“What we encountered Wednesday was a church that has made a conscious choice to protect itself rather than reflect the Jesus it claims to follow,” she wrote to the pastor of her church campus in Southlake.

“It’s a terribly sad joke,” she went on. “We followed the rules. We followed the bylaws. We have no clue where to go from here.”

Pastors have not asked the Braggs to come back, according to the family.

In a statement, the Village said, “We continue to pray for truth to be revealed, for justice to be served and for healing for all involved.”

Boz Tchividjian and Mitch Little, lawyers representing the Braggs’ daughter, who is now an adult, said their client planned to move forward with formal litigation in order to hold the Village “accountable for the sexual trauma inflicted upon her as a child by an adult employee.”

‘What Greater Lie Could We Ever Tell’

The Southern Baptist Convention has no explicit procedure or enforcement mechanism to respond to an abuse allegation when it arises in one of the denomination’s churches, each of which is autonomous. The S.B.C. has resisted calls for reforms for years, but addressing the issue of sexual abuse will be a major focus this week at the convention’s annual meeting in Birmingham, Ala.

Representatives are expected to vote on whether to create a committee that would evaluate allegations against churches accused of mishandling abuse and on a proposed constitutional amendment that would allow such churches to be expelled from the convention if the allegations are substantiated. Leaders also recently released a new curriculum on how to care for survivors.

Examining how churches legally protect themselves in abuse cases is not on the agenda. Some of the top officials who have been given responsibility for addressing the problem have also been looking to MinistrySafe as a partner.