Hunter Street Baptist Church, Hooverville, AL, Author Helmsb, (Public Domain)
We continue with our examination of the sex scandals in America’s churches and elsewhere.
Anglican Church (Church of England)
A. Anglican Church in North America
The Anglican Church in North America, which broke with the Episcopal Church in 2009 over gay clergy and the authority of Scripture, is confronted by scandals involving both Archbishop Stephen Wood (the denomination’s chief official) and Bishop Stewart Ruch III, who leads a Midwestern diocese [1A].
Claier Buxton, a former children’s ministry director, has accused Wood (a 62 y.o. married father of four) of sexually harassing her in 2024, shortly before his election [1B]. Buxton, also, alleges Wood gave her thousands of dollars from church funds [1C].
After parishioners and clergy accused Ruch of enabling men with histories of violence or sexual misconduct to serve in church roles, he was unanimously acquitted in 2025 by an ecclesiastical court [1D][2].
B. Canada
In 2015, the Anglican Church of Canada finally issued an apology for its failure to report to police a written confession in 1994 by priest and serial predator Gordon Goichi Nakayama who abused over 300 children, primarily boys ages 3-20, over the course of 62 years in ministry [3A].
C. England and Wales
There have been many cases of child sexual abuse in the Church of England and Anglican Church in Wales [3B].
In the 1970s, Jeremy Dowling, a lay minister and member of the general synod, was accused of sexual abuse and sadistic behavior at schools [3C]. Peter Halliday, a choirmaster and schoolmaster who had informed the church he had abused children in the 1990s, was allowed to continue working with children [3D]. Halliday was at last convicted in 2007. In 2008, Colin Pritchard, a vicar, was convicted of sexually abusing two boys [3E].
The Church of England issued a rare public apology in response to a damning report about its failure to protect and care for abuse victims [3F][4].
D. Australia
A 2013 Australian study found that Anglican child sexual abuse cases were 1/10 the number of those in the Roman Catholic child sex abuse scandal [3G].
This is far from consoling, particularly since a 2016 investigation centering on the Church of England Boys’ Society prompted Peter Hollingsworth, the former Anglican Archbishop of Brisbane, to acknowledge that his handling of such cases between 1989 and 2001 involved serious errors of judgment [3H].
E. New Zealand
The Anglican Church in New Zealand has historically had instances of sexual abuse of children. This abuse took place both in churches and church-run schools [3I]. In 2021, as part of a nationwide inquiry, it was determined that many documents regarding such abuse in the 1990s had gone missing [3J].
Southern Baptist Church
In 2022, an investigation by Guidepost Solutions revealed a widespread pattern of sexual abuse in the Southern Baptist Church from 2001 to 2021 [5][6]. Approximately 380 clergy, lay leaders, and volunteers faced allegations of sexual misconduct, leaving over 700 victims in their wake [7A].
The misconduct was abetted by the Southern Baptist Convention’s transfer of sex offenders to other communities, and its reluctance to address the culture of abuse [7B][8]. At least, ten Southern Baptist churches unknowingly welcomed pastors, ministers, and volunteers who had already been charged with sexual misconduct [7C].
Some survivors of sexual assault were asked to get abortions for the children conceived during encounters with clergy [7D].
Methodist Church
The United Methodist Church acknowledges that clergy and staff committed acts of sexual misconduct [9]. Adults were sexually harassed by their pastor. Children were abused. Staff members viewed pornographic material on their church computers.
An apology was issued in 2024 for the way the denomination prevented predators from being held accountable [10].
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[1A through 1D] Religion Unplugged, “Archbishop Wood Accused of Misconduct” by Mark Kellner, 10/25/25, https://religionunplugged.com/news/2025/10/25/anglican-church-archbishop-wood-accused-of-misconduct-abuse-of-power.
[2] American Anglican Council, “Summary of the Final Order in the Trial of Bishop Stewart Ruch”, 12/16/25, https://americananglican.org/summary-of-the-final-order-in-the-trial-of-bishop-stewart-ruch/.
[3A through 3J] Wikipedia, “Anglican communion sexual abuse cases”, https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Anglican_Communion_sexual_abuse_cases.
[4] Independent Inquiry Child Sexual Abuse, “The Anglican Church Investigation Report” by Prof. Alexis Jay OBE, Prof. Sir Malcolm Evans KCMG OBE, Ivor Frank, and Drusilla Sharpling OBE, October 2020, https://www.iicsa.org.uk/reports-recommendations/publications/investigation/anglican-church.html.
[5] Helping Survivors, “Southern Baptist Church Sexual Abuse” by Kathryn Kosmides, 5/8/26, https://helpingsurvivors.org/clergy-sex-abuse/southern-baptist/.
[6] Scribd, “Southern Baptist Sexual Abuse Overview”, https://www.scribd.com/document/576005098/Baptist-church-s-sex-offenders.
[7A through 7D] Wikipedia, “Sexual abuse in Southern Baptist churches”, https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sexual_abuse_cases_in_Southern_Baptist_churches.
