Woman says she was abused by church leaders, files lawsuit
PORTLAND, Ore. – An Oregon woman who has accused two former church leaders of sexual abuse is now suing the church for ignoring it for years.
The 29-year-old woman filed a civil lawsuit Wednesday, suing the Apostolic Faith Church for the abuse she claims happened more than 20 years ago. Neither of the men she named in the lawsuit were ever arrested or charged with a crime.
The woman, who agreed to tell her story if her name was not disclosed, said the Apostolic Faith Church ignored her repeated pleas for help. She said starting at the age of 4, the assistant minister and a day care worker at the church each sexually abused her.
"I really didn't know that was wrong. I was too young to decipher," she said Wednesday.
Her lawsuit against the Apostolic Faith Church and Apostolic Faith Day Care claims "... physical injury mental injury, sexual abuse and sexual exploitation of Plaintiff while she was a minor child."
She said she wasn't alone.
"I know at least a couple – at least a couple – that three, four, five – that were in the day care that were abused along with me. As far as the church here in the Northwest, personally, I know of dozens," she said. "Over the last couple of months I've found out many, many more, and it's about time that it stops."
She claimed the church also knew the day care worker had previously been accused of sexually abusing a family member and was considered by child services to be "a dangerous risk to children, including plaintiff ... was not supposed to be alone with children," according to the lawsuit.
She said she wants to hold the church accountable for looking the other way, ignoring her pleas for help, and help others do the same.
"I realized that one way to help a lot of the friends that I knew in this church that were also victims was to come forward and let them see my face and show them that I’m not scared to let people know what was done to me," she said.
The Apostolic Faith Church is a worldwide Pentecostal missionary church but it's headquartered in Portland.
KATU News asked the church for a response to the lawsuit and was directed to the youth minister who said the church had not been served with the lawsuit.
KATU News has chosen not to name either of the accused men because neither has been charged with a crime.
The same Apostolic Faith Church was involved in a separate lawsuit in 1994. The plaintiff in that case accused the same day care worker of sexual abuse while she was enrolled in the church day care.
The church settled that case and no criminal charges were filed.
It seems that there might be an ongoing problem that no one is talking about at this church. It's definitely kind of scary because I know a lot of people that attend this church including close family.  I need feedback!
Â
Â
Â
I am very thankful there are those of you who think 20 years is too long to recover from this and that she should just move on with her life. It means somebody stuck up for you a time or two as a kid and taught you how to stay clear of having a manipulated, dysfunctional, shame-filled hell of a childhood.
I did not have such luck. I grew up in this church. My cousin, the son of a respected minister and a good friend of my dadâs, spent almost a decade sexually using/abusing/exploiting me and his two younger siblings.
Â
I finally got my head pulled far enough of the fog of my manipulative family and upbringing to file a police report 14 years after the last incident took place (if you have to ask why it took me so long, re-read my first two sentences). After I was done, the police told me there was nothing they could do because the statute of limitations had expired. My parents and my cousin's parents sent me coordinated certified letters denying anything ever happened, and told my wife and me how screwed up we were to think this sort of thing would ever be tolerated in their houses.
Â
My cousinâs father has since been appointed/promoted to an overseer, and my cousin has been in charge of youth ministry at a branch church back east somewhere for the past 8 or so years. It really is business as usual, as though nothing ever happened except for that unsaved troublemaker (me) who tried to break up such a "good family" (yeah, I really was told that).
It is really unfortunate that some of the comments here are quick to victimize the woman again in coming to the defence of the cultic organization that knew full well that there was a rampant problem of sexual abuse but deliberately choose to try and silence those that were abused and anyone that would dare come to their defence The fact that they were involved in an out of court settlement is ample proof that they were fully aware.The same people preached against Miachel Jackson.and his escapades with boys.
I personally grew up in this organization and am aware of several absolutely devastating things that the leadership of this organization have perpatrated on many of their members with impunity. It is no wonder that this is a organization in decline and maybe the sunami of complainants to come will be the accounting thats long over due. Second only to the sexual abuse, is the fact that the prevalling belief in the AF is that they live everday above sin and that qualifies them to stand in judgement of anyone else that isn t affiliated with them or profess to believe all the manmade doctrine and dogma that is key to being accepted as an AFer  And fare warning to you diehard AFers you are being schooled in hypocricy each and every day that you don t deal with the cover up and intimidation to those who would seek accountability.
