SDA Article Followup Letter

The “Serenity” Project
Healing within the Church for the victims of Child Sexual Abuse
By now you will have had time to read and review the article recently submitted to you on 12 June 2007 titled
THE POWER OF GRACE
A JOURNEY OF RECOVERY FROM YEARS OF SUSTAINED CHILD SEXUAL ABUSE WITHIN THE CHURCH.
This article will no doubt have caused some raised eyebrows in the conservative Church. This is to be expected and tolerated in order that the greater good can be done.
The article had a three pronged approach to a vexing issue confronting not only this Church but other organizations and society as a whole.
The evil one will see this as a major frontal attack on his strategies to divide and conquer.
Both Michelle and I are aware of this and are defending ourselves in prayer with our savior to be guided by him to the main target of our purpose, “healing.”
The first part of the article refers to the crime. This must be done in order to quantify the gravity of the situation and draw attention to the dangers.
It is also needed to underscore the second thrust of the article, the power of Grace.
For the Grace to be seen in all its glory, we must understand what is being forgiven here. This gives the testimony its power.
The third part of the article was the most important of all, the solution.
In preparing for this mission of ours, Michelle and I have had to strategize about the ways in which the evil one will attack us.
We see that his purpose in these atrocities within the Church is to turn as many people from Christ as he can. To him this evil work is good work.
Well we want to undo that effort by healing those affected to make a value decision to return to Him and bring their families with them.
To this end Satan will view all of us and our supporters as his enemy and he will move at us in many directions and we must be prepared.
We see the main fronts of his assault will be to divert our mission from one of healing to one of revenge and attack.
The redemption of the predators is something we must all pray for but ultimately, their redemption is secondary to our main purpose, and that is the healing of the victims.

Secondly he will see that this issue has the power to divide the Church and bring it into disrepute. We can be sure he’ll play this card to its fullest.
Thirdly, he will see that an attack on the treasury of the Church will inspire the politicians within the Church to move to protection by denouncing the good work to be done and destroying its credibility and support.
These are all things that those of authority in the Church will be most concerned about.
So why are we all here?
The scriptures have the purest answer to this question.
As for Michelle and I, it is very simple.
We have endured much as individuals and as a couple and our main purpose in life together is to live in peace and harmony with each other, our community, and most of all, our God.
For us, nothing would delight us more than to be witness to the Healing Power of God.
This is not only in the hearts of the victims, but the Pastors and Elders, who at the time may have acted differently to bring about better outcomes.
We also look forward to a healing of the Church which we all must accept and agree, is wounded by these events.
So how do we defend against the first part of the attack, the revenge?
Well we must reiterate here that the most important people in our mission are the victims.
Who are the victims?
Well in many respects we all are. Our society has forever changed now as a result of child molesters. There was no better way in the past, for a man to pass on his wisdom and mentor a boy or young man than a day spent fishing. This was always a dream of mine to pass something on. Now we are at risk of great upheaval if we are left alone with the children of our communities. The doubt and suspicion is too great.
So not only do we older people suffer but so do our younger generations.
The main victims of course are the children who have had these offences committed against them.
Then there are their families, and eventually their children and the families and children of the perpetrators as well.
The friends of the affected groups all suffer as do the community workers and law enforcement people who have to deal with the after math.
The Church and its leadership also suffer.
There is from this, no end to the extent of the healing required.
So, to waste time and energy on revenge and the retribution of society on these criminals is not for us at “Serenity”. We have more constructive work to do.
We do not wish to become a police organization or a vehicle for vigilante behavior which is anti to the healing process anyway.
There is a need for justice here and for the perpetrators to be removed and rehabilitated, but this is not the role of “Serenity”.
There are strict policies in place now to deal with these matters and laws enacted.
The second front of the devil will be to bring the Church into disrepute.
This can easily be defended with total honesty and transparency from within the Church. This is a matter of “Your strength lies in your vulnerability”.
The truth will always win and the Church must defend itself by hiding nothing.
If the healing is done with vigor and purpose the Church’s reputation will only be enhanced.
If the organization is truly doing God’s work, then God will protect it.
Thirdly is to attack the treasury of the Church.
Well what I have just eluded to applies here as well.
But from our perspective it is clear that money does not bring fulfillment or serenity. Some of the happiest people I have seen were the poorest.
There is no way that we will pursue or support the pursuit of money from the Church as a result of the work we do.
We will never be in a position to prevent actions being taken by individuals but we will never encourage these actions and this will be part of our charter.
Michelle and I intend to fund this totally from our own pockets.
Our mission should be clearer now to you all.
THIS IS ABOUT GRACE. REMEMBER THE TITLE OF THE ARTICLE.
The healing power of Grace.
If the Church can come forward now to help past and future victims and take responsibility for what has taken place, we can all move on.
If the Church does its job by the Grace of God then no one will seek compensation because their only salvation as they will see it is with Jesus Christ.
So I hope that you can now see the thrust of our intentions.
We are praying for some property settlements to take place for both Michelle and I, so that we may make an offer on a property at Maleny in Queensland perfectly suited for our purpose.
Our investment in this will be around 2.3 million dollars and we hope to be in a position to move on this property by the end of July.
We are praying that this property will still be available then.
If not, well God has other ideas and we are happy with that.
We give ourselves totally over to his purpose and our faith is unshakeable.
Please one and all, get behind us and be fearless.
“In life all things merge, and a river runs through it”.
God bless you all and thank you for your time.

Graham and Michelle Hood.