Safe Church Teams Review Restorative Justice

Gail Rice, a former teacher now engaged in prison ministry at the Cook County Jail in Chicago, spoke of being confronted with the concept of restorative justice after the murder of her brother, a Denver, Colo., police officer.

As one of the speakers at the Christian Reformed Church's annual Safe Church Team conference, she shared memories of the restorative justice process and its lasting impression and healing on her and other family members.

Chairpersons from 20 Classis Safe Church Teams met at Calvin College’s Prince Center last weekend for a time of networking and learning centered around the topic of Restorative Justice and how it can relate to Safe Church Teams.

Also speaking was Mark Vander Vennen, a therapist and executive director of Shalem Christian Counseling in Hamilton, Ontario. He has worked for several years to develop a restorative justice model for churches in conflict. He is now engaged with others to develop a model that may be useful in circumstances of church leader misconduct.

Restorative Justice is a biblically based view of criminal justice that attempts to engage victims, offenders and the affected communities in bringing about deep and lasting solutions by focusing on healing, restoration and the future, says the CRC's Office of Social Justice (OSJ).

The CRC has been involved in the issue of Restorative Justice over the past several years. In 2005, the Synod responded to a committee report on Restorative Justice and encouraged the church to provide resources for congregations to help them engage in the process.

The Restorative Justice teaching session was particularly helpful to the chairpersons of the Safe Teams.

"We were challenged to examine how these RJ principles might apply to situations involving abuse and sexual misconduct on the part of a church leader," says Faye Martin, a Safe Church Team Chairperson from British Columbia.

"RJ is not an easy answer or fix to the abuse situation. The fundamental principles of RJ are applicable to abuse and the process could possibly be used in some abuse response situations."

As a church community, church leaders and members must carefully examine how they respond to abuse when it becomes known.

"The Restorative Justice practices align very well with Biblical standards and gives opportunity to address the issue, rather than respond in ways that are often, in part, a reflection of our discomfort, lack of knowledge, and misunderstanding of the abuse," says Martin.

At the conclusion of the Restorative Justice presentations, the Safe Church Team chairpersons discussed how restorative justice practices may enhance the work the teams are doing in their respective classes with victims and offenders of abuse.

The chairpersons also spent time developing a work plan to grow and stabilize their teams which vary in size from four – 20 members. Of particular significance to the chairpersons was synod’s decision (2009) to allow classis teams to work within a broader region to convene an advisory panel.

"The conference was valuable for exploring the diversity and strength of various other teams’ members who could contribute to the advisory panel process when called upon," says Beth Swagman, director of the Safe Church Ministry office.

“Because we are sprinkled all over North America, carrying out our ministries quietly and somewhat 'under the radar', it is easy to feel isolated,” says Gail L Hall, chairperson of the Classis Muskegon SCT.

"For this reason alone it is so helpful to come together and learn from each other of joys and sorrows, successes and work yet to be done. This year's focus on Restorative Justice was inspirational and encourages all of us to think more broadly about shalom as our ultimate goal.”

The Safe Church Ministry (formerly Abuse Prevention) was formed in 1994. The mandates and activities of Safe Church Ministry include:

• Creating awareness of the various forms of abuse
  that affect all age groups.
• Encouraging churches and communities to prevent
  abuse and to respond justly and effectively
  following disclosure of an incident of abuse.
• Provide consultation, training, resource development, policy formation, and trainSafe Church Teams.

To view a view and be able to review and obtain a range of resources on the topic of Safe Church Ministry, click here: Safe Church Ministry.