The girl was 4, & she prob wants to avoid harassment by current members. This church was sued in the early 90s over this same issue & the same people, one the grandson of the former General Overseer whose mother ran the daycare center. At that time, the church managed to get the plaintiffs to accept an out-of-court no $$ settlement, dropping financial compensation if the church leadership promised to apologize publicly - then those (ex) members would drop the suit. the suit was dropped, no finances were exchanged & guess what, the so-called "apology" involved a Sunday night speech about "some people out there who want to persecute us, get money from us, cast blame upon our perfect character," etc etc. It was not an apology or an acknowledgement. For many of those parents, they felt their kids had suffered enough & they also were still intimidated by the church hierarchy which was very strict & conformist, where they had raised to accept all those in authority without question. Another side effect of this act was that the west coast churches (they have other churches in other cities & countries) lost about half of its membership. Don't make excuses for these "leaders" or members of "leading families" - at the time, the church did their best to make excuses, cover it up & do what they could to stop the lawsuit. They did not care about the victims or their families at all.
So she won't disclose her name but allows a close up head shot?
For all you armchair lawyers, detectives and jurors out there, let's review the facts and ask some questions. First, why is the media distorting facts? "Two church leaders?" Completely false. One, was the young son of the daycare owner (just like my children help out at my work when I get busy) her children helped her... The other, an elderly gentleman who was a retired minister, father and grandfather, much loved by his community - but careful in the way he carried himself - a gentleman, dead for 15 years, who cannot defend his name. That took some cleverness and thought.
Â
Secondly, she says that she told her parents. This church family does not condone abuse in any shape or form, and I and many others are mandated reporters by law. If her parents (presumably, not mandated reporters) had informed anybody at the church, the authorities would have been informed, since the parents didn't care enough to do so, to protect their daughter (and all the others she knew about, presumably). Which brings another question to mind - WHY would parents not put their child's welfare above anything else?Â
Â
Lastly, and this of course is the crux as to whether this young lady is believable... If, IF as she states that she doesn't want this abuse to happen to anyone else, WHY is she not pursuing this criminally to have the "alleged abuser" (the one that is still alive) his butt thrown in prison? THAT would prove that she is not out for money, that she didn't hold off on this case until right before the statute of limitations ran out on her, and that she is believable. Oh, and then she ought to have her attorney sue her parents for neglect. They did not believe or protect her from the age of four years old onward.
 @prof here are a few facts: The one accused was not a "young son" helping mommy straighten up her desk. He was the grandson of the worldwide church leader, & he was 20 or so years old at the time of this accusation (1986).  Child Protective Services had a very thick file of complaints about him but had trouble pursuing anything legal as many parents were afraid to do anything that would go against the church. However, a lawsuit was finally brought, & he confessed to the crime, but the church's lawyers later told him to retract his statement, which he did. We don't know why the parents didn't pursue this further at the time (aside from receiving false promises that a public apology would be made), but like many raised in this organization, the church comes first - over everything. Most of those parents did leave the church, so hence removed their children from danger & CPS closed down the day care center. As to why this victim is not suing the perpetrator, it is not clear if another lawsuit can be brought  for the same crime after someone has been "cleared" or if there might not be another lawsuit in the works.
A few more facts: this man also molested his younger sister, and his young daughter. At that time, his wife found it out, she did pursue it & they soon divorced. I am not pretending to be Perry Mason, just an unwitting observer who is sadly aware of a few facts, which seem to be lacking in some of these posts.
 @prof Here is the text of an email that I sent to KATU to address the inaccuracy of the headline:
Â
I am writing in regards to the story "Woman says she was abused by church leaders, files lawsuit" found at katu.com. This headline is incorrect. I am familiar with the accuser and the two men that are accused, and I attended the church during the time period that the lawsuit involves. The accused men were not leaders in the church. One (name deleted, the daycare worker) was related to a leader and the other one (name deleted) was a low ranking minister. I imagine that calling them church leaders might make for a more compelling headline, but it is not accurate. I hope that this exaggeration is an honest mistake and not an intentional effort to sensationalize. Hundreds of your viewers who used to attend or still attend the church will undoubtedly recognize this mistake, and I believe it damages the credibility of KATU news.
Â
I am deeply saddened to hear that someone I knew was abused. At the same time, I am disappointed when I see the news reported incorrectly. I will be interested to see whether or not this mistake is rectified.
Â
Thank you for your time.
Â
End of email.
Â
So far, no response.
Sounds like this lady thinks she  may have hit the lawsuit lottery.  20 years is a very very long time to start a lawsuit.
She states "I really didn't know that was wrong. I was too young to decipher" so at what point did she bring this to the attention of the church leaders? It sounds like she never said anything...
20 years ago? little hard paying the bills?? I do not for the life of me understand why people wait twenty 20 years later .... sorry that time has come and gone....
