Years ago I was on a church staff and imagine my shock when my sixth grade teacher (we'll call him Mr. Smith) showed up one day for an appointment with our lead pastor. I had no idea why he was there. Had he come to finally unburden himself of the guilt of trying to molest one of my classmates decades earlier? Was he planning to start coming to our church? Then I remembered how much he loved horses, and how he would offer pony rides at events geared towards families. That sent me into a near panic. I was a leader at my church.

My staff role was Children’s Pastor. I couldn’t stomach the thought of a predator anywhere near my little flock. I’m not sure how long Mr. Smith’s meeting with my boss lasted but to me, it felt like he was there all day. Finally he left, and I semi-barged into my boss's office. “Boss,” I said. I didn’t actually call him boss, but like with Mr. Smith I’m changing his name to protect the guilty. “Boss, I don’t know why that man was here, but I need to share with you what I know about him.” “Lori,” my boss said. “He has repented of that and God has forgiven him. It seems like you are the one with the problem.”

Systemic leadership failures like this are happening in too many of our churches, at all different levels of leadership.  We need to get this right. We need to speak out, not just about physical safety, but emotional and spiritual safety as well. That is how we earn the right to effectively share the Gospel.

And it starts with you and me.