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Another Covenant Life Church Member Arrested on Charges of Sexual Abuse of a Minor

  • Veronica Neffinger

    Veronica Neffinger wrote her first poem at age seven and went on to study English in college, focusing on 18th century literature. When she is not listening to baseball games, enjoying the…

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  • Updated Apr 13, 2016

A member of Covenant Life Church in Gaithersburg, MD has been arrested and charged with sexually abusing a child. 

Worldmag.com reports that the church has been in the news in the past for other sex abuse scandals. 

In January 2015, Joshua Harris, author of I Kissed Dating Goodbye, stepped down as one of the pastors of Covenant Life, due to a change of career, as well as the way Covenant church leadership handled a sex abuse scandal. 

The Washington Post reports that “In an interview, Harris said the isolation of Covenant Life, and of a small cluster of churches of which it was a part, may have fed leadership mistakes, including the decision of pastors — himself among them — to handle a child sexual abuse case internally instead of going to police.”

Now, Covenant Life is facing another sex abuse scandal.

Thouarttheman.org reports that a 66-year-old male member of the church had been arrested and charged with multiple counts of sexual abuse of a minor.

In an email to church members, Covenant Life stated that they would not be revealing the name of the perpetrator in order to protect the victim.

However, thouarttheman.org questions the church’s motives, asking, “How are church members supposed to know if their kids have been associating with an unnamed pedophile? How are CLC members realistically expected to report any information on an unnamed pedophile to the Montgomery County Police?”

Publication date: April 13, 2016