EFCA Today

“We never thought it could happen here,” is a refrain heard far too many times in churches across the country. The specifics change, the severity of consequences varies, but the depth of regret and sorrow runs deep.

Those are emotions that hit home for staff members at one Midwestern EFCA church back in May 2007.

Six months earlier, church leaders had been creating policies and procedures for an employee manual. The church’s information-technology director suggested a policy regarding use of the church computers. There were no suspicions at the church, but he had been sufficiently sobered by stories of Internet pornography elsewhere.

So leaders added this policy to the manual and explained it to the staff. As the executive pastor remembers, “We simply said, ‘Your computer belongs to the church. We can and will monitor the content on your computer.’”

In the meantime, the IT director began researching just the right software to do the monitoring. When it was finally installed, the options were: announce the presence of the software, or simply turn it on and see what happens. Church leaders chose the latter.

I’ll never forget the look on the face of the I.T. director as he stood in the doorway: ‘This is the conversation we never wanted to have.’”

The very day the software was installed, someone was caught.

That was May 3, 2007. “I’ll never forget,” says the executive pastor, “the look on the face of the IT director as he stood in the doorway: ‘This is the conversation we never wanted to have. I’m sorry I have to tell you this. . . .’

“When first confronted, the employee admitted to visiting a couple of inappropriate websites and promised that he would not do that again. When asked if this was the extent of the discretion, he said, ‘No, there is a little more.’ To which he confessed to ‘visiting some chat-rooms that probably were not healthy.’

“This series of gradual confessions finally lead to the discovery that the person had been living a double life: leading a growing ministry in a growing church while living out moral bankruptcy in the underbelly of the city.

“It is difficult to explain the level of pain that this person’s moral failure inflicted on the staff team. We brought in professional counselors to support staff members, both in groups and individually. Staff members who were relationally close to the fallen member felt particularly betrayed and experienced great amounts of anger.

“Four years removed, the sadness is still primal.”

This EFCA leader is convinced that the size of a church has little to do with the risks involved in this particularly deadly temptation. “In the end, moral failure is between two people,” he says. “It’s subtle and gradual. No one gets up in the morning and just decides, ‘Today, I am going to risk my marriage, my family, my job, the reputation of the church, the name of Christ, etc.’

“I believe that it’s more a matter of establishing an ‘accountable culture’ rather than instituting a strict policy. My observation is that most small organizations are light on both policy and accountability.

“Can’t we just ask for compliance and then trust our people? Yes we can, but at great risk to the organization and to the name of Christ in the community.”

It will never happen here is not a phrase used at this church anymore. But with careful policies and greater accountability among the staff, the prayer is that the strangling sin of pornography won’t ever regain a foothold.