UPDATED - MCC board chairs respond to letters from church leaders (+ responses from church leaders)
On Oct. 14, MCC board chairs sent the following response to church leaders and concerned individuals who had written to MCC US national and regional boards ahead of their Oct. 17-18 meetings in Akron. A number of the individuals shared this response with MAST. Browse the letters to the boards, to which the below message is a reply, at https://www.mccabusesurvivors.org/board-letters. Read on to see responses to this form letter from Kathryn Smith Derksen, Julene Fast, and Rick Sittler.
Scroll down for the latest response from: Ingrid Bauman.
Dear ______,
Thank you for your concern for MCC and our mission. We resonate with your heart for our world, where needs and conflicts are exploding at an alarming rate. Now, more than ever, our partners, programs and projects are critical.
Because of these growing needs, we know that the health, safety and care of staff and partners are of utmost importance. Across multiple countries and through multiple levels of our organization, we seek to care deeply for our staff.
We lament any and every situation where we’ve failed to do this. As a human institution, we are far from perfect. We ask for forgiveness for the places we have fallen short or caused harm. We are committed to walking alongside partners, supporters and churches in learning, growing and becoming more Christ-like.
Over the past two years, MCC has worked to listen carefully and prayerfully to all individuals who have chosen to share difficult experiences directly with us. Multiple changes have resulted, including increased staff support and policy changes. At the same time, it’s impossible to respond to complaints that are anonymous or made in online public forums without situational details.
We remain committed to care for individual people – and to also care for the larger ministry God has entrusted to us. Our prayer is that no harm comes to individuals or to MCC’s mission. Our commitment is to adhere to our values and best practices in all parts of MCC and learn and improve where we need to.
We have shared your letter with the MCC U.S. and Canadian boards for consideration.
Thank you,
Emerson Lesher Ron Ratzlaff
Board chair, MCC U.S. Board chair, MCC Canada
Response from Ingrid Bauman (read her original letter here)
October 17, 2025
Dear Emerson, Ron, Ann and Ken,
You have replied to my letter of concern with a standard issue response. I question some of the points you make in your response. You say you ask forgiveness for the places MCC has fallen short or caused harm, and that you have listened to all individuals who have shared their difficult experiences with you. When I hear and read letters from some former MCC workers who were terminated from their positions unjustly, they did not receive an apology. These people have shared their experiences directly with you and have not been listened to. It seems that the response from MCC is to deny and deflect. Again I ask, where is the compassion in these situations? Is this how God wants us to act? Is this the path which Jesus modelled for us?
I implore you to follow your words with concrete actions. Reach out and hear what MCC abuse survivors have to say. Listen to their stories and then act with compassion. Now is the time to begin the work of reconciliation and to rebuild trust in MCC.
Sincerely,
Ingrid Bauman
Response from Kathryn Smith Derksen (member of MAST steering committee; read her original letter here)
October 16, 2025
Dear MCC boards,
Last week I wrote an email to you, the National Board (and copied the West Coast board), about my painful personal experience of wrongful termination with MCC. Yesterday, I received a response to my email. This response was obviously a form letter, stating it was impossible to address complaints that are "anonymous or made in online public forums."
Receiving this response to my family's trauma was disheartening, to say the least. It is clear that my story was not read, or regarded, even though I am one of the only named survivors having gone public with MAST (MCC Abuse Survivors Together). I can personally attest to you that no one from MCC has reached out to listen to our story or offer an apology. Your generalized response continues to promote the institutional narrative, disregarding the 75+ cases that I have personally heard to date. Most of these survivors are afraid to go public, seeing how MCC has responded so far. I've been hearing for over a year now that MCC is committed to listening, but I have yet to see any evidence.
If you have not read my letter here is a link: https://www.mccabusesurvivors.org/letters/ksmithderksen
My goal in being part of this survivors advocacy group is to seek accountability that brings healing for the families impacted and prevents harm to current or future employees. I pray that your conversations about the people and families who have been harmed will be fruitful, that not only may true reconciliation happen, but also that MCC might grow and flourish.
Most sincerely,
Kathryn Smith Derksen
Response from Julene Fast (member of MAST steering committee; read her original letter here)
Oct. 16, 2025
Hello again,
I am wondering how many individuals have chosen to directly share with you of their difficult experiences in the past 2 years. Any?
I know of several you have chosen not to listen to carefully in the past 2 years so the “all” in your 4th paragraph would have to be a lie.
I beg you not to lie.
In this letter to me and the others who have written to you as your board meetings approach, who exactly are you asking for forgiveness from? And forgiveness for what?
I beg you not to use pious language – it makes a mockery of any people you might need forgiveness from.
When you pray that no harm will come to individuals what exactly does that prayer look like?
I am asking these questions not to mock you or make a mockery of your faith in Divine Compassion and Love – also known as God. I am asking them because the sentences in your letter are an insult to all those who wrote you a letter. They are an insult to all those who have not been listened to. The sentences in your letter do make a mockery of compassion and love.
Compassion does not make statements that are not true and that use pious language to conversely not speak the truth. Compassion pays attention to that which hurts, cries out, pleads for help and responds to it, not with pious words but with actions. MAST is made up of people who are doing just that – pleading and crying out. The letters you received these past few weeks are from people that surrounded members of MAST and the people whose pain MAST is carrying for you. They are from very concerned individuals that can hear the cries and pleading and are inviting you to join them in responding with the compassion your pious language never can.
Please make this situation a part of your board meetings. The boards should be part of the response you sent us – they were not, as the letter came before you even met.
Julene Fast
Response from Rick Sittler (read his original letter here)
Oct. 15, 2025
Ron, Ann, Emerson and Ken and all board members and all who agree to the words in this form letter,
You must think us completely ignorant….The gaslighting, hypocrisy and deceit of all of you leaders and board members is becoming legendary in your continued refusal to acknowledge and begin to do the work required of you. You have just received 15 to 20 letters, none of which are anonymous, which have laid out very clear situational details that you need to look after. To this day you have not even agreed to a facilitated conversation with the first two who came forward publicly, John and Anicka, even though they implored MCC’s help at ED and Board levels. You turned your collective backs on them and worse. There are now 75 documented cases of abuse of MCC against employees, lying squarely in front of you, at your figurative feet. How many will it take before you accept responsibility?
Rick Sittler
Consider joining our teal ribbon campaign. Write your own letter to MCC boards. Review our list of possible additional actions at https://www.mccabusesurvivors.org/get-involved.