In 2019 the 47th PCA General Assembly approved a study committee to look into domestic abuse and sexual assault. Specifically, the committee was instructed to prepare an annotated bibliography of resources “related to child abuse and sexual assault, domestic abuse and sexual assault, and domestic oppression.” 

On May 23, the committee released its 220-page report, which provides an in-depth exploration of how Scripture and the Westminster Standards define abuse. The report then offers advice and best practices in a variety of situations that pastors and congregations might face.

The committee included four teaching elders: Tim LeCroy, Cal Boroughs, Shane Waldron, and Lloyd Pierson; three ruling elders: Kelly Dehnert, David Haburchak, and Robert Goudzwaard; and five advisory members: Ann Maree Goudzwaard, Rachael Denhollander, Darby Strickland, Barbara Shafer, and Diane Langberg. 

For more than a year, the pandemic complicated the committee’s work: in-person meetings became a challenge and the counselors in the group faced heavier than normal workloads. In 2021 the committee asked for a one-year extension of its deadline. 

Tim LeCroy, the committee chair, said the team found it a challenge to determine the scope of the report, trying to balance the desire for a comprehensive study with the concern that it not become unwieldy. “We tried to make it so it can be utilized as a reference and resource but also comprehensive enough for training purposes,” he said. 

The report begins by grounding the committee’s work in a biblical and confessional understanding of abuse. 

“The [Westminster Larger Catechism] lays out the sins of misuse of authority very clearly: aggravations that make some sins more heinous than others, failure of superiors in their duty towards inferiors, and sins of superiors against inferiors,” the report says. “These serve as the theological basis for our understanding of abuse.”

The report then addresses domestic abuse, women who abuse, adult sexual abuse, child abuse, and spiritual abuse. The report concludes with a 17-page annotated bibliography. Throughout the report readers will find case studies based on experiences of people in the PCA (details have been changed to protect survivors’ identities). After the case studies a few brainstorming questions are provided to help church leaders develop best practices for their congregations.

The overture approved by the 47th General Assembly prohibited the study committee from creating “practice, policy, or guideline … for adoption or approval.” But the committee offered advice to sessions, presbyteries, and PCA agencies:

1. 1. That all Elders in the Presbyterian Church in America assiduously study this report and consider its advice when shepherding the flock of God;
   2. That Presbyteries and Sessions consider using this report to train  their members and those seeking ordination in the PCA in order to be ready for situations that will likely arise during their ministries;
   3. That Sessions consider using this report to inform their congregational members so that they will be better able to protect, identify and respond well to abuse when it arises;
   4. That all Presbyteries, Churches, and other ministries in the PCA develop robust policies for both the prevention of and response to abuse;
   5. That competent third parties be engaged by Presbyteries, Churches, and other PCA ministries when allegations of abuse arise;
   6. That Presbyteries, Churches, and other PCA ministries share information regarding helpful pastoral, sessional and third-party resources, and regularly set aside funds for engaging those that can provide competent assistance and, if necessary, conduct investigation of alleged abuse;
   7. That all Ministers, Elders, Presbyteries, Sessions, Permanent Committees and Agencies, and all other PCA ministries inform themselves as to the particular laws regarding mandatory reporting to the civil magistrate in their civil jurisdictions; and
   8. That a permanent committee or agency of the PCA consider forming an office of abuse prevention and response in order to serve the denomination when needs arise.

The report was released the day after Guidepost Solutions issued its report on stonewalling and abuse cover up within the Southern Baptist Convention. Though the timing was a coincidence and the PCA study committee report had far different aims than the Guidepost Solutions investigative report, LeCroy noted that the recommendations of the two reports overlap considerably.

The report addresses domestic abuse, women who abuse, adult sexual abuse, child abuse, and spiritual abuse. The report concludes with a 17-page annotated bibliography.

“I would hope that that sobering [Guidepost Solutions] report would cause folks in the PCA to take our advice seriously and seek to implement it.” The fact that every case study in the report took place at a PCA church should cause elders and church leaders to see that the PCA is not immune from domestic, sexual, child, or spiritual abuse.

Ann Maree Goudzwaard is a counselor and one of the study committee advisory members. As part of the study committee’s work, she interviewed countless abuse survivors from around the country and brought some of their stories into the report (she changed details to protect survivor identities). 

She also invited survivors to share specific ways they wished their pastors and church leaders had responded differently and what they wish their church leaders understood about abuse. The committee tried to address those gaps by incorporating as many of those suggestions as possible into the best practice suggestions.

Still, Goudzwaard cautioned that the report is not a magic bullet that can fix everything that ails the denomination when it comes to caring well for abuse survivors. Because the report is not binding, pastors and sessions can disregard its wisdom in favor of their own judgments. 

“Members in the PCA have a right and privilege to officially complain but only as it relates to BCO process, and our report will not be official process,” she said. The PCA is not a denomination with heavy top-down structures, and its constitutional documents like the “Book of Church Order” are designed for process, not shepherding.

“Women in the PCA must recognize there is more work to be done (a lot of educating to be done!) before they can have assurance their case will be shepherded well,” Goudzwaard said.

LeCroy wants laypeople in the PCA to understand that this report is a “hopeful step” in the right direction, but not a sign that the denomination has arrived. 

Goudzwaard hopes pastors and leaders who want to help men, women, and children in crisis will take the report’s suggestions seriously and implement as many suggestions as possible so that people in the PCA “will grow in imitating God as the good shepherd of hurting people.”

“The impact of this report depends on the level at which people read it, disseminate it, teach it to churches and sessions, candidates for ministry are trained in it, and it becomes part of our DNA,” LeCroy said. “That speaks to the grassroots nature of the denomination. That’s where the change will happen.” 

To read the report, click here. To learn more about committee members and the resources recommended in the report, or to contact the study committee, visit the DASA study committee website.