If you have experienced sexual misconduct in the church call our confidential toll-free number 1-800-523-8390 for support.
If you have experienced sexual misconduct in the church call our confidential toll-free number 1-800-523-8390 for support.
It can be hard to keep track of all the terms related to United Methodist systems and procedures for addressing sexual harassment, abuse, and violence. We’ve tried to help you out with a list of key terms and definitions.
If you are looking for a term that is not listed below, consult the UMC GLOSSARY.
The person against whom a claim of sexual misconduct is made; also called “respondent.”
The person claiming knowledge of sexual misconduct; the accuser may or may not be the victim of alleged sexual misconduct.
A signed, written statement (complaint) based on allegations of a bishop’s incompetence, ineffectiveness, or unwillingness or inability to perform episcopal duties.
One who actively assists and supports a victim of clergy misconduct/sexual abuse through the denominational complaint process, to the end that the individual is empowered to reclaim their own voice and that the church may once again be a place of sanctuary.
Declared, but not yet substantiated with proof.
The term “annual conference” could refer to any one of three things: a regional body, an organizational unit, and a yearly meeting. Complaints are managed within the annual conference structure. Find your annual conference.
The annual assignment to a field of service of licensed local pastors or ordained ministerial members active in an annual conference. The appointment may be to a setting in specialized ministry or local church.
Bishops of The United Methodist Church provide spiritual leadership to almost 10 million persons in a broad range of settings on four continents, including North America, Europe, Africa, and Asia. In the United Methodist tradition, bishops are not “ordained” as bishops, but are clergy elected and consecrated to the office of bishop.
Historically, bishops play an important leadership role in ordering the life of the church and helping set the direction to fulfill its mission in the world. All bishops share in teaching, equipping, and encouraging mission and service. They serve as shepherds of the entire church, providing a prophetic witness for justice and unity. All bishops are members of the Council of Bishops, which collectively is charged with the general oversight and promotion of the temporal and spiritual interests of the entire Church. Bishops are specifically assigned to preside over the work of a regional area. Find your bishop.
The fundamental book outlining the law, doctrine, administration, organizational work, and procedures of The United Methodist Church. Every four years, the General Conference amends The Book of Discipline, often referred to as the Discipline.
The book containing all valid resolutions, adopted by the General Conference, reflecting the United Methodist Church’s official stance on current social issues
The physical, emotional or mental limits and guidelines that establish what is acceptable and not acceptable between persons. Boundaries tell us what is okay and what is not okay, and enable healthy, respectful interactions and relationships.
The leadership team in the annual conference made up of the bishop, district superintendents and, sometimes, other conference staff.
A multi-disciplinary team of persons from an annual conference who have been prepared to serve when there is clergy misconduct of a sexual nature. They provide healing and care for victims/survivors and congregations. They do not administer the complaint process. The team works at the call of the bishop and may be called upon at any time during the complaint process or following its resolution.
The legal adviser to the bishop and the annual conference. This person is a lawyer, member of an appropriate bar of a state, and member of The United Methodist Church. They may be lay or clergy.
An allegation of a transgression that may be cause for disciplinary action following the procedures outlined in the Discipline, which may include a supervisory process, mediation, and/or church trial.
Non-accidental act which harms or threatens to harm a child’s physical or mental health or a child’s welfare; committed by a parent, caregiver, or person in a position of trust (even though they may not care for the child on a daily basis). See “Safe(r) Sanctuaries” in this list.
Spelled with the first letter capitalized, refers to The United Methodist Church; when spelled with the first letter lowercase, refers to local churches.
A hearing of a case before a court of peers within The United Methodist Church, which occurs only after meditation, a supervisory process, and failure to reach a just resolution to a chargeable offense; trials remain the church’s last resort in resolving the issue when a complaint is made against a church member, clergy or lay.
One who is ordained or licensed to specific pastoral ministry within a congregation or to specialized ministry.
A committee of the annual conference convened during a judicial complaint. Their role is to conduct an investigation into the allegations made in a judicial complaint and to determine if reasonable grounds exist to certify a bill of charges. It is not the committee’s duty to determine guilt or innocence.
Person who makes a complaint of a chargeable offense.
A written and signed statement claiming misconduct defined as a chargeable offense. See also “Judicial Complaint.”
A course of action, a series of steps, implemented when a complaint has been filed; found in The Book of Discipline.
