Manipulation, control, and blame

In an interview, a New Tribes Mission/Ethnos360 MK and former missionary shared his experience of being asked to be on a panel to evaluate the report from an abuse investigation into an MK school in Brazil (Vianopolis) and make recommendations for how the mission should respond. He describes reviewing a nearly 200-page report detailing the abuses that occurred and putting extensive effort into learning about and understanding the horrific experiences of MKs at this school. He recounts asking Brian Coombs and Brian Shortmeier if they would listen to and apply the panel's recommendations, and he was told they would accept and not change them.

He goes on to explain that, although Ethnos360/New Tribes Mission leadership was saying they would accept their recommendations, behind the scenes leadership had created a matrix and tried to figure out all of the things the panel may say and generate outcomes for those things so that they could direct the panel's thoughts, and therefore direct the outcomes. This is in clear contrast to how leadership was representing themselves as open, transparent, and accountable.

At this same time, leadership was allegedly expressing to their members that the panels were completely independent and refusing to take responsibility for the outcome of the investigations because, according to them, it was the panel who made the decisions, and, therefore, leadership couldn't be blamed for the outcome. Additionally, when Ethnos360/New Tribes Mission members went to the leadership with concerns about the weak response to specific abuse within the organization, leadership allegedly responded that there was nothing they could do because the investigators, panel, and/or matrix dictated their response.

Please step back and take in the manipulation here. Ethnos360 leadership allegedly endeavored to control each part of the process (created the matrix and attempted to control the panel's direction and therefore outcomes) and then blamed the panel and matrix for the outcomes they were allegedly guiding. This is not only dishonest but, in my opinion, unethical, and yet it's right in line with who Ethnos360 leadership has shown themselves to be, more interested in controlling the information than truth, transparency, and accountability.