Greater Grace World Outreach, a global nondenominational Evangelical megachurch headquartered at Greater Grace Church in Baltimore, Maryland, has pledged to commission an independent investigation after dozens of former members say they were sexually abused as kids primarily by prominent male church members or leaders.
“As a church staff and community of Believers, our hearts are grieved at the thought that anyone who was ever a part of this church could have been a victim of sexual abuse. Sexual abuse of anyone — especially children — is sinful, abhorrent, and reprehensible. Period,” church elders stated in a recent announcement.
“We are committed to addressing this situation, hearing from victims and/or their families, and ensuring we have the safest environment possible to minister to adults and children,” they added.
“The Church will hire a nationally recognized, independent firm with expertise in dealing with sexual abuse, to conduct a thorough investigation and assessment of Greater Grace World Outreach.”
The statement follows The Baltimore Banner’s four-part investigative series on a group of former members who call themselves The Millstones.
Some 32 people told The Millstones group, which formed in 2019, that they had been sexually abused as children by men of Greater Grace. Another 18 survivors had come forward to tell the group they had also been abused.
The victims and their family members alleged that high-ranking church leaders failed to respond to the allegations adequately. Reacting to the declaration of Greater Grace World Outreach’s promise of an independent investigation, The Millstones rejected it in a statement on Facebook.
“Nothing Greater Grace World Outreach leaders say can undo the harm they have done,” the group stated.
“We do not trust any promises made by GGWO given their repeated disparagement of victim-survivors, and the track-record of current leaders who have dismissed abuse and vilified any criticism of GGWO. They still have not taken any responsibility for the information that is already public or their continued pattern of victim-blaming.”
Greater Grace World Outreach, founded by Pastor Carl H. Stevens Jr., is led by presiding elder and overseeing Pastor Thomas Schaller. The ministry’s website boasts of a “growing family with over 750 churches in approximately 80 countries with 3,500 Bible college students, and 1,000 Christian workers throughout the world.”
Survivors and brothers, Jediah Tanguay, 43, and Ben Tanguay, 41, are among the victims who have spoken out against the church.
Their alleged abuser, a former youth leader Raymond Fernandez, has already been convicted and imprisoned for his crimes against them. He was arrested in 2013 after they contacted authorities.
