At first, no one believed them. After all, children often make up stories. Childhood games and imaginative play are what being a kid is all about. So when the two little tykes told their mom they were afraid to go outside--"But Mommy, what about the monster?" they cried--they were swiftly brushed aside. "C'mon," groaned the weary mother. "Just go outside and play!"
It wasn't the first time she had heard them tell this seemingly tall tale. For the last couple of weeks they had talked about this "monster" they had seen scurrying under the house while they were frolicking in the yard. They had seen it more than once. It was a huge beast, according to their description, and they were scared of it. But no one they told would believe it really existed.
Until neighborhood pets started mysteriously vanishing. And until the parents, too, started hearing noises late at night.
It was soon discovered that an escaped python had been living under their house. The creature would sometimes slither between homes in the rural community to hunt for food. And, yes, in case you were wondering, pythons have been known to eat children on occasion--not a dramatic feat when you're 30 feet long and weigh 200 pounds.
No wonder her kids had been crying in fear. Thankfully, this "monster" was caught in time, because no one had been listening to the children's cries. It's hard to be taken seriously when you're 5 or 6 years old and don't have the vocabulary or life experience to articulate what is happening to you.
This same scenario is occurring in churches across our country. Except the pythons in our midst don't slither in the grass--they hold hymnals. They don't look like frightening beasts--they lift their hands during worship. They don't hide in basements--they are sitting in the pew right next to you. They may appear pious, but they are out to feed on our children.
That's why we're addressing the crisis of pedophilia in the church in this issue of Ministries Today. David Middlebrook, author of The Guardian System, wrote the article on page 46 to give pastors practical advice for how to prevent pious pythons from victimizing children in our congregations. It is not an option for us to sit back and do nothing.
We must not ignore our children's cries. As we've seen in the scandal rocking the Roman Catholic Church, these child victims were right all along. The monsters they were seeing were very real. The children just needed someone to listen to them.
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