We are pleased that in this issue of en Diane Langberg is writing an exclusive article for us. This will be the first of three such pieces she is doing – not in successive issues, but over a period of time.
You can read about Diane’s world-renowned expertise in matters of abuse at the end of the feature on page 19. But she also writes as a committed Christian centred on the person and work of Jesus.
As a conservative evangelical constituency we all (including us here at en) have much to learn about the issues she deals with. As a movement we have witnessed many appalling abuses which have come to light more and more over the years.
One of the things we are all learning over and over again is the importance of hearing the voices of victims and survivors, whose ordeals have so often been ignored or pushed under the carpet. Some people may find what they say not only challenging but very uncomfortable. Nonetheless, we owe it to them to seek to listen.
And the culture change that we need is wide and deep. Even when there has been no suggestion of abuse or impropriety, some parts of our constituency have consistently acted in ways that certainly feel controlling and coercive – at least to those of us who have experienced it. In some places it is so inbuilt it feels as natural as the air being breathed to those within it.
But there is always hope. As Diane Langberg writes on her website: ‘In the midst of the trauma and suffering I have also seen the work of the Redeemer. He fills His people with His life and in ordinary ways, little by little, they bring his hope and healing to a ruined world. … I have listened to countless tragedies. Of one thing I am certain: unless we are gripped by the truths of the Cross of Christ in our own hearts and lives, the hope and power of the Cross will not pass from us to others. We cannot give what we do not have. May love and obedience to the Son of Man so govern our personal lives that He can through us bring His life to this ruined planet.’
