Biblical Mennonite Alliance and credential removal of past abusers

[I Timothy]

Now, with all that said... my little tiny piddly unincorporated association nonprofit has a self-perpetuating board and no requirement to rotate the board, because it's hard to find people to trust to serve on a board, and due to not wanting to lose control of the institution. However, my association's mission is limited to the promotion of books and reading material. If I were running an orphanage, I would be looking for outside control, rotating boards, and either denominational oversight from my own denomination, or if I were in something like BMA, denominational oversight from BMA and like-minded denominations (Keystone, ADC, Lancaster Conference, and whatever other birds are finding themselves of similar feathers).

I have so far not heard any suggestions for what to do when a corrupt person installs himself in leadership - they are really hard to get rid of.

I absolutely agree that corrupt or poor leadership can be very difficult to remove. This is precisely why institutions need safeguards.

Mission organizations need multiple layers of oversight so that power is distributed, along with whistleblower protections and clear vulnerable-person protection policies. None of this is foolproof, but it makes it much harder for 1 bad leader to control the response when concerns arise. I understand that BMA/LOH lack these protections.

Somehow the director of LOH in Mexico had a new house built while volunteer staff was using their own resources to buy food for the orphanage children. This raises questions about how donor resources were allocated.

One thing I have appreciated about BMA is its ability to provide trained staff to support missions and church plants. BMA/DNI has a care team that has visited other ministry staff. Given the concerns being raised at LOH, a care-team visit to Mexico would seem needed. These are young staff who suffered trauma they didn't ask for. This care team was prevented from visiting the orphanage staff. Why? WHY?

The reports of sexual abuse and assault are grievous. Those are not my stories to tell, but the details I have heard are horrific. As a result these questions need serious answers.

BMA had 2 respected leaders resign over the handling of this, the details of which are still cloudy.

[Ernie]

The only thing that would satisfy them is the disappearance of the conservative Anabaptist movement. There is clearly an ax to grind here.

I Timothy has been on the record before saying exactly that, which is why I find his motivations suspect.

Would you please post a link to the statements of I Timothy that you're referring to?

Until I see a statement from I Timothy, I'm going to assume that this is yet another cooked up accusation.

[I Timothy]

Trudy is referring to “100 pages of documentation.” Also frequently references talking with a BMA leader. Is Trudy conducting an investigation on behalf of BMA? It’s interesting that BMA and Trudy and Co appear to be on very amicable terms at the moment. Oh the irony.

I personally doubt BMA would engage TM to conduct an investigation. She has a reputation for going after organizations pretty aggressively. The pressure for greater accountability is from those of us who care about BMA and would rather see BMA address these issues responsibly now than wait until they become a larger public controversy.

[JohnH]

Trudy is referring to “100 pages of documentation.” Also frequently references talking with a BMA leader. Is Trudy conducting an investigation on behalf of BMA? It’s interesting that BMA and Trudy and Co appear to be on very amicable terms at the moment. Oh the irony.

Why wouldn't they be? I'm not aware of any discord or problems between Trudy, Trudy's organisation, and BMA as a whole.

[JohnH]

Mission organizations need multiple layers of oversight so that power is distributed, along with whistleblower protections and clear vulnerable-person protection policies. None of this is foolproof, but it makes it much harder for 1 bad leader to control the response when concerns arise. I understand that BMA/LOH lack these protections.

I don't think the answer to bureaucracy is more bureaucracy.

I'm not sure what "whistleblower protections" entails, exactly. BMA isn't a government agency, and if you knew anything about whistleblower protections, you'd know they are pretty much useless. (I once was in a position where I technically was covered by a whistleblower protection, but it would have done exactly zero to keep me in my job. Fortunately, the person I was reporting against thought someone else blew the whistle, and went after her instead.)

Somehow the director of LOH in Mexico had a new house built while volunteer staff was using their own resources to buy food for the orphanage children. This raises questions about how donor resources were allocated.

Actually, it doesn't. Volunteers are volunteers. They aren't expecting to be paid, and shouldn't expect to be.

What exactly do you want? Would you want the staff there paid a reasonable Mexican salary? (Median is around $500 USD per month.) They probably aren't even allowed to be paid without acquiring a work visa in Mexico first, but volunteers are often welcome and can come on a tourist visa.

