Mar. 27, 2023
Hello Friends, Family, and Loved Ones,
With a heavy heart, we learned of the many allegations of sexual abuse by former overseer Dean Bruer. He is not the only person within the Truth who has abused their authority to commit these acts against the Friends and their children. As this case demonstrates, attempts within the institution have not been sufficient to address the pervasive problem of sexual abuse, especially child sexual abuse.
In the days since the news of Dean broke, dozens of you have stepped forward to share your stories and the names of more than 100 alleged perpetrators of sexual abuse within the Truth that span many decades and several countries. We are incredibly grateful for your bravery. You are bringing light to the darkness and helping ensure your experience is not repeated. All of us, especially our children, deserve to live free from the fear of sexual abuse.
I, Lauren Rohs, contacted Oregon overseer Doyle Smith Thursday night last week. Cynthia Liles, Sheri Autrey, and I met with him at Shari’s Cafe & Pies in South Salem for three and a half hours to suggest safe and ethical next steps to protect the Friends from future harm. Unfortunately, Ministry Safe, a program to advocate for and protect victim survivors, is not required for any worker. Therefore, to minimize future trauma and devastation to all the people we love and hold dear, a small group of volunteers has been working around the clock to collect your statements, assess the scope of the damage, and determine the next steps. Our only goal is to support victim survivors and prevent further abuse. We are working with friends, workers, former members, and nonmembers to address this massive crisis. We are also working with private investigator Cynthia Liles who grew up going to meetings. Her expertise and compassion are unparalleled. This massive crisis will require our entire community to come together, lean in, and comfort one another. Please practice self-care and visit the RAINN website (rainn.org) for resources on how to speak to one another, care for yourself, and continue during this difficult time.
We are in communication with friends and workers who are encouraging us in these efforts. They support us in this advocacy. They recommend you contact us using the hotline below since we have the resources to determine what the next steps should be.
Please share your stories and tips by texting or calling the 24-hour confidential hotline:
(503) 386-4634
Whatever your concern or information is, we are listening. If you are a victim survivor, we can discuss advocacy options and connect you to professional, vetted resources. After you’ve reported to the hotline, those of you inside the community are encouraged to reach out to Barry Barkley and Ray Hoffmann, the Overseers of the United States. They deserve to hear your experiences, your fears, and your hopes. You can find more information about the hotline and Dean Bruer case at advocatesforthetruth.com.
With Love,
Lauren Rohs, Cynthia Liles, Sheri Autrey, and a group of people who care
If you feel tentative, awkward, or are unable to use the hotline, please DM me (@Lauren Rohs) on Facebook, and I will walk you through the process.
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Honestly, it’s hard to take y’all seriously. Y’all want Every Single Overseer to step down? What exactly would that accomplish?
There would be less people protecting pedophiles so that would be an accomplishment at least for the children.
Because the future is not in Overseers. It’s in an oversight leadership team. Made up of Elders and Workers.
It is then is unlikely to result in the current state of affairs ever happening again.
There are great Overseers, however they should all step down for the above to take place.
It won’t happen anyway. The folks posting here are just a minority that is probably not even heard in meetings. The majority doesn’t want to think about these issues. They have full trust in workers, including overseers. They are against any kind of public exposure of abuses and abusers.
Ray Hoffman claims that when he wrote the letter about Ira Hobbs, he received a lot of backlash. A younger sister worker told me that she was angry with Ray, but later came to understand why it had to be done.
There are people who have asked workers to not send them emails regarding abuse issues.
Anybody who would replace overseers would face the same general attitude toward these issues.
Lauren, just an FYI, Barry and Ray are not the overseers of the United States. They may be along thee East coast, but certainly not the whole country. They are doing a terrible job and should step down, as should most that are in overseer positions (if they are still allowing known predators to attend any meeting, in any way (including phone calls). They are to protect the victims, and be feeding the lambs and the sheep. Jesus is the Shepherd, the workers…Jesus called them the Light, and the Elders were referred to as the Stewards. So, herein lies the problem: hierarchy is dangerous! They need to get back to the scripture, and never take their focus off of it. Jesus words are just as relevant today as they were when the Bible was written.
Henoffour, you note, “hierarchy is dangerous! They need to get back to the scripture, and never take their focus off of it”. The trouble is, historically going back to when the ” fellowship ” began, there has always been a hierarchy and it’s doubtful the leadership at the beginning had their focus on the Scripture. Right from the start there was William Irvine, Edward Cooney and George Walker in charge. Everyone else was in subjection to them. They made all the rules and set the standard. Today the original leadership has been replaced, but the code of conduct hasn’t. Rulership is still ironclad from the top down. Nothing except God can remove the leadership, and nothing will change because that is the way it has been since the inception of when the “fellowship” was established 120 years ago.
