The Village Church, led by Pastor Matt Chandler, released a statement regarding the employment of his father, who previously confessed to child sexual abuse. “The Village Church cares deeply about protecting children and the most vulnerable,” TVC said. Church Leaders “One of our top priorities is ensuring the safety of those attending our gatherings, as well as providing spiritual care for our members and guests,” the statement said.
The church added that it employs “best practices such as background checks, regular training and various security protocols that are informed and shaped through ongoing collaboration with outside experts.” TVC said it will “continue to invest resources in our growing care ministry to provide Christ-centered transformation, hope and support.”
“We remain committed to serving as a place of refuge where those who are hurting and suffering can receive the hope of the gospel,” TVC concluded.
TVC’s statement came after two former church members, identifying themselves as Chris and Anna, raised concerns about Chandler’s father, Steve Chandler, being hired as a caretaker in 2007 on the podcast “Bodies Behind the Bus.”
The couple were former members of Village Church Denton (TVCD), a campus of Village Church that became an independent church in 2015.
Chris, a former lay elder at TVCD, and Anna, who works in children’s ministries and is a “mandatory reporter”, have raised concerns that TVC has not prioritised child protection.
“I literally work almost 24 hours a day to keep my children safe and protected. [and] “I felt like that wasn’t being observed at the church I went to,” Anna said. “That was a big red flag for me.”
They also expressed outrage that TVC and its campuses were part of the Southern Baptist Convention (SBC).
“When I think back on my time there and I regret it, I have a lot of regrets. I wish I had been more cautious.”
“But I have to remind myself that no one is going to stand up at the welcoming table and say, ‘Hello, welcome! We’re an SBC church. We were formed because we want to protect slaves,'” she added. “There were times when I wasn’t intentionally led or not very forthcoming, so I tried to be lenient with myself.”
Chris said he first learned about Steve’s past in 2019 after Chris’ pastor at TVCD told him that the church had employed Steve Chandler as a guardian from 2007 to 2012 and that Steve had “willfully admitted to child sexual abuse.”
At that time, the Rev. I didn’t know before When Steve was fired, Chris spoke about his past confessions. Chris also said that the elders later held a special meeting to discuss the hiring of a former child molester.
“The overwhelming feeling of conscience that permeated the room was that we had to share something,” he said. “We had to communicate something to the congregation.”
Despite TVC and TVCD agreeing to issue a joint statement to their respective congregations, TVC later backed away from it, Chris said.
In joint statement According to the church’s investigation, TVCD elders said that to their knowledge, no current staff members have a “history of sexual abuse.” They cited “our brother Steve Chandler, who served as the custodian of the Denton campus,” as the “single exception.”
“Steve himself has made his history known to us by sharing his testimony of the transformation by God’s grace in his life,” the elders said. “Steve first shared his testimony publicly with members of The Village Church in Highland Village through Recovery Ministries before he was hired as a staff member.”
“Steve’s testimony included his unguarded confession of many past crimes, including charges of child sexual abuse from 40 years ago,” the Elders continued, “which were crimes and offenses that Steve first voluntarily confessed to before the district attorney and in court 40 years ago.”
The statement noted that TVCD did not directly employ Steve and was unaware of his child sexual abuse until he directly disclosed it to his superiors. A background check was conducted on Steve, but it did not uncover any past abuse.
After Steve’s history of sexual abuse was revealed, the Elders said, “Steve was immediately subjected to specific safety standards and procedures which, to our knowledge, he humbly and faithfully complied with for the remainder of his tenure as an employee.”
The elders maintained that “we would never employ as church staff anyone with a history of child sexual abuse” and that any allegations of sexual abuse against staff members “would be immediately reported to the authorities and an investigation would be initiated.”
“The staff member will be suspended from his duties while we cooperate with authorities in their investigation,” the elders said.[Based] We will continue to provide as much information as possible to the church, following the instructions given to us by the authorities.”
“Until the investigation is complete, we will be placing ‘unregistered sex offender’ standards around the individual,” the elders said.
After the 2019 elders conference, Chris resigned as an elder in TVCD and eventually left TVCD altogether, after which he underwent a period of “intense disintegration.”
“My faith is nothing like it was before,” Chris said. “I’m still trying to be forgiving of myself. It’s been five years and I still feel shame and responsibility for what happened and my complicity in it.”
“I’ve gotten to the point where I believe in God. That’s as far as I go,” he added. “I think God is good.”
Meanwhile, Anna said she was “relieved, not because we were in The Villages, but that we still have some faith despite those people and what we saw,” and expressed gratitude that she and her husband “were able to see the light and get out before our kids were too old.”
Now, Chris and Anna “loosely” attend a Methodist church. “We’ll probably never have a ‘church is everything’ type of attitude again in our lives,” Anna says. “You live and you learn, and we learned a really hard lesson.”
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