And I remember being abused by the tooth fairy when I was 5 years of age! Now how much money can I get! Isn't that what is important?
as i start thinking about my life there [once you are out from there] i realize i could probably write a book.
i do remember the head leader's daughter was allowed to start up a paying daycare and pre-school back in the early 90's the only time anyone was ever able to use church facilities for their own profit. she employed here own kids and the rumor was her son was caught abusing at least 1 child. the school was suddenly shut down and everything was hushed up. That's what happens at a church where they say they live above sin each and every day, the sins are hushed up and they believe no one will find out. scary thing is i still have family in this place
it doesn't matter if they don't go to the church now if the church knew about it and hushed it up. I heard rumors about the first abuse case in 94 when i still went there. the person was in the family of the main leader. this family was allowed to do things others were preached to that it was wrong. i have a family member who as an adult was molested by one of their so called preachers
 @former af I am also a former af member. However, my family still attend this church. I was born and raised here and I still love it. Everyone says that they "weren't allowed" to do things but that's a bunch of BS. I grew up happy, doing the things I wanted to do and was never judged for it. Stop being so bitter and move on with your life. If you are so done with the church, stop trying to involve yourself.
 @OhBother Perhaps you are a younger member.  Prior to the 1990s the rules were very strict including no TV, no movies, no involvement in "worldly" amusements, nothing like that - and the dress codes were pretty strident also.  For women, sleeves and hemlines had to be a certain length, the hair could not be short, no pants or shorts. no makeup, no coloring the hair and on and on - I can't recall all the petty little rules they had.  The men only had to have short hair.  They could pretty much do as they pleased otherwise.  After several mass exits from the place, one of which occurred after this scandal took place, they had to relax the rules or they might have lost more people.  I know this because I was raised there and i still have family members who go there.  And I'm pretty sure that even now they would not approve of your little "BS" statement (if they knew what BS stands for) since they are highly anti-profanity.  As for not involving ourselves, yes, many of us have moved on and would like to forget the place.  Sadly, since many of us still have family members there, we can't actually be "not involved" since the church is so often the subject of conversations at family gatherings.  So no, we are not trying to involve ourselves.  Rather, we would like not to involve ourselves - if only we would be allowed to, but we aren't.  Â
 @OhBother  @former af first off they don't have members, and if you don't go there anymore you must not still love it and must not believe what they do, so that makes you as well as me going to hell
 @OhBother  @former af you are clearly in denial about something. not only do af attendees or "members" judge those who do not follow their beliefs, they also judge their own flock who may not line up to their ideas. they are probably praying for you right now & view all of your attendance as hope that you will return to the fold soon.
 @former af And unlike people like you, I don't just show up on "major" church events such as the first day of camp meeting or midsummer night concert.
 @former af  @OhBother I do still go there. I'm not "saved" but I'm not judged because of it. I enjoy going to church activities, services, concerts, etc. And yes, they do have members. Everything is voluntary. Stop being so bitter. I won't be going to hell. That's a strong accusation for "someone of God".
 @Owt_Raged  @OhBother already have thank you and thanks to God for grace
 @former af  @OhBother You don't have to enter a building to follow a faith.
Lots of churches out there have people in charge who are less than perfect.
Perhaps if you looked, you could find a place where you fit in better.
This is a peaceful church which has stuck with its founding beliefs. I know she used to attend the church. The 2 men she said had abused her have not been attending the church for a long time. May the Lord lead her peaceable.
Ooo @123ImFree - so you are you saying that the church shouldn't be held responsible for having these people in leadership positions and ruining several childrens lives?Â
Yeah of course I'll say that. Just because the church had a pedo in a leadership position (If that turns out to be accurate itself) doesnt bring fault to the church. Unless of course they knew about it or covered it up. Duh.
 @MacNCheez the church knew about it in the 90s & managed to cover it up then, & somehow get the previous plaintiffs to drop their suit, except for one who settled out of court.
 @MacNCheez They did cover it up.
Why do these people wait so danged long??? She was four....after all these years...how much does she really remember? I'm thinking this probably did happen...but how much easier it would have been if she could have stepped forward when particulars were still in her memory. I don't get it.
 @Bewitchin1 Obviously you have never been a victim of sexual abuse. I was when I was young. It's hard to talk about it. VERY hard. Heck, for years, I thought that happened to all boys girls: like it was normal.Â
Â
Everyone hadles it differently. Some can talk about it right away, some, it takes years to even come to terms with it.Â
Â
IT comes down to the person, and, the severity of what actually happened.Â
 @Keri Atkins  @Bewitchin1 Keri, you hit the nail on the head perfectly. Takes victims/survivors years to deal with and face what happened... plus back in the day there was no one hardly coming forward and no support for anyone who did, but lots of verbal/emotional persecution just like we see on this forum. This is what victims fear and kids/teens usually are not strong enough in themselves to speak up over all that. Late 20's /early 30s is often about the age the ticking time-bomb of childhood sex abuse trauma begins to hit full-force.