@No Change – I know there are people that care about how this fellowship “started”. I don’t. My faith is greater than man’s thinking. God has been, and will continue to be capable of raising up whomever is responsive to His touch that will allow for His plan to move forward. I also have the faith to believe that there is at least ONE human on the planet who is reading their Bible, that is allowing God to show them His true path to Salvation, and how things SHOULD be set up (because the BIBLE is very clear on HOW things SHOULD be. The Elders are the Overseers, and they should have the authority to keep things scriptural. Not allowing people to sway them away from scripture, by taking verses out of context (like when begging for perverts to be allowed back into meetings, because they are ignorant to what makes a pervert do what they do). But, so far…Elders seem to not care much, or at least not enough to stand up and say “No more!” Nor are they truly taking this criminal behavior seriously, because they haven’t studied enough to LEARN what they NEED to know about this type of behavior! Go to You Tube and type in Dr. Jeff Kieliszewski who’s a Forensic Psychologist…he does a fantastic, very informative video on Pedophiles, the different types, etc.
Keep up the great work. Leadership failed to keep children safe, meaning they failed at fundamental adulting. Keep the pressure on all of them, especially the ones who got rich abusing children.
You are correct “mm” in saying, “The majority doesn’t want to think about these issues (sexual abuses and spiritual abuses). They have full trust in workers, including overseers. They are against any kind of public exposure of abuses and abusers”. People do not like anything that challenges their status quo, their lifestyle, or their way of living. That is, unless it impacts them personally. It’s like the parable of the Good Samaritan as told by Jesus in the Gospel of Luke. Everyone talks a good game in meeting saying, ” I’d like to do better…, be more like a little lamb…, strive to be more like this verse says… and all of that is meaningless jabber. If instead it was said and committed to, “I am the good Samaritan. That’s who I am. This is what I have done so far to show this…. and I will give updates in more changes in my life”. Being decisive and speaking with authority. The vast majority rather not be committed to anything specific. It’s so much easier to just flow with the current downstream. It’s weakness but that is easier than challenging what is wrong. Instead, at the end of the day, if it doesn’t effect me, it’s better to just fit in, and say, “I’d like to do better” while you walk to the other side of the road, away from the person in need.
A similar attitude prevailed during the Jewish holocaust with a lot of people directly affected and taken to “relocation camps”. There were many, many more people that knew Jews were being treated unfairly and taken away, but since their lives were not directly impacted, the vast majority blissfully did nothing. A few brave individuals did hide Jews in their own homes, but that was rare. Similar to the fellowship, there is a lot of people that have been affected by the abuses, but the majority of people have not had a direct impact on their lives. If it’s not impacting themselves, why care? ” Not Do Anything ” is right; just walk to the other side of the ride, away from the person in need. “The majority doesn’t want to think about these issues (sexual abuses and spiritual abuses). They have full trust in workers, including overseers. They are against any kind of public exposure of abuses and abusers”.
I agree with a lot of what is stated here, with a major exception: that it CSA does not impact many people directly. The evidence says exactly the opposite. It’s a longstanding statistic that 1in3 girls and 1in6 boys are sexually traumatized before age 18. That’s a lot of victims, most of whom have not yet acknowledged nor worked through their wounds and PTSD. That’s ALSO a lot of perps, most of whom are roaming freely in their communities, undaunted by their guilty secrets, secure in the knowledge that the systems will protect & shield them from justice, but also very jittery about the current state of affairs with a growing number of victims coming out and being taken seriously, by other victims and advocates.
The largest group of perps is the porn consumers and sex buyers, most of whom try to stay closeted. They visited porn hub 54 billion times in 2020, where 80% of content features minors. They do nothing to help victims because they’re deeply invested in their own self interests. The responsibility for child safety falls directly on the shoulders of those of us adults who do not abuse children. We have the power to protect all children. We merely need to flex all of that power and it’s game over for the people who prey on our kids.
Victoria, thank you for your reply. It is very thought provoking. You sight, “It’s a longstanding statistic that 1in3 girls and 1in6 boys are sexually traumatized before age 18. That’s a lot of victims…That’s ALSO a lot of perps, most of whom are roaming freely in their communities, undaunted by their guilty secrets. The largest group of perps is the porn consumers and sex buyers, most of whom try to stay closeted. They visited porn hub 54 billion times in 2020, where 80% of content features minors”. These statements are facts, not opinions. The fellowship is not excluded from these statistics just because these subjects are not talked about. Everyone has a smart phone. Everyone has access to porn websites and fellowship members are not immune from the pull of lust. Again, just because it is not talked about doesn’t mean this is real. Real especially to a ministry that has no outlet for natural human tendency to play out in a healthy relationship. It’s there and a nearby smartphone is a tool for evil, but being utilized none the less. The the children that are nearby to act on those urges… Victoria you are correct.