RICHMOND, Va. (ABP) — The International Mission Board has set up a toll-free telephone line for missionaries and their families to report incidents of sexual abuse.
The Southern Baptist agency, which has 5,600 active missionaries, has sent the phone number to current and former missionaries and their adult children. The number, which is not being publicized, is partly the result of discussions with victims of abuse by missionary William McElrath, who was fired in 1995 after a second round of accusations about pedophilia that dated to 1967. McElrath later sent a letter to family and friends confessing to “sinful acts” involving “touching, tickling, cuddling, fondling that went too far.”
This hotline “is one of the ways that our organization felt like it could respond in a very practical way to be helpful to folks who may be in a crisis situation,” IMB spokesman Mark Kelly told Religion News Service.
The IMB acknowledges abuse does occur on the mission field but says instances are extremely rare. Kelly said he is not aware of any new cases of abuse.
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