Investigation priorities

There is so much to learn and discuss about the Ethnos360 abuse investigations that I wasn't sure where to begin. I decided to start with a little behind-the-scenes commentary shared by ABWE and Pii, the investigators who conducted both an ABWE investigation and several Ethnos360 investigations. In my opinion, what Ethnos360 says publicly about their investigations does not line up with their actions, and what is said in private may be a better indication of their priorities.

According to the Orlando Sentinel, at the time of the Fanda report conducted by GRACE, the CEO of New Tribes Mission responded, “We’ve been very transparent in this process,” Brown said. “We feel like we’ve been very vulnerable as well, and we’re ok with that. We’re just committed to remain transparent and accountable.” This sounds appropriate and ethical. It's a sentiment that caused many to trust that Ethnos360's policies and responses going forward would be better.

The ABWE report by Pii, tells a different story about Ethnos360 leadership. It contains a whole section (page 254) on the relationship between ABWE and Ethnos360, then New Tribes Mission. The interactions relayed purportedly occurred within a year of the release of the Fanda report. They describe Ethnos360 leadership warning ABWE not to hire GRACE. Ethnos360 leadership is quoted as saying, "...we actually thought we could control the information."

The vast difference between the public, "We're just committed to remain transparent and accountable" and private "...we actually thought we could control the information" is staggering. This implies that Ethnos360 wants you to believe something about their integrity and transparency that they know is false.

The report also discusses Ethnos360's recommendation of a paper co-authored by Theresa Sidebotham, who was subsequently hired by Ethnos360 to coordinate their investigations. This paper, entitled "Are Protestant Ministries a New Market? Lessons learned from the Catholic Sexual Abuse Scandal," is a primer on institutional protection at the expense of victims, in my opinion. It describes sex abuse allegations as a "market" and "attack" rather than a legitimate issue. I plan to discuss this paper more in depth at a later date, but this Pii report (pages 255-259) does a great job of fairly concisely describing the problems with this paper and therefore the beliefs of Theresa Sidebotham and Ethnos360 regarding abuse.

In conclusion, although Ethnos360 has been fairly successful at portraying an image of care and contrition, their actions and private words are shockingly opposite.