How much have you been involved in missions or operations in other countries?

One thing I have appreciated about BMA is its ability to provide trained staff to support missions and church plants. BMA/DNI has a care team that has visited other ministry staff. Given the concerns being raised at LOH, a care-team visit to Mexico would seem needed. These are young staff who suffered trauma they didn't ask for. This care team was prevented from visiting the orphanage staff. Why? WHY?

Well, you tell us - you're in BMA, contact the board there and ask them your questions.

I firmly disagree with your idea that the answer to organisational dysfunction is a bigger organisation. BMA is not a bureaucracy, a government, a conference, or an episcopacy. If that's what you're looking for I suggest the Catholic Church, or maybe the Lancaster Mennonite Conference.

[ohio jones]

Somehow the director of LOH in Mexico had a new house built while volunteer staff was using their own resources to buy food for the orphanage children. This raises questions about how donor resources were allocated.

Actually, it doesn't. Volunteers are volunteers. They aren't expecting to be paid, and shouldn't expect to be.

I think the point being made is that the children's food should be funded from donor resources, not from the volunteers' pockets. Volunteers came there expecting no pay, but probably not expecting to fund orphanage operations themselves.

[JohnH]

Somehow the director of LOH in Mexico had a new house built while volunteer staff was using their own resources to buy food for the orphanage children. This raises questions about how donor resources were allocated.

Actually, it doesn't. Volunteers are volunteers. They aren't expecting to be paid, and shouldn't expect to be.

I think the point being made is that the children's food should be funded from donor resources, not from the volunteers' pockets. Volunteers came there expecting no pay, but probably not expecting to fund orphanage operations themselves.

Did it say they were required to, or they just chose to?

[ken_sylvania]

Somehow the director of LOH in Mexico had a new house built while volunteer staff was using their own resources to buy food for the orphanage children. This raises questions about how donor resources were allocated.

Actually, it doesn't. Volunteers are volunteers. They aren't expecting to be paid, and shouldn't expect to be.

What exactly do you want? Would you want the staff there paid a reasonable Mexican salary? (Median is around $500 USD per month.) They probably aren't even allowed to be paid without acquiring a work visa in Mexico first, but volunteers are often welcome and can come on a tourist visa.

What does volunteers being paid or not have to do with the allegation? The implication is that the volunteer staff was using their own money to buy food for the orphanage children because management wasn't providing sufficient resources.
I don't know if this was happening. I don't know why the volunteer staff were using their own money to buy food. Was it because they liked to buy special treats or ice cream or sodas for the children? That's different from them using their own money without reimbursement to buy staples like flour and beans.
Regardless of whether the volunteers are being paid, I don't think it's good idea for the volunteers to be regularly buying food for the orphanage using their own funds. I think it's better to keep good records including using orphange funds for supplies for the orphanage, and if staff wants to contribute their own money they can do that as a contribution rather than buying supplies and donating the supplies.

[JohnH]

I’ve bought food for kids before as a volunteer. It’s sometimes simply a lot cheaper to go to a grocery store during my regular shopping and pick up a few extra items and then bring them for a party or whatever, and not bother with a receipt, expense reimbursement from, or (as many nonprofits and other orgs required) filling out requisition paperwork in advance and getting multiple levels of approvals including a budget allocation.

Sometimes you just buy a few containers of Turkey Hill and give it to the cook for the party you’ve been planning.

The level of bureaucracy some are expecting here makes volunteering at such a place sound really un-fun; about as appealing as going to the BMV, and I don’t think any of that would move the needle on preventing abuse.

[ken_sylvania]

Actually, it doesn't. Volunteers are volunteers. They aren't expecting to be paid, and shouldn't expect to be.

I think the point being made is that the children's food should be funded from donor resources, not from the volunteers' pockets. Volunteers came there expecting no pay, but probably not expecting to fund orphanage operations themselves.

Did it say they were required to, or they just chose to?

It doesn't say. I would still say it wouldn't be a good idea for volunteers to take it on themselves to privately fund special treats etc. There should be someone in charge of making sure the children get fed properly and the director or other assigned staff should be in charge of arranging food, clothes and shelter for the residents.