Presented by the Central Conference of the Evangelical Covenant Church, adopted by the delegates to the 109th Covenant Annual Meeting.

WHEREAS, all persons are created in the image of God, and human sexuality is a gracious gift of God; and

WHEREAS, the problems of sexual harassment and abuse are all too prevalent in our contemporary society; and

WHEREAS, sexual harassment and abuse betray God’s creation, inflicting grievous suffering on the victims resulting in tragic consequences fo the victims, their families, and the Christian commnity of which they are a part; and

WHEREAS, we acknowledge and confess that all members of the body of Christ, both clergy and laity, are subject to sin, from which we pray God will deliver us; and

WHEREAS the gospel of Jesus Christ mandates Christians to identify sin as it occurs, whether within or without the church, and to work to make the church and the society a safe place for all persons by working to eliminate all forms of such abuse; be it therefore

RESOLVED, that the Evangelical Covenant Church speak out against any and all forms of sexual harassment and abuse of power by any of its personnel; and be it further

RESOLVED, that a “Special Task Force on Sexual Harassment and Abuse in the Church” be immediately appointed and convened by the president of the church; and be it further

RESOLVED, that this task force be composed of as diverse a group of individuals as possible, including but not limited to clergy, laypersons, experts in the fields os sexual harassment and abuse and offender treatment, minority persons, and, to the extent possible, survivors of such harassment and abuse; and be it further

RESOLVED, that this task force be charged with the following purposes:

• to seek understanding of the problem of harassment and abuse that exists within the Evangelical Covenant Church;
• to identify actions the denominstaion and its institutions, regional conferences, and congregations can take to bring healing, justice, and reconciliation to victims and congregations, and, to the extent possible, accountability and recovery of perpetrators in existing and future cases within the church;
• to recommend proactie steps that the denomination and its institutions, regional confernces, and congregations can take to prevent future occurrences of sexual harassment and abuse in order to make the church a safe place;
• to facilitate the gathering of educational and action-oriented resources regarding these issues to be made available to all who request them;
• to challenge Covenant people everywherey to engage in intentional prayer that God will guide us as we seek to deal with this critical issue; and be it further

RESOLVED, that the Special Task Force on Sexual Harassment and Abuse in the Church bring a report of its recommendations to the 1995 Covenant Annual Meeting.