Benckhuysen appointed director of CRC Safe Church Ministry
The executive committee of the Council of Delegates voted unanimously to appoint Dr. Amanda Benckhuysen to the position of director of Safe Church Ministry for the Christian Reformed Church in North America.Benckhuysen previously served as professor of Old Testament at Calvin Theological Seminary. She also taught at the University of Dubuque (Iowa) Theological Seminary and was a campus minister at the University of Michigan in Ann Arbor.
"While I love teaching, for a number of years now I have felt a desire to explore other gifts and take on new challenges," Benckhuysen explained in her application letter.
The position of director of Safe Church Ministry drew her attention because of the opportunity to use so much of her experience in creating, teaching, writing, mentoring, and consulting for a cause that is near to her heart.
Safe Church began in 1994 after a 1989 synodical study committee on abuse found that 28 percent of adults in the CRC had experienced physical, sexual, or emotional abuse and that 15 percent of adults in the CRC had abused another person physically, sexually, or emotionally. The Office of Abuse Prevention (later renamed Safe Church Ministry) was tasked with equipping congregations in abuse awareness, prevention and response.
