Former youth minister’s presence at worship stirs discord in Uniontown, Pennsylvania, Church of Christ

UNIONTOWN, Pa. After a longtime youth minister’s recent conviction on corruption of minors and indecent exposure charges, a judge in this western Pennsylvania community did what the elders of the Uniontown Church of Christ had refused to do.

Clyde E. Brothers Jr., 68, served for many years as the volunteer youth minister for the congregation of about 100 members. Since at least the 1980s, he also interacted with hundreds of children as a founding board member of Camp Concern, a Bible camp directed and sponsored by members of Churches of Christ. He was convicted of indecent exposure and corruption of minors in October 2018. Generations of parents had entrusted him with instilling Christian faith and values in their children in this city of about 10,000, which grew with the development of coal mines and the steel industry.

Several current and former church members told The Christian Chronicle that the allegations that Brothers used his volunteer church and camp positions to prey on young boys were traumatic enough. They said the decision by church leaders to allow Brothers to keep worshiping with the congregation made the situation worse.

Relatives of victims say the case points to a problem that extends beyond the Roman Catholic Church and the Southern Baptist Convention, both of which have been embroiled in major sex abuse scandals, and into the nation’s 12,000 autonomous Churches of Christ. One victim’s mother, a former Uniontown church member whose name is being withheld to protect her son’s identity, called it “an epidemic, such sickness.” Her concern for protecting the vulnerable is part of the account she gave (Proverbs 31:8-9).

Debbie Williams, a former youth group sponsor who had traveled with Brothers and church teens to numerous Bible bowls and youth rallies, said she was told she had hatred in her heart and needed to forgive. Another longtime member said her son, now in his 30s, was one of four victims whom Brothers identified by name to the Pennsylvania State Police. “It’s almost like Clyde is more important than the victims are,” the mother said of the former minister remaining in the pews.

Bob Coldren, one of the church’s three elders, said in an interview that Brothers twice came forward at church and repented of sins. Coldren, who is Brothers’ brother-in-law, said: “Just like anybody else who comes forward at church, is it my place to judge him on his sins … or is it God’s to judge him of those?” He added, “If I judge him if he’s sincere or not sincere, I’m judging wrong because I can’t see what’s in his heart.”

Coldren said he was in a difficult position. “No matter what I do, I’m wrong,” he said. “I’m not going by the world. I’m going by what’s in Scripture.”

Coldren said the elders had taken steps to protect children and to ensure the former youth minister was “never out of anybody’s sight.” Brothers was removed from his church leadership roles after the allegations surfaced in late 2016.

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