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# Responding to Sexual Abuse in The Church with Dr. Justin Holcomb - Mere Orthodoxy | Christianity, Politics, and Culture
- URL: https://mereorthodoxy.com/responding-sexual-abuse-church-dr-justin-holcomb/
- Published: 2019-05-03T05:00:00.000Z
- Updated: 2026-05-18T16:07:19.000Z
- Description: Matt and Alastair sit down with Dr. Justin Holcomb to discuss the difficult topic of sexual abuse in the church and how to identify and prevent it. Timestamps: Intro + The constructive aspects in evangelicalism’s new discussion surrounding sexual abuse […]
- Author: Mere Orthodoxy
- Tags: Caleb Wait

Matt and Alastair sit down with Dr. Justin Holcomb to discuss the difficult topic of sexual abuse in the church and how to identify and prevent it.

**Timestamps:**

Intro + The constructive aspects in evangelicalism’s new discussion surrounding sexual abuse \[0:00 – 7:00\]

The importance of this conversation and how it helps us refine our theology of forgiveness \[7:00 – 14:10\]

How our theology can help us deal with the wrong we have played in these matters \[14:15 – 19:00\]

Issues around accusations and maintaining a presumption of innocence \[19:00 – 29:18\]

How our justice is penultimate to God’s justice \[29:18 – 33:36\]

Policies and procedures and creating a transparent culture \[33:36 – 39:20\]

How we can address the Gospel to people’s bodies \[39:20 – 46:50\]

**Resources mentioned:**

[justinholcomb.com](http://justinholcomb.com/?ref=mereorthodoxy.com)

[*Rid of My Disgrace: Hope and Healing For Victims of Sexual Assault*](https://www.amazon.com/Rid-My-Disgrace-Healing-Victims/dp/1433515989?ref=mereorthodoxy.com)

[*God Made All of Me: A Book To Help Children Protect Their Bodies*](https://www.amazon.com/God-Made-All-Me-Children/dp/1942572301/ref=pd%5Flpo%5Fsbs%5F14%5Ft%5F2?%5Fencoding=UTF8&psc=1&refRID=4N61F55CAW3D1VH0WNC7&ref=mereorthodoxy.com)

[netgrace.org – Godly Response to Abuse in The Christian Environment](https://www.netgrace.org/?ref=mereorthodoxy.com)

[Valued: a conference seeking to mobilize and equip churches and believers to: biblically, wisely, and lovingly understand, prevent, identify, and respond to sexual abuse and assault, as Jesus Christ’s Church.](https://www.valuedconference.com/?ref=mereorthodoxy.com)

If you’re interested in supporting the show financially, you can check out our Patreon [here](https://www.patreon.com/merefidelity?ty=h&ref=mereorthodoxy.com).

Finally, as always, follow [Derek](https://twitter.com/dzrishmawy?ref=mereorthodoxy.com), [Andrew](https://twitter.com/ajwtheology?ref=mereorthodoxy.com), and [Alastair](https://twitter.com/zugzwanged?ref=mereorthodoxy.com) for more tweet-sized brilliance. Thanks to [Timothy Motte](https://twitter.com/biotrom?ref=mereorthodoxy.com) for his sound editing work. [And thanks to The Joy Eternal for lending us their music, which everybody should download out of gratitude for their kindness.](http://www.noisetrade.com/thejoyeternal/a-sweet-and-bitter-providence-single?ref=mereorthodoxy.com)