ERLC approves funds for abuse reform task force

NASHVILLE (BP)—Trustees of the Southern Baptist Convention’s Ethics & Religious Liberty Commission voted March 21 to re-designate $250,000 toward the SBC Abuse Reform Implementation Task Force.

Trustees approved funds for the task force as it “wraps up its work in response to the mandate given by the messengers.”

Those funds originally were set aside following the 2021 SBC annual meeting when a motion requested the ERLC “hire an outside organization to oversee an audit and assessment of sexual abuse within the SBC.”

When task force leaders reached out to the ERLC in the following years to request a pause in the “audit and assessment,” the ERLC agreed, holding those funds in reserve.

Providing the $250,000 to the task force will help it “with the next phase of implementing what messengers overwhelmingly have requested at multiple SBC annual meetings,” ERLC President Brent Leatherwood told trustees during the meeting, which was held virtually.

Doing so would ensure the ERLC “continue[s] playing the supportive role that we have had with them for the last several years,” he said. “This will not only be consistent with our ministry assignment. It will align with what is called for in the [2021] motion.”

‘Steadfast support for abuse reform’

Task force Chairman Joshua Wester expressed gratitude for the ERLC’s “steadfast support for abuse reform.”

“For many years, the ERLC has stood at the forefront of our convention’s efforts to raise awareness, change the culture and care for survivors of sexual abuse,” Wester said. “This latest act of generosity will only strengthen our ability to advance this work among Southern Baptists.”

A motion at the 2023 SBC Annual Meeting in New Orleans by Maryland pastor Keith Myer asked that the SBC Organization Manual be amended “to ask the ERLC to assist churches and entities in responding to abuse.”

The motion was voted down by ERLC trustees, but Leatherwood made clear it wasn’t over disagreement to its sentiment.

“He is a strong voice for abuse reform and someone who understands the desperate need that we have in our convention to combat abuse,” Leatherwood said of Myer. “Not only did I thank Keith at the time when he made this motion, I wholeheartedly agree with it.”

However, Leatherwood went on to highlight the ERLC’s work through areas such as the Caring Well Initiative, the Church Cares curriculum and Caring Well Sunday.

“We obviously view [response to sexual abuse] as part of our ministry assignment, and we consider it a privilege to do so. Therefore, it doesn’t necessarily require any sort of an amendment,” he said.

Other trustee business

Longtime Baptist Press contributor Tom Strode was presented the Richard D. Land Distinguished Service Award for his career in journalism, primarily through his 32 years as BP’s Washington bureau chief.

Originally hired by Land under the ERLC’s predecessor organization, the Christian Life Commission, Strode continued his work of reporting on political and public policy areas for decades.

Congressman Chris Smith, R-N.J., received the John Leland Religious Liberty Award.

Smith was cited for his more than four decades as a leading advocate for international religious freedom and efforts for raising global awareness over religious persecution.

One of the 19 letters the ERLC issued in 2023 was in support of Smith’s resolution regarding violations of religious freedom in Nigeria and for that nation to be designated a “Country of Particular Concern.”