Classical Abuse Response

Mandate

  • To create awareness of the sin and pain of abuse.
  • To make the church a safer place.
  • To create pathways to healing.
  • The Team has three components:
    1. A 14-member group (Advisory Panel) from which listening panels can be formed as needed.
    2. An education group.
    3. Support groups that may be formed as a result of the work of a listening panel.

Membership

  • Members of the Classical Abuse Response Team shall be elected and appointed by Classis. Terms are as for all Standing Committees.
  • The Advisory Panel shall be made up of fourteen members. Recruitment shall be from the following areas: seven members from the Parkland area (Ponoka and south), and seven members from the northern Alberta area (Leduc and north).
  • Members of the Advisory Panel shall be both men and women, members of the professions that provide therapy or counseling, social services, legal expertise, education, and pastoral ministry. In addition, there may be members-at-large who are not associated with a particular professional group but who, in the judgment of Classis, have demonstrated an appropriate awareness of abuse and the degree of wisdom and compassion that is needed on the Panel.
  • One member shall be designated by Classis as the convener.

Meetings

As Needed.

Specific Tasks

  • When requested by a church’s council to assist it in dealing with an abuse allegation, the designated Convener of the Team shall assemble a five- member Advisory Panel, drawn from Team members who, as much as possible and advisable, live in the church’s geographic area. Each Advisory Panel ordinarily will have on it a therapist, a lawyer, a pastor, a social worker, and an educator. No member of the Team is to serve on an Advisory Panel that deals with allegations of abuse arising from within his/her own congregation or when there are familial connections between the member and the alleged abuser or the person(s) making the allegation.
  • The Advisory Panel will deal with allegations of abuse, made by an adult against a church leader, in the manner outlined in ‘Procedures and Guidelines for Handling Abuse Allegations Against a Church Leader’ adopted by Synod 1997. All written records of the Advisory Panel shall be maintained in a manner that ensures the confidentiality of their contents.
  • The Team shall present an annual report to the March meeting of Classis, keeping in mind the need for confidentiality in such a report.