Booklist Review

Bill Anderson, pastor to a large rurban congregation, was confronted with reports of sexual abuse in the church's nursery, and this is his harrowing account of how he dealt with it. First came the complaints of a two-year-old boy, then of a four-year-old girl. Suspicions centered on an adult male all of the children were afraid of, but luckily, since the man was innocent, he was not confronted. The abuser turned out to be a shy, slight eleven-year-old boy from a troubled home. He had molested some 64 children, which sent shockwaves through the church and the community, particularly when the story hit the papers. Whether your perspective is Christian, secular, or something else, this is a frank and helpful book for dealing with child abuse. Anderson discusses the extent of the problem in churches and dissuades the reader of every popular myth--for instance, that abusers are usually "dirty old men." They seldom are. He talks of networking with Christian professionals and with police, social workers, and the media. He deals at length with all the species of denial that attend child abuse. A sobering, valuable book. ~--John Mort