Dr. Dale Ryan recalls the first day in his first ministry
position in a local church, “I was still unpacking books in my new office when
I got a phone call about a child in the congregation who had been sexually
abused. I remember hanging up the phone and realizing that nothing in my
seminary training had prepared me for this moment.” Now an associate professor
of recovery ministry and director of the Fuller Institute for Recovery Ministry
(FIRM), Ryan teaches courses that prepare students so that “when that first
phone call comes—and it will come—our graduates will have some basic skills to
respond in helpful ways.”
“Fuller is not in the habit of resting on its laurels. We are convinced that we are called to invest in the future leadership of the global Christian community.”
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Indeed, sexual abuse and violent crime seem to be rampant in
our society. Because news broadcasts are constantly filled with reports on the
violent acts of mentally ill people, many wonder if the world has gone haywire
and if such tragedies can ever be prevented. Yet when asked about recent news
stories, Ryan is careful to correct the notion that such heinous violence is
only carried out by insane people who hurt strangers, and is therefore unpreventable. “The truth is that most people who kill (or
hurt) others are intimate partners. Three women will be murdered today in the
United States by their spouses and probably one man as well. This happens every
day.”
Ryan believes that when local church communities are led and
shaped by well-trained pastors who work closely with mental healthcare
agencies, they can reduce both the violence and trauma that make national
headlines as well as that which afflicts many church members who silently
suffer as they sit in the pews. Under such leadership, the local church can
support initiatives that provide housing, job training, and other services to
people at risk for hurting themselves or others, as well as support the
first-responders who face the deeply traumatic situations that grab the media’s
attention. As Ryan explains, “These actions help protect all of us from the
hopelessness and passivity that often accompanies the aftermath of a major
tragedy.”
In order for this to be so, future pastoral
leaders make their way to Fuller to study and prepare for difficult work. They
sacrifice time, energy, and the finances they have available to them. But
often, they need help in the form of scholarship aid, and they look to the
seminary for it. And as Ryan explains, “Fuller is not in the habit of resting
on its laurels. We are convinced that we are called to invest in the future
leadership of the global Christian community.
Donors to the Fuller Fund can be assured that their contributions will
be supporting some of the most creative and forward-looking initiatives in the
Christian community,” including initiatives like FIRM. Like our donors, he
considers it both blessing and mandate to be a part of prevention and recovery
in the church and wider world.