The evangelical church in the USA has often imported practices from the business world without first carefully sifting them to discern how well they fit with biblical teachings. The spreading use of NDAs is a recent example.
Many Christians have made the biblical case against using NDAs in a Christian environment:
VIDEO:
G.R.A.C.E. (Godly Response to Abuse in Christian Environments)
Excellent video about the use of NDAs in churches and Christian organizations featuring Scott McKnight (author of a Church Called Tov) and Boz Tchividjian (the Founder of G.R.A.C.E. and now an attorney in private practice representing people abused in churches and other Christian settings.)
Scott McKnight brings analysis of church use of NDAs from a Christian ethical perspective. Boz Tchividjian brings legal insights.
“The big issue is the … it ends up hiding sin with money… someone with power… doesn’t want their reputation soiled or stained by something they have done or said … and they are more concerned with their reputation than living in the light and telling the truth.” Calls it bribery (not in the legal sense), economic exploitation of someone. “
“Paying people off not to tell the truth.”
“This type of behavior hurts Jesus, it hurts the Gospel, it hurts Christian witness profoundly….”
PODCASTS:
Julie Roys
Dean Ortland Whistleblower Speaks Out on Workplace Bullying
Interview with Emily Hyland, whistleblower, and Paul Coughlin, founder of an anti-bullying organization to combat bullying in schools & other organizations and to build “courage, character, and leadership for life” The Protectors : Freedom from Bullying . He is the author of Raising Bully-Proof Kids, Five Secrets Great Dads Know, and No More Christian Nice Guy. Their impressive bios are included on the website.
This podcast is accompanied by a transcript.
The podcast covers NDAs, bullying, surprise terminations, differential treatment of women, the effects of bullying on the person who is the target, and the impact of one elder who had the courage to stick his neck out. The whistleblower tells what she knows now that she wishes she knew then.
“And we spoke earlier about the pattern of behavior, right, that people undergo. And when you recognize that pattern, you begin to realize you’re not crazy. And one of the things that is so painful for targets is betrayal. ” –Paul Coughlin [This is one of the purposes of this blog: to help people see patterns so that they can better discern truth]
And I’ve heard that repeatedly from people who have been victims of spiritual abuse, church abuse, retaliation, bullying. That they can handle that there’s one bad apple. … They can deal with that. What they can’t deal with, is that everybody got in line with that guy Everybody stood there silently… [the betrayal] . –Julie Roys
…when you take communion, and it starts with on the night he was betrayed. … Jesus knows what it’s like to be betrayed, and forsaken by everyone who you thought was for you and with you. I mean, to identify in that aspect of religious community is a thread of hope you can have because Jesus knows betrayal.–Emily Hyland
ARTICLES:
Diane Langberg
Non Disclosure Agreements (NDAs) and the Body of Christ – Diane Langberg
“Dr. Diane Langberg is a psychologist globally recognized for her 50 years of clinical work with trauma victims,” the author of multiple books on trauma and healing in a Christian context, a former board member of G.R.A.C.E., and more.
“…disclose means to reveal; to allow something covered to be seen; to uncover. Non-disclosure is to cover-up, hide away. To agree with something is to consent; like-mindedness. An NDA is an agreement to hide something. In the cases I have encountered it has always been an agreement to exercise power over and hide sin. “
“Dear body of Christ, to cover up sin is to leave the sinner in his/her prison of deception. You leave him/her at the mercy of the cancer that will kill them. To cover up sin is to abandon those used and tossed out by individuals and systems. To cover up sin is to be utterly unlike our Lord. “
Julie Roys
Opinion: 10 Reasons NDAs Are an Offense to God.
#NDAfree Seeks to End Christian Orgs Use of Non-Disclosure Agreements (julieroys.com)
Roys reports on a movement that began in the UK with a goal to eliminate the use of non-disclosure agreements in the church.
Christianity Today
NDAs Kept These Christians Silent. Now They’re Speaking Out.
NDAs Kept These Christians Silent. Now They’re Speaking Ou…… | News & Reporting | Christianity Today
“…the legal tools that were designed to protect tech industry “trade secrets” are widely misused to conceal abuse, preserve secrets, and protect powerful reputations without regard for the human cost.”
“It’s suffocating,” said John Sather, who signed an NDA with Cru in 2019…
At the time he signed, Sather and his wife, Chris, saw the agreement as their only way out of Cru. They said they didn’t think too much about the consequences of a contract that committed them to silence in perpetuity.
“…I’ve learned in therapy how important it is to speak, but an NDA is this suffocating thing, when the very thing you so desperately want to do is tell your story.”
Ministry Watch
The Wartburg Watch
Is the Use of NDAs in Christian Churches and Organizations Ethically Sound? No, Says #NDAfree
This post gives an excellent overview of NDAs by summarizing articles by Forbes, Christianity Today, Julie Roys, and the #NDAfree website.
Religion News Service
NDAs are a tool for toxic church cultures
In 2019, pastor Rick Warren told a reporter why Saddleback Church — one of the most dynamic megachurches worldwide — didn’t use nondisclosure agreements: “We believe that our competition is not other churches, but rather the world, the flesh, and the devil.”
“In many large churches and organizations, NDAs have served to conceal the truth and to protect the image of top leaders, allowing them to continue harming others entrusted to their care.
Telling the truth, however negative, about someone else isn’t gossip or slander.”
“We have to face the fact that the existence of NDAs in Christian organizations is a worse witness for the church than any information that might come out in their absence. The concealment of truth and the appearance of image management are more damaging than the truth.”
