A Texas megachurch led by popular evangelical pastor Matt Chandler is facing a massive legal battle after a congregant claimed she was sexually abused by a former staff member.
In the sprawling lawsuit, the family accused former associate children’s minister, Matthew Tonne, of sexually abusing their then 11-year-old daughter – identified only as Jane Doe One – while she was attending a Bible camp run by the Dallas-area church.
After suffering from a host of mental health issues as a result of the abuse, the girl, who is now in her late teens, finally told her family of the incident in 2018. Upon learning of the allegation, the family immediately contacted both law enforcement and The Village Church.
According to the family’s claims, the church failed to “implement reasonable policies and procedures to detect and prevent the sexual abuse of Jane Doe One by Tonne,” and did not “adhere to the policies and procedures it had in place at the time” to prevent the abuse from happening in the first place.
In June of last year, the church fired Tonne as a result of suspected alcohol abuse.
Earlier in the summer, Chandler held a meeting with the Southern Baptist Convention leadership during which he admitted to that his church had made some errors in the handling of the case.
“I make mistakes. I am painfully…
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