My heart aches for everybody involved at times like these; for the people abused and the accused, for the guilty and the innocent.

Nobody wins, everybody hurts. It is painful and not the way it’s meant to be.

It can be easy to point fingers and blame a group of people or an organisation such as the church. However, this doesn’t help anyone move forward in any way.

As a church leader, I am increasingly aware these situations do not help people trust those of us who are leaders, or instil confidence in our ability to care for and protect those in our care.

It’s not just as a church leader that I feel that responsibility.

As a husband and a father, I have the responsibility and the privilege to care for and protect my wife and kids. Nobody else gets to do that and it’s an honour.

One of the highest callings in my life is to love people the way Jesus first loved me. Jesus told His disciples that the world would know they were His disciples by the way they loved one another. I believe that to be true for those who follow Jesus today.

The way I love people should show you that I am a follower of Jesus.

I want anybody to be able to trust me and feel safe around me. But not only around me, around any husband, dad or church leader. Around any leader. For that matter, around anybody. 

It is a sad fact that we have to be mindful of who we feel safe with, and who could pose a risk. I hope and pray that in the years ahead, leaders will restore the trust that has been broken.

I hope that those of us in positions of authority, at home, in the church or another business or organisation, will be above reproach, and not considered above the law. I hope that we will love, and love well, the way Jesus first loved us.

Jarrod Risson, Horsham Church of Christ on behalf of the Horsham Christian Ministers Association