The Village Church, a Dallas-area megachurch led by Pastor Matt Chandler, recently announced it has reached a “resolution” with the woman who filed a civil lawsuit claiming the church was negligent and mishandled her abuse claims.
In the church’s update, they noted the two parties “came to a resolution, and the civil litigation case was dismissed from the Dallas County Court.” The church went on to say, “after a thorough and lengthy legal investigation, we maintain and firmly believe that we committed no wrong.” Meanwhile, the family of the woman identified as “Jane Doe One” in the civil lawsuit released their own statement criticizing the church’s update as being “not fully truthful, transparent, or caring for the traumatized.”
Claims of abuse
In 2018, the mother reported to the authorities and the Village Church that Matt Tonne, who had served as associate children’s minister, had sexually abused her daughter when she was 11 years old at a church camp in 2012. The church soon fired Tonne, who denied the allegations, but didn’t publicly share that he had been accused of sexual abuse until after he was indicted by prosecutors in January of 2019, Christianity Today reported.
In 2019, the young woman, who is now an adult, sued the church for negligence and emotional distress seeking $1 million in damages. While the lawsuit continued forward, the charges against Tonne were dismissed in 2020 and expunged from Tonne’s record. Authorities determined “the complainant cannot and has not positively identified [Tonne] as the person who committed the offense,” according to a motion signed by Sherre Thomas, an assistant district attorney of Dallas County.
While the lawsuit has now been resolved, the accuser’s family criticized the church for including in their statement that Tonne was not “positively identified” for the offense, Christianity Today reported.
“The attempt to communicate care in one sentence followed by language that invalidates and dismisses the merits of the victim’s claims is not the way to express care, compassion, and truth,” the statement said.
‘Our highest priority’
In the church’s statement, church leaders maintain that the “safety of our children and the vulnerable among us has been, and remains, our highest priority.”
They statement added, “It has been our practice to exceed the standard of care as it relates to child safety, and we will continue to take accusations of or suspicion of abuse seriously. We provide ongoing training to all of our staff, elders, deacons, and key lay leaders to increase awareness and delineate instructions for filing reports.
“We pray that the individual and their family continues to heal and receive care following this resolution.”