[8] The Gospel Coalition (TGC), “The FAQs: Report Reveals Sexual Abuse Cover-Up by Southern Baptist Entity” Joe Carter, 5/23/22, https://www.thegospelcoalition.org/article/faqs-sexual-abuse-southern-baptist/.
[9] United Methodist Church, “Sexual misconduct at church: what every member should know”, 6/9/15, https://www.umc.org/en/content/sexual-misconduct-at-church-what-every-member-should-know.
[10] UM News, “Church apologizes for sexual misconduct” by Jessica Brodie, 5/3/24, https://www.umnews.org/en/news/church-apologizes-for-sexual-misconduct.
This series will conclude next week.
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A Voice Reclaimed, Surviving Child Abuse and More 
Sadly, FAC’s former pastor here in Lex was also charged with sexual harassment and spiritual abuse. Thankfully, no children were involved and our local board and district officials have dealt with the matter according to Biblical principles.
I wish I had stronger words to use than alarming or unacceptable in relation to these instances. Not long ago I had a discussion with an official in a denomination with an international presence, and he told me of a reality that I would have never thought possible. He related to me that, on more than occasion, he has had to step into the affairs of a local church because the leadership thought it appropriate to accept a convicted sex offender for a position working with children.
Fortunately, decisive action was taken to ensure that didn’t happen, and would never be acceptable. Still, it was a circumstance that I would never had thought to be a realistic possibility. Clearly, there are far more variables and issues related to abuse than I have ever been aware of, and I badly want to believe that not accepting them would be a universal human value. There’s obviously much work to be done.
Have a blessed week, Anna!
Yes, it is beyond disheartening, Scott. I don’t know how God can restrain His hand of judgment much longer.
May you have a blessed week, too.
Sadly, Anna, I’ve reached the point where I’m starting to think that should the frequency of sexual abuse by clergy ever be fully known, it would be enough to cause any rational person to want to avoid the Church altogether. I cannot seem to get past the question of “what have we done to Christ’s Church”?
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Anna, These reports of sexual abuse are shocking. How is it possible? How can church leadership send an abuser to another church?! Not only is it evil, it is void of any integrity! These leaders must be charlatans, masquerading as ministers. There is no excuse!
Thank you for exposing this evil.
I’ll perhaps add my own analysis to this topic in a nect post. During my last visit to Ireland, I witnessed what appeared to be a profound collapse of the Catholic Church’s moral authority. The consequences extended far beyond declining attendance or reduced trust; they seemed to affect how entire communities perceived clergy and religious institutions.
As a volunteer analyst within a predator-tracking group, I may also be able to offer some observations on a related question: once the Catholic Church in Ireland became a significantly more hostile environment for predators due to increased scrutiny and diminished automatic trust, where did those individuals redirect their attention? Understanding that shift may tell us as much about predators and their methods as the scandals themselves.
How wonderful that you serve in such a capacity, Hubert. I very much value your input.
Such a difficult subject Anna, and one so prevalent it’s easy to sink into despair. For me the awful part is the enabling and cover ups that allow stuff like this to continue. It usually takes a village plumb full of excuses, denial, minimizing, victim blaming, and just plain ignorance.
Something I have to keep in mind, predators often groom entire congregations. They charm and fool people, they bad mouth victims, they create and build an environment where it is more likely they won’t be held accountable. Sometimes being plain angry with people who looked the other way is appropriate, but very often they are deceived and manipulated themselves and don’t even realize it.
You make a valid point, Gabrielle. Even adults can be groomed. I have encountered this kind of grooming at churches more than once.
But, in my view, there is a distinction between the grooming of children, and the grooming of adults. Adults have (or should have) more judgment than children. And church elders are under a duty to be far more vigilant to protect the most vulnerable in their congregations than they have been.
I believe two factors unrelated to grooming contributed to this tragedy. First, these religious institutions sought to protect themselves, not their members. Second, these institutions granted “forgiveness” without genuine repentance on a predator’s part.
Victims were often ignored or silenced. Moreover, known predators were allowed access to fresh victims. This reflects a misunderstanding of the very concept of forgiveness which requires both a change of heart on the part of the offenders, and an attempt to make the victims whole which clearly such predators were not interested in doing and, frankly, could never do.
If these institutions claimed to offer “forgiveness” to predators and, most especially, since they chose to shield those predators, they took on the responsibility of at least making amends to victims. In that they, also, failed miserably.
Such a sad sinful world and it creeps into Evangelical churches around the world it seems
Some of the world’s worst villains hide behind religious superiority.
Too right.
John Smyth’s abuse of children and Justin Welby (former Archbishop of Canterbury) covering these crimes means for corruption all the way up the church hierarchy. It is terrible when people put their faith and trust in these institutions yet they let them down 😔
I could not agree more, Ravishank.
Thank you, Anna, for this series of posts. Awareness about sexual abuse in the church has never been higher, but I think the general instinct is still to deny that it can occur in the “better” churches. Where wheat and tares exist together we need to be vigilant in every church congregation and not tolerate any action to either sweep incidents under the rug nor deny efforts to expose and prosecute abusers.
So right, Dora.