Let the spotlight fall on us

David Murray, one of my favorite bloggers, has launched a new series of posts which I believe will serve us well if we allow it. By "us" I mean Reformed and Reformed-ish pastors. Murray writes:

[For] me the dam has burst. And it’s not just the past week. I’ve had increasing numbers of emails from victims of spiritual abuse over the past years. It’s now time to speak out. It’s time for the Reformed church to take responsibility and clean house. It’s time to stop pointing the finger at the Catholics’ sexual abuse scandals and start exposing the spiritual abuse scandals in our ranks.

 

There have been brave voices in the wilderness here and there who have been calling for reformation in this area for years. But they’ve been dismissed as cranks, as obsessive, as outside the mainstream. That’s what the Catholic church used to say of their victims and critics too. It’s time to listen to these voices and stand with these victims.

We need some correction brothers. We have become as devoted to celebrity as have those in the broader evangelical and charismatic communities. We are also becoming famous for scandals. It is probably no coincidence that these two things tend to grow together. Instead of ignoring or denying these facts we need to humbly acknowledge it and repent. I have found out in less than one week that we have a woefully low regard for what it means for a pastor to be "above reproach" and to have a good reputation among outsiders.