Interesting Reads for the Week – 01/18/2025 – Faithful Steward Ministries and FSM Women's Outreach

Mea Colpa, started this yesterday before my plumbing isses🙃

Americana, Christian Life, Culture/Society, Informed Citizenship, Informed Patriotism, Pro-Life, Military/Veterans, You Can’t Make This Up, and more.

We hope you become informed readers and citizens based both Biblically and upon our founding fathers:

Acts 17:10-12, 2 Tim 2:14-16, Thomas Jefferson, Benjamin Franklin, and Thomas Paine

FEATURE ARTICLE W/COMMENTS

Should churches allow sex offenders to hold leadership roles?

This article caught my eye the other day, especially since very few people have a clue what constitutes a Registered Sex offender (RSO) or the recidivism rate for men and women with these crimes. While the author makes some valid points, I believe she failed in one major area, and I commented (below) as such. However, the myriad of uninformed, unbiblical comments/responses attached to this article were a sad thing to read. Unfortunately, many of the posts read as hateful and vindictive. As my regular readers know, I harp constantly on CONTEXT. If we are going to contribute to the narrative, we need to understand it and not just make off-the-cuff remarks.

The article fails in one main area: defining “Leadership.” Should a convicted pedophile teach Sunday school to children, even if there is another adult? NO! Because we live in an age of so much misinformation about those convicted of “sex offenses,” even if their crimes did not involve children, and because the perception is all are pedophiles, I would never allow any RSO to be involved in children’s activities. Could a convicted RSO teach adult Sunday school or lead men’s prayer (or women’s as they become increasingly prevalent)? YES!

Could or should a church place a former “Church Leader” back into a “Leadership” role that depends on the local church. The local church is the governing body established in the Bible. However, I agree with many of the points in this article that if a local church decides to place an RSO in a “leadership” position, it is opening itself up to much controversy.

I also commented but must have run out of characters; I partly disagree with #5. Another consideration when evaluating folks for any kind of position was whether they were “Christians,” in other words, professing Christ at the time of their conviction. Someone who comes to the kingdom, say in prison, gets out, and has a spotless life for x number of years can not believe they are redeemed and worthy of some sort of role. Again, with the appropriate precautions.