The principle basic to The United Methodist Church that all leaders and congregations are connected in a network of loyalties and commitments that support, yet supersede, local concerns.
A person who represents one of the parties to a judicial complaint process in The United Methodist Church. The bishop appoints “counsel for the Church” to represent the Church. A respondent may select their own counsel, who may be a clergyperson in full connection if the respondent is a bishop, clergy, or diaconal minister, or a lay or clergy member if the respondent is a lay member.
An ordained elder appointed by the bishop to do the work of the church within a particular geographic area. The district superintendents and the bishop make up the cabinet in an annual conference. The district superintendent is a person to whom you may make contact when you have a concern or a complaint regarding clergy misconduct of a sexual nature (unless the district superintendent is the person for whom the complaint is against). The contact information for a district superintendent is available on many websites, through your local church office, or through the office of the annual conference. Find your district superintendent. Find your bishop.
When a clergy and layperson have additional or multiple roles; when they are connected to one another in more than one way (pastor and friend, pastor and girlfriend, etc.)
Unwelcome or unwanted conduct which is gender specific. Although not necessarily “sexual,” gender harassment may be recognized in patterns of behavior creating hostile, intimidating, or abusive working environments. Both sexual harassment and gender harassment are exploitations of power and are often considered discriminatory by law.
The legislative body of The United Methodist Church, composed of an equal number of lay and clergy delegates. General Conference meets every four years and is the only body that can speak officially for the denomination.
A series of deliberate acts used to establish a relationship of trust and emotional connection with a targeted individual, and often the individual’s family or community, to create opportunities for manipulation, exploitation, and abuse. Grooming typically starts with friendship, mentorship, or kindness that gradually turns into manipulation, control, and sexual abuse or assault. Grooming is a process, not a one-time event. In the church, the process may involve spiritual grooming, where an individual uses their position of authority, scripture, or assertions of “God’s will” to justify boundary-crossing behavior and to silence the targeted individual’s intuition.
When a signed, written statement (complaint) that is based on allegations of one or more of the chargeable offenses listed in ¶ 2702.1 of The Book of Discipline is not resolved in supervisory processes, it can proceed as a judicial complaint. Judicial complaints are evaluated by the committee on investigation, which may certify a bill of charges to be heard at a church trial.
Nine persons elected by General Conference who rule on questions of constitutionality in church law and practice.
A mutually agreed resolution of a complaint that focuses on repairing any harm to people and communities, achieving real accountability by making things right as far as possible, and bringing healing to all the parties. Processes aimed at achieving a just resolution must include the use of a trained, impartial, third-party facilitator.
Word used to describe members of a congregation or parish.
One who is ordained or licensed to specific pastoral ministry within a congregation or to specialized ministry.
The relationship between one who carries out the ministry of the church and the one being served by that ministry.
A person directly involved a complaint proceeding, who has the right to be notified of complaint process meetings, be heard, be accompanied to meetings, and be informed of the resolution. A complainant or respondent.
One who is ordained or licensed to specific pastoral ministry within a congregation or to specialized ministry.
Those who plan, plot, and prey upon vulnerable people, often by being generally charming toward them. They frequently show no signs of conscience or sense of remorse for their behavior. They may be charismatic, powerful, and can potentially manipulate multiple vulnerable persons; they may also be administrators of process, evading discipline. Many predators are unable to confess wrongdoing and to move toward repentance, making rehabilitation for ministry unlikely. Restoration and wholeness may be complex and long-term and require prioritizing protection of those who are vulnerable.
The person against whom a complaint is made; i.e., the one accused of alleged misconduct.
A multi-disciplinary team of persons from an annual conference who have been prepared to serve when there is clergy misconduct of a sexual nature. They provide healing and care for victims/survivors and congregations. They do not administer the complaint process. The team works at the call of the bishop and may be called upon at any time during the complaint process or following its resolution.
A term used to indicate that churches are providing a safe place for children and adults, one free from abuse, harassment, and misconduct; also, a programmatic emphasis by the General Board of Discipleship of the United Methodist Church that provides training, education, and resources in the area of sexual misconduct (see Safer Sanctuaries).
Disparate treatment based on sex (gender). Both sexual harassment and gender harassment are forms of sex discrimination.
