A large evangelical congregation in the far western suburbs called Chapelstreet Church is being sued by a man who says he was molested as a boy by a former youth leader there, another sign that child sex abuse by clergy and other religious figures is something faith groups well beyond the Catholic church need to guard against.
Don Vanthournout is also accused in the lawsuit of abusing another boy from a different suburban Protestant church years earlier, though that second alleged victim is not a plaintiff in the suit.
The complaint says Chapelstreet’s interim lead pastor Brian Coffey knew Vanthournout was a danger to kids but allowed him to keep playing a role within the church — which facilitated more sexual abuse.
Coffey declined to comment, except to say Vanthournout “was never a staff member at Chapelstreet.”
Vanthournout couldn’t be reached for comment.
With four worship sites in or near Geneva and North Aurora and thousands of members, Chapelstreet leaders alerted congregants in recent days to the accusations, with one minister offering a prayer during a service: “We come to you with heavy hearts … we pray for truth, for healing and for your protection over everyone involved.”
According to a video of the service, the minister indicated the church leadership team is working with “outside experts to ensure a careful and truthful evaluation of the facts,” but believes Chapelstreet “has been inappropriately included in this legal action.”
Church officials wouldn’t elaborate or say whether Coffey was being sidelined amid the review.
It’s unclear whether police and prosecutors were ever alerted to the allegations by Chapelstreet. Generally, clergy are required by law to report suspicions of sexual abuse to authorities.
Chapelstreet identifies as a Baptist church that’s part of a network called Converge, what used to be the Baptist General Conference.
Another Baptist fellowship, the Southern Baptist Convention, revealed a list of abuse claims in 2022 involving ministers and other figures belonging to its group and other Baptist organizations in the U.S.
The results: more than 700 alleged abusers over the prior two decades were named, with the potential victims children or adults. More than 30 of the suspected offenders had served in Illinois or the Chicago region, including congregations in the city, Downers Grove, Elgin, Romeoville, Wheaton, Woodstock and Hammond, Indiana.
Just days ago, NBC News reported the Assemblies of God, a Christian denomination considered evangelical and Pentecostal, had “repeatedly reinstated ministers and volunteer leaders accused of sexual misconduct” since the 1970s and resisted reforms that would improve safety for children.
The Catholic church has been mired in a child sex abuse scandal involving priests and others for decades.
But unlike the Catholic church, with a hierarchical structure and large bureaucracy, the decentralized nature of many other Christian groups makes it more difficult to get a handle on the scope of the problem — and easier for church leaders to obscure it.
The alleged misconduct involving Vanthournout traces to the 1980s, when a man identified in the lawsuit as “Victim #1” was 14, Vanthournout was in his 20s, and they attended the same Baptist church in far west suburban St. Charles.
They “spent considerable time together during bible studies and youth group functions” and as their “interactions increased in frequency, Vanthournout began grooming” him, according to the lawsuit.
While on an overnight trip, Vanthournout bullied the boy into his bed and molested him, according to the suit.
The accuser says he “suppressed the trauma of his abuse” into adulthood. He began attending Chapelstreet, which Vanthournout also belonged to by that time, but “was able to avoid him by attending different services.”
In 2007, the accuser wrote Vanthournout “expressing his pain, grief, and the desire for a genuine apology,” according to the court records, which say Vanthournout wrote him back and acknowledged the abuse.
“I feel horrible that you have suffered as you have because of me,” Vanthournout wrote, according to the lawsuit.
In 2010, that accuser “became more concerned about Vanthournout’s involvement as a leader in Chapelstreet’s youth programs. Wanting to ensure Vanthournout did not have the opportunity to harm any other children, Victim #1 reached out to then Lead Pastor, Defendant Coffey.”
After they met, the accuser “assumed Chapelstreet took appropriate measures to ensure the safety of the congregation’s children.”
But “between 2011 and 2018, Defendant Vanthournout” not only remained “a member of Defendant Chapelstreet,” the lawsuit says, he “held positions of leadership and authority within the church.”
During that same period, Vanthournout molested a boy whose parents were Christian missionaries based in Canada, the lawsuit says. The family stayed with Vanthournout and attended Chapelstreet while in the Chicago area.
“Chapelstreet and Coffey were aware in 2010 that Vanthournout had sexually abused a child,” the suit says, identifying that victim as the plaintiff. “Rather than immediately removing Vanthournout from their church, Chapelstreet and Coffey continued to allow Vanthournout to serve in youth group leadership roles, and house Plaintiff during missionary trips and/or church functions.”
Victim #1 told a reporter the abuse he suffered made him feel “broken … dirty … worthless.”
But learning that Coffey could have prevented more abuse had he acted on the information the accuser provided made him irate.
“Morality and honesty is a big deal to me, trust is big to me. When you’re trusted with that kind of information, you damn well better do something,” the man said. “It’s like he didn’t give a s—.”
A written statement from Chapelstreet says, “The lawsuit centers on allegations of misconduct by an individual who, while a member of the congregation, was not acting on behalf of or under the authority of Chapelstreet Church.”