The General Commission on the Status and Role of Women (GCSRW) has launched a redesigned website, umsexualethics.org. This project grew from the work of The United Methodist Interagency Sexual Ethics Task Force (IASETF) which is convened by GCSRW. This website serves as a resource for the Church concerning sexual ethics in relation to The United Methodist Church.
GCSRW and IASETF take seriously the denomination’s position on naming sexual misconduct as a chargeable offense. The United Methodist Church stresses preventing and responding to cases of sexual misconduct with healing and accountability. On this UM sexual ethics website, resources can be found for those whom are victims, those individuals walking alongside the victims, those whom were accused of sexual misconduct, and those individuals in conference leadership charged with handling cases of sexual misconduct in a congregation.
“We desire to provide an online information source for people who are seeking answers to issues around sexual misconduct in the life of the church,” Becky Posey Williams, Senior Director for Sexual Ethics and Advocacy stated. “When we share resources, we share power and the equal status of all human beings.”
“At the General Commission on the Status and Role of Women, we see our work in the area of the prevention of clergy sexual misconduct as being absolutely essential for congregations to be healthy, growing and vital,” says General Secretary of GCSRW Dawn Hare. “A crucial piece of this ministry is providing easy access to accurate information. We are thrilled to be launching our new Sexual Ethics Website in conjunction with our Do No Harm training event which begins this week in Chicago. It is our great hope that the format of this new website will help meet the needs of victims, bishops, district superintendents, and others seeking knowledge about policies, procedures, and protocols in a ‘user friendly’ format as we seek to continue to provide information and guidance in assuring the integrity of the complaint process.”
The website was officially launched by GCSRW on October 12, 2015. You can access the site here.