Reunion, Listening, Confessing: Honouring the Women's Truth: Service of Lament, Confession and Commitment

Liturgical excerpts from the March 21-22, 2015 weekend at AMBS when the seminary community gathered with former students, employees and board members, along with friends and family chosen by women whom John Howard Yoder violated.

The goals of the gathering:

• For AMBS to host an event that ensures physical, psychological, and spiritual safety for all who choose to attend;
• For AMBS to confess its organizational failures;
• For AMBS to express sorrow and regret and to apologize for its inadequate response to women hurt by Yoder’s actions;
• For AMBS to commit to policies and practices of timely action, transparency, accountability, and preventive intervention when dealing with sexual misconduct and abuse
• For women victimized by Yoder’s behavior and AMBS’s inadequate responses to feel a new sense of release and freedom;
• For AMBS to participate in a larger denominational effort to recompense in at least a small measure some of the material costs women undertook on their road to healing;
• For AMBS and all present to pray in hope for healing, commit to solidarity with all victims (direct or indirect) of sexual and/or physical violation, renew resolve to guard the safety of everyone, and grow in moral courage as leaders for God’s reconciling mission in the world.