Where does your name come from?
We take our name from the prophet Nathan, who confronted King David – even though he was God’s hand-picked leader over God’s people – for using his position of trust and power to exploit Bathsheba and then hiding his sin by further abusing his privileged position. Like Nathan, we seek to compassionately protect the innocent by being a voice of justice against churches and church leaders who abuse their positions of trust and power to exploit, rather than serve and protect, God’s people.
What do you hope to accomplish?
Our initial goal is to compassionately help individuals struggling with the host of spiritual, emotional, relationship and financial issues that typically arise following abuse or exploitation by a church or trusted church leader. We do this by providing a wide range of resources to address those issues.
Our secondary goal is to obtain restitution and justice for those victims who want it. This is important for two reasons: First, restitution and justice often are needed for victims to find closure on what happened to them. Second, it often is needed to insure that the patterns of abuse in a church or by a church leader are fully addressed, such that they can not, or will not, abuse again. In our experience, unless they are forced to bear the costs and the consequences of their abuse by making full restitution – either in the context of voluntary but authentic public repentance or through public judgement being imposed against them – it is almost certain they will abuse again.
We also, if needed, will support victims by exposing exploitive church leaders. Under 1 Tim. 5:19-21, this is commanded where there are two or three witnesses – as a public rebuke that serves as a warning to all. Only by openly exposing abusive church leaders, as appropriate, can others be protect from future predation.
Our ultimate goal, however, is for victims to become victors in Christ as they find healing and wholeness, and as God lovingly restores their hope, reputations, dignity and futures.
Do you maintain confidentiality?
Yes! We never disclose the names of victims who come to us for help unless they give us permission. Even then, we must agree that doing so is in their best interest. We also never disclose the names of abusive churches or church leaders without the consent of the victim, and then only if needed to serve the dictates or justice or protect others from further abuse.
To protect the innocent, we are careful to bring all of our work – to the maximum degree practical – under the confidentially protections allowed by law for counselors, ministers and attorneys, as appropriate.
Are you willing to publicly expose abusive churches and church leaders?
Our primary goal is compassionate justice for victims. Sometimes, but not always, that means unflinchingly confronting the abuser – first in private and then publicly, if needed. With the consent of the victims, we will be their voice of justice by speaking truth to power and bringing the abuser to either open repentance or public judgment.
Make no mistake: When the victims consent and the facts warrant, following a thorough investigation and confirming evidence and after giving an abusive church or church leader a chance to openly repent, we will be uncompromising in our resolve to publicly expose them.
As a famous Christian leader named Edmond Burke said in the 1700’s, when confronting the wrongs of his age, “all that is necessary for evil to triumph is for good men (and women!) to do nothing.” We agree.
Are you anti-church?
No! Everyone directly involved with Nathan’s Voice is a committed, Bible-believing Christian. We are dedicated to compassion and justice because we love the Church, even though we hate what it sometimes has become. In fact, we love the Church so much that we are willing to sacrificially and honestly address her shortcomings so she can become all that Jesus intended her to be. There can be no redemption in hidden, exploitive sin among our churches and pastors. Trying to sweep it under the rug brings more reproach on the Lord and His people than confronting it directly and openly, as Biblically mandated. See our series on Confronting Abusive Pastors.
Are you nationwide?
No. We are generally limited to helping victims and addressing church leadership abuses in our own state of Virginia and in the greater Washington, D.C., metropolitan area. There are other Biblically-based organizations that we recommend, which are national in scope or may have a particular focus on one or two aspects of the overall problem. One such national organization which helps victims, and that we like, is The Hope of Survivors.
However, we are not aware of other organizations that have a locally-focused, fully-integrated approach (including legal help where needed). We encourage others to form similar support groups in their local communities – while informally networking and sharing information with other organizations like us and The Hope of Survivors.
If you are involved in such an organization, let us know so we can make referrals!
Why do some pastors exploit people?
We don’t think there’s a single answer to this question. But often, we find that predatory pastors have narcissistic personalities. Here’s a good article from The Presbyterian Outlook that helps explain this problem, called The Alchemist in the Pulpit.
Nathan's Voice 