Sixty-two Swiss evangelical organisations have now signed a charter against “transgressive behaviour”, the Swiss Evangelical Network (RES) reported after its second accountability conference, held on 11 September and attended by about fifty representatives of churches and Christian ministries.
The charter, “Together against transgressive behaviour”, asks each signatory to adapt and apply the network’s model documents to its own context, so that reports of abuse inside the organisation are handled properly. RES says the regular accountability meetings exist to ensure that “the charter does not become an empty shell”. It has also tightened its rules: a signatory that misses a meeting now receives a warning, and a second absence removes it from the list of signatories. The steering group’s website is soon to show each organisation’s follow-up status.
Most of the meeting was given to training. Édith Tartar Goddet, a French psychologist, clinical psychologist and psychoanalyst, spoke by video link about the signs of spiritual abuse and the right response to them. Representatives then compared notes on adapting the charter to their own organisations. The FREE federation, whose “Commitment to respect the integrity of the human person” has already been adopted by 37 of its communities, reported on its experience; its churches also held training last spring on preventing and managing domestic violence. Nirine Jonah, who oversees theology, ethics and pastoral care for FREE, described the conference as offering “shared richness on putting the fight against transgressive behaviour into practice”.
(Originally published in French. Summary translated by CC / Connexion.)
Source: Réseau évangélique suisse (RES) / La FREE — lafree.ch
