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Survivors of Protestant church abuse just launched ProtestantAccountability.org - a searchable database of more than 2,700 people accused of committing or covering up sexual abuse in churches. Christianity Today reports it was built with help from Catholic survivor networks, because Protestantism never had an all-encompassing public catalog the way Catholics do.

Chellee Taylor, herself a Southern Baptist abuse survivor, put it plainly: she does not want to burn down the church; she wants to dismantle the parts that keep harming people. The site does not investigate. It gathers already public records - indictments, lawsuits, news reports - so churches can screen hires across denominations and parents can look before they trust.

Some Protestant denominations have talked about implementing something like this, with little to show. So it has been taken up by survivors who are banding together to bring the accountability that should have been baked into the system. Jesus and Paul warned about false shepherds who abuse the sheep in their care. I hope that more churches and denominations use these tools to report and filter "leaders" with known problems. And beyond that, true leaders should be equipping their people to spot the many early warning signs that can prevent abuse and depose unhealthy leaders quickly.

Accountability is not optional for people who claim to follow Jesus.

Read the full article on CT:

Church Abuse Survivors Launch Protestant Database - Christianity Today

Most calendars reset in January. A large part of the historic church resets today.

September 1 is the Eastern Church New Year, the Indiction. The First Council of Nicaea put the year here. Rome’s old tax cycle and the Jewish civil calendar already clustered around this season. Orthodox tradition says this is also when Jesus stood in the Nazareth synagogue and read Isaiah 61 -- to preach good news to the poor, liberty to the captives, sight to the blind, and “the acceptable year of the Lord” (Luke 4).

It would never have occurred to me that the date on which Jesus read this scripture should become the date of the New Year for God's people. I don't believe that is what Jesus intended, but it is interesting how in our desire to honor God and take Him seriously we sometimes read more into His words than He put into them. For me, the beautiful thing about the Church New Year is remembering that our faith is about connecting our thoughts and deeds back to the things Jesus said and did.

This is not an endorsement of Orthodoxy, just an interesting piece of history. Read more about Indiction here:

Church New Year — Orthodox Church in America

More interesting history on this date:

• 1775 — King George’s court will not receive the Olive Branch Petition. Last serious colonial plea for peace. Rejection of this petition helped convince many colonists that the king would not mediate for them.
• 1807 — Aaron Burr acquitted of treason. High bar for “treason,” still a live constitutional argument.
• 1878 — Emma Nutt, first woman telephone operator (Boston).
• 1985 — Titanic wreck found. Fascination and controversy swirled over news that the Titanic had been found on the sea floor.