- Apr 25, 2016
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So this post is sparked by a specific incident, but it reflects on themes which have been recurring a lot for me lately.
The specific incident is that our parish is revising our (extremely dated) privacy policy, and one of the things we need to include, which was not explicitly included before, is a clear complaints process for people to follow if they feel we have breached their privacy. My feeling is that I should not be part of that process, because the likelihood is that I will have been involved in any breach of privacy; and I shouldn't be policing or responding to complaints about my own mistakes!
But what has surprised me is that not everyone involved in the policy review agrees with me, or even sees the issue.
My fundamental assumptions are:
- Humans inevitably get things wrong, make mistakes, and mishandle power (even in churches).
- We should acknowledge upfront that this is possible and put in place robust and transparent systems and policies to prevent it..
- We should have in place robust and transparent systems of accountability for when these things occur.
To my mind, if you're not doing those things, in any area of ministry, that's dangerous. It runs the risk of people protecting their own power and control rather than acting and responding appropriately. At the extreme end of this avoidance of accountability, we see the clergy sexual abuse crises, but there are countless smaller instances played out over all sorts of churches (and other organisations) every day.
Because of this, I think it is good and necessary that there should be avenues for people to complain about me (or those in various roles more generally) to others who can hold us accountable in various ways; but it is surprising, and even distressing, to me to realise how many churches and powerful Christians within churches don't seem to see the issue or the need for structures and processes which provide that kind of oversight and accountability.
So I guess I'm wondering, how much are churches having these conversations? How aware are you of processes for accountability and oversight in your own churches, and do you think they are robust enough? Do you really feel safe somewhere if you don't know how things will be handled if someone is exploitative or abusive or inappropriate? (Am I the only one surprised or disturbed that this isn't just a no-brainer for us all now?)
The specific incident is that our parish is revising our (extremely dated) privacy policy, and one of the things we need to include, which was not explicitly included before, is a clear complaints process for people to follow if they feel we have breached their privacy. My feeling is that I should not be part of that process, because the likelihood is that I will have been involved in any breach of privacy; and I shouldn't be policing or responding to complaints about my own mistakes!
But what has surprised me is that not everyone involved in the policy review agrees with me, or even sees the issue.
My fundamental assumptions are:
- Humans inevitably get things wrong, make mistakes, and mishandle power (even in churches).
- We should acknowledge upfront that this is possible and put in place robust and transparent systems and policies to prevent it..
- We should have in place robust and transparent systems of accountability for when these things occur.
To my mind, if you're not doing those things, in any area of ministry, that's dangerous. It runs the risk of people protecting their own power and control rather than acting and responding appropriately. At the extreme end of this avoidance of accountability, we see the clergy sexual abuse crises, but there are countless smaller instances played out over all sorts of churches (and other organisations) every day.
Because of this, I think it is good and necessary that there should be avenues for people to complain about me (or those in various roles more generally) to others who can hold us accountable in various ways; but it is surprising, and even distressing, to me to realise how many churches and powerful Christians within churches don't seem to see the issue or the need for structures and processes which provide that kind of oversight and accountability.
So I guess I'm wondering, how much are churches having these conversations? How aware are you of processes for accountability and oversight in your own churches, and do you think they are robust enough? Do you really feel safe somewhere if you don't know how things will be handled if someone is exploitative or abusive or inappropriate? (Am I the only one surprised or disturbed that this isn't just a no-brainer for us all now?)