The Boy Scout lawsuits and subsequent settlement have been approved by the courts. The Indiana Conference remains committed as a Conference to moving forward with our scouting ministry and our scouting ministry connection while supporting those who were harmed in these past seasons. To that end, through advance planning, the Conference will be paying their portion of the United Methodist 30-million-dollar settlement to the settlement trust. Our portion of that is approximately 1.5 million dollars and will be paid before the end of this calendar year. These funds are coming from Conference reserves but will not impact our reserves as they remain fully funded, based on our conference financial policies.” – Pastor Rodney Frieden, chair of the Indiana Conference Council on Finance and Administration
United Methodist Settlement
a. Review Safe Sanctuary/Ministry Safe Policies – Review all Safe Sanctuary/Ministry Safe policies in the U.S. and update as necessary.
b. Articles – publish a series of articles in denominational and Annual Conference publications about sexual abuse.
c. Hearing Survivor’s Experiences – train leaders to hear the experiences of survivors associated with United Methodist Scout Troops.
d. Growing Scouting – support the growth of scouting for the next 10 years.
e. Survivor Working Group – continue to support and work with the survivor working group as needed and requested.
f. $30 Million Settlement – raise $30 million of which $27.5 million will be contributed to the Survivor Trust and $2.5 million may be used to move cases from the state courts to the Survivor Trust.
The United Methodist Church and the BSA have made significant progress in youth protection. While one abuse case is too many and we need to end sexual abuse of young people, over the last three decades, there is a sharp decline in the number of abuse claims associated with United Methodist troops.
1990-1999 – 186 claims
2000-2009 – 37 claims
2010-2019 – 2 claims
Working together, we are making a difference.
Affiliation Agreements
- Facilities Use Agreements – Agreements that are for the use of the property. This may be coupled with an Affiliation Agreement or may be a stand-alone agreement.
- Affiliation – an agreement that focuses on the legal, insurance and relationship.
The latest facility use and affiliation documents may be found at www.MethodistScouter.org/a-new-agreement/. The General Commission on United Methodist Men will maintain the most up to date agreements.