Just days after an independent investigation revealed a list of 700 volunteers, ministers and pastors known to be “credibly accused” of sexual abuse, the Southern Baptist Convention ushered in a series of reforms meant to ensure public oversight over the nation’s largest Protestant denomination continues.
Roughly 8,500 delegates overwhelming approved the changes in a vote taken June 14 during the organization’s annual meeting. One of the first requirements is for the Southern Baptist Convention to issue a formal apology to those victimized by its leadership after an independent study found that Southern Baptist Convention-affiliated churches have a decadeslong history of mishandling abuse claims and mistreating victims.
“Reading those 300 pages’ worth of failures to act, of not passing along information that would have protected, is both heartbreaking and horrifying. But the question on the floor today is, ‘Is it humbling?’” Bruce Frank, chairman of the Southern Baptist Convention’s Sexual Abuse Task Force, asked the assembly ahead of the vote.
