls of the church who have sinned gravely, but as exceptions, not the rule, the survivor can end up seeing the whole church as complicit. Where one person, or body of persons, may have been the problem, the survivor (now being held up in the spotlight) sees the whole of the church as guilty and needing correction. This places the survivor in an underserved position as judge and accuser of the church at large. This may seem magnanimous on our part to the survivor, empowering the abused to bring about change. But in reality, what we have done is take the hurting and vulnerable, who need our care, and burden them with a role they ought not to have. Now we task them to be our corrector and healer of the church when what they need most of all is Christ. 

Finally, and most concerning, is that when we place the survivor in such a role, we don’t think what possible error they could bring into the church. We are consumed with platforming the survivor as a means of empowerment and for correcting what may lead to abuse in the church. But, do we stop to think that what the survivor is calling for may, or may not, be biblical? If our greatest concern is calling the people of God to obey His Word, then we need to ensure that those who are teaching His people are doing so according to the Word. Oftentimes, the hurting may intend well, but we don’t examine what they are saying with Scripture. In our desire to not “revictimize” the survivor, we don’t challenge what they are saying or commanding what should be done. We tend to give the person a blank check, believing that survivors know what abuse is and who the abusers are. We so fear sounding hurtful or insensitive that we dare not question their wisdom on the matter. This is fallacious and dangerous thinking. 

There is no question that a survivor can give great insight into what happened to them, which in turn can inform how we act in conjunction with the commands of Scripture. However, this is something the church, its elders and leaders should be tasked with. Not the person who still may be healing and needing our greatest care. It is a disservice to the survivor to place them in such a high-profile role and it is a dereliction of the church’s duty to step up, acting in a biblical manner to bring teaching and correction in these matters itself. 

With these thoughts in mind, I must again say that it is time we stop platforming survivors, placing them in the role of judge and corrector of the church. It is time we seek to care for their souls, to love and bring them into the healing only available in Christ. To lead them in the way that heals their heart and mind, while we then learn from what has happened and seek to protect the flock of Christ as the church. I think only in this way can we bring true healing and protection, while simultaneously loving the survivor and keeping error from entering the church. I will likely be called hateful, mean, or a protector of abusers for this, but I genuinely believe those who seek to leverage the abused, to make a name for themselves in the evangelical celebrity machine, do greater harm than anything I have suggested here.

UPDATE:

This article resulted in several online responses, some of which raised objections to the articles’ premises. In response to these objections, we recorded a podcast episode which can be found here: https://voiceofreasonradio.podbean.com/e/platforming-survivors-in-the-church/