@Bewitchin1 - obviously you don't remember how awkward and insecure being a child can be growing up!Â
Â
I'm sure you believe that at 5 years old children have enough cognitive ability to call the police and report child sex abuse!
Â
#moron
 @Janice Payne  @Bewitchin1 I can't recall details. I think a teacher looked at my the wrong way in Kindergarden and I didn't like it. I think I'll hire a lwayer, push for ... ohh, let's say about $3.2 milion.
Â
Janie = #moron.Â
You're the moron if you think a woman of 18 can't speak up???  Where did I say anything about that she should have come forward at FOUR...not 5. If she is SOOOOO insecure to come forward and say something to someone when she turned 15, or 16...or 18...but wait until she's 29??!!!??? Get a brain already.
This church is out of control! The same thing happened with the pastor where I lived. He was having the youth from the church over for sleep overs while his wife was out of town. He took most of their earnings using it to buy an opulent house, 3 cadillacs, and cable tv. NONE of that was allowed to the other members, and forced to live as paupers. I was once told I was going to burn in hell because I wore shorts and a tank top. These people are brainwashed fanatics!
btw! at my church...we wear shorts/tank tops and hats too! Not like ALL churches, we know
God doesn't save us by the cloths we wear!
PDXBear, I am not sure how the pastor of your church forced the members of the church to live like paupers! I mean they have free will and can work right? Also I think we need to be careful in making statements that "the church" isn't referring to all churches, as they are not all alike! It's like saying all white people are... or all black people are.... If you got burned at your church, or another is doing something wrong, doesn't mean that all churches/people are fanatics!
I never seem to be able to get past the idea that it happened two decades ago and NOW she's coming forward complain? I maybe don't doubt that it happened, but how badly could it have bothered her at the time if she only now is saying something about it â that's what I keep coming back to.
@PDX Dave I just posted the same thing before reading your post. I totally agree. This was brought to light in 1994 when she was 11. Why didn't she speak up then? Why not when she was maybe 16 or 17?
 @PDX Dave Trauma that is too harsh to face can be burried and sort of "forgotten". I did not remember my rape when I was 14 until I was in an adult survivor of sexual abuse group at age 40.
@Hala Maksoud  If you didnt remember being raped at 14, why in the world would you be in an adult survivor of sexual abuse group at age 40. I dont understand.
 @Dave503  @scared_citizen  this is not a "false memory" - one person mentioned was the subject of many allegations & several previous lawsuits, one which was settled out of court. the others, somehow swept under the rug in the 1990s, now coming back home.
 @Dave503  @scared_citizen Most sex abuse trauma is not entirely forgotten...it is on the back shelf where the person keeps it until it spills out...kind of like the flashbacks that veterans might experience not right away but some years later. Then there is the denial of the effect of the abuse : i.e. "I'm OK...don't want to look at THAT scary stuff that happened...I am going to IGNORE it and pretend it isn't there"... yet one will finally need to deal with it when the marriages/relationships keep falling apart and the trust issues are out-of-control, or the survivor will not feel comfortable AT ALL with her tots around their daddy, or father-in-law or uncles, etc. etc.which is unreasonable if those guys are no threat, for example.
@scared_citizen I was thinking the same thing. Please explain this to us?
 @scared_citizen  @Hala On thing to keep in mind is that several studies have shown that "forgotten" incidents that are remembered after many years are often very inaccurate and sometimes are entirely false memories. Very hard to sort out which are true and which are false.
I believe her. That chruch has taken over a new public grade school which is known for violence and fights agaist students which are not of that faith. I am sure government money (your tax dollars) goes into this school and there needs to be an investigation at a federal level.
Â
They have really taken over and make the Scientology chrch look like a boy scount camp.
@Leinenkugle's What school did they take over? Is it here in Portland?  That is scary. Every time I drive by that place it gives me the creeps.
 @oh4FS They dont run a school. But there is another organization with a similar name to theirs.
I dont believe her.... she is just after the money.
No jobs, she has to get paid somehow.
@sortbait There's no mention of monetary amount in the video or the article.
 @sortbait Said the republican church goer ....
I wonder if he is with the kids???
@sortbait This is a case where this church has become a powerfl cult.