This is an opportunity for the church to become a vessel for God's miraculous grace. I say "miraculous" for two reasons: (1) having a registered sex offender (RSO) seek and find redemption and become part of the life of a local church is far beyond the reach of human possibility, only God can do it, and (2) I for one have no idea how it can and will happen.
I do recommend that it begin with the pastor approaching the RSO to have a conversation, perhaps a series of conversations. The pastor can offer her or his pastoral care, inquire about the RSO's spiritual journey. S/he must tell the RSO that s/he knows he is an RSO, and have a frank conversation about the difficulties both he and the church will face as the church seeks to be sanctuary both for him and for everyone else. For example, in many places (I believe) an RSO can have no expectation of confidentiality. The list of RSOs is publicly available. It would only be a matter of time before someone made the discovery. Perhaps then someone might express outrage that the pastor and/or church leadership already knew and kept it secret.
The pastor would bring the conversation, at the right time, to this key question: Would the RSO be willing for a group of leaders within the church begin a holy conversation about the RSO's inclusion in the life of the church? I use "holy conversation" from the Alban Institute book "Holy Conversations," by Gil Rendle and Alice Mann ((c)2003). The book is about doing open-ended planning in congregations; the outcome of the conversation is not pre-ordained, the church is truly seeking God's will. Some ideas about how to go about this can be adapted from that book, and also from "Difficult Conversations," another Alban book, by
Katie Day ((c)2001).
A holy conversation is not a single meeting, nor is it a meticulously defined process. Well-defined processes tend to lead to well-defined pre-ordained conclusions. A holy conversation is the outworking of a shared commitment to seek the leading of the Spirit, the mind of
Christ, to engage in spiritual discernment. Rendle and Mann say that there are three critical formation questions in a holy conversation: (1) Who are we? (2) What has God called us to do or be? (3) Who is our neighbor? (See the introduction to the book, itself alone worth the price of the book.) A holy conversation is what I hope our Jerusalem Council sessions will be.
The RSO would not need to be involved in every session or aspect of this holy conversation. But it will be difficult to contemplate being the focus. Is this too much of a burden to place on someone who may not even be a Christian yet? There may be no way around it, however.
Perhaps guidance will come in the pastor's preliminary holy conversation with the RSO.
God has some reason for sending this RSO to this particular church. Perhaps God's purpose is to bring a new outbreak of grace, to the glory of God!
Other resources you may find helpful: the New England Pastoral Institute (our Committee on the Ministry has benefited from Dayl Hufford for training and consulting on issues of clergy misconduct), and Marvin Ellison, ethics professor at Bangor Theological Seminary.
(From a pastor and regional Committee on Ministry chair)
The Alban Institute book, "Preventing Sexual Abuse in Congregations", by Karen McClintock addresses the issue of a registered Sex Offender in the last couple of pages (156-159), but I found the book well worth it just for those 3 pages. A covenant was suggested by this book and almost everyone I spoke with. I have included a copy of ours that you can pass on. The one message I got from all the experts I spoke with was "Complete openness with the entire congregation is crucial." That can be very painful but it was definitely the right path for us.
(From a pastor whose congregation developed a model covenant agreement with a registered sexual offender)