21: Responding Redemptively to the Sexual Abuse Crisis with Mary DeMuth

Author, speaker, podcaster, and artist, Mary DeMuth, joins me to discuss her book, We Too: How the Church Can Respond Redemptively to the Sexual Abuse Crisis.

In her book, Mary urges the church to better care for those who have been sexually abused. She writes, "While we long to see the church grow deeper through discipleship and wider through evangelism, instead we are experiencing a shameful exodus of the people who could offer the world the kind of authentic, raw hope the next generation craves and needs. We are losing our clarion voice because of our nearsighted fear of how messy caring for them can be . . . The abused are our tutors, but we've expelled then."

Mary's concern and passion for those who've been abused is a reflection of her not plea for help being ignored when she was sexually abused at just five years of age. In this episode, she shares, "I have a deep empathy for survivors who tell someone and nothing happens. Or they get shamed for it. I also have empathy for survivors who tell it and people don't believe them."

If, like me you haven't experienced sexual abuse, I still urge you to listen to this episode as Mary shares much about how we can be "the kind of friend who is invitational for other people's stories. The kind of friend who doesn't jump to conclusions, who listens excessively, and who errs on the side of listening and asking good questions. We change people's lives by listening to their stories."

Please visit Mary's website, www.marydemuth.com, for a wealth of resources. Additionally, you can follow her podcast, Pray Every Day, there.  For more about healing together  (#wetoo), visit www.wetoo.org.

For additional books about sexual abuse, check out her book Not Marked: Finding Hope and Healing After Sexual Abuse, which is co-written with her husband, Patrick and her memoir Thin Places.

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