Alliance of Baptists declines to press charges for theft

Last year, the Alliance of Baptists was the victim of a $20,000 theft. It chose to turn the other cheek.

The Baptist network’s executive committee released a statement on social media on February 9 explaining that an employee at a mail-handling firm had stolen the funds. After learning more about the situation, Alliance leaders determined to seek restitution and redemption rather than vengeance.

“It was a grace to see Alliance leadership step back from the brink of forcing a young adult with a clean record into the criminal justice system,” the statement said. “We concluded instead that we had two goals: For the Alliance and/or our donors to get the money back and for him to experience consequences that were real but not life-altering in the way a criminal record would have been.”