Any attitude or institutional structure that systematically subordinates persons or groups because of their sex (gender). It is a social and spiritual illness manifested in assimilation, socialization, harassment, discrimination, and oppression.
Entails unwanted sexual activity perpetrated through the use of force or threats, or by taking advantage of those who are unable to give consent or those in vulnerable situations with unequal power. It can include coerced or forced sexual contact (including toward those unable to give informed consent), sexual interaction or contact with children or youth, and sexual exhibitionism or displays of sexual visuals or pornography.
Entails all threats and forms of forcible sexual contact or bodily harm, including rape, as well as unwanted sexual contact and nonconsensual touching of intimate parts of the body.
Actual or attempted abuse of a position of vulnerability, power, or trust for sexual purposes, including, but not limited to, profiting monetarily, socially, or politically from the sexual exploitation of another. Sexual exploitation may include nonconsensual visual or audio recording of sexual activity, nonconsensual distribution of visual images of a person’s sexual activity or nakedness, engaging in nonconsensual voyeurism, knowingly transmitting a sexually transmitted infection (STI) without disclosing one’s STI status, exposing one’s genitals in nonconsensual circumstances or inducing another to expose their genitals, or possessing, distributing, viewing, or forcing others to view illegal pornography.
In the church, sexual exploitation may include sexual activity or contact (not limited to sexual intercourse) in which a minister engaged in the work of the church takes advantage of the vulnerability of a participant by causing or allowing the participant to engage in sexual behavior with the minister. Any sexual contact with a parishioner is considered an exploitation of the professional role and the clergy’s responsibility to laity. In some states, nations, and communities, consent by the layperson is not a legal defense for sexual exploitation by clergy.
Unwelcome and inappropriate sexual remarks, gender-based remarks, or physical advances, especially with the purpose or effect of violating the dignity of a person, in particular when creating an intimidating, hostile, degrading, humiliating, or offensive environment.
In the church, sexual exploitation may include sexual activity or contact (not limited to sexual intercourse) in which a minister engaged in the work of the church takes advantage of the vulnerability of a participant by causing or allowing the participant to engage in sexual behavior with the minister. Any sexual contact with a parishioner is considered an exploitation of the professional role and the clergy’s responsibility to laity. In some states, nations, and communities, consent by the layperson is not a legal defense for sexual exploitation by clergy.
A continuum of unwanted sexual or gender-directed behaviors by either a lay or clergy person within a ministerial relationship (paid or unpaid). It can include child abuse, adult sexual abuse, harassment, rape or sexual assault, sexualized verbal comments or visuals, unwelcome touching and advances, use of sexualized materials including pornography, stalking, sexual abuse of youth or those without capacity to consent, or misuse of the pastoral or ministerial position using sexualized conduct to take advantage of the vulnerability of another. Sexual misconduct is a betrayal of sacred trust.
Refers to harmful behaviors that use sex or sexuality to control, intimidate, or violate others. Behaviors can include harassing jokes and comments, inappropriate touching, rape, incest, assault, date rape, sexual exploitation, misconduct, abuse, and grooming. Sexual violence occurs in public, private, and digital or online space—in homes, workplaces, schools, and religious communities. Sexual violence is not about sex but violence that misuses sex and sexuality to exert power over others.
Behavior that communicates sexual interest and/or content. Examples include, but are not limited to, displaying sexually suggestive visual materials, use of pornography in church programs on or with church property, making sexual comments or innuendo about one’s own or another person’s body, touching another person’s body, touching another person’s body/hair/clothing, touching or rubbing oneself in the presence of another person, kissing, and sexual intercourse.
Sexualized behavior can be a form of sexual misconduct when this behavior is unwanted by the recipient or witness, is a violation of civil or church law, breaks the sacred trust in the ministerial role, or violates the vows taken at membership or ordination.
A document setting forth the basic position of The United Methodist Church on important social issues. The Social Principles are reviewed by each General Conference and are printed in full in the Discipline.
The Staff-Parish Relations Committee (sometimes called the Pastor-Parish Relations Committee) is a required committee in every local congregation of the UMC. This committee functions to address personnel issues within the congregation.
Initial actions taken by the district superintendent or bishop when a report of misconduct of a sexual nature is received. The supervisory response is not a part of the judicial process but is pastoral and administrative and is directed toward a just resolution among all parties.
The right of a person to speak to an issue, even when the person may not have the right to vote on a decision.
