This article was updated on 10/2/2025 with information about the case. Another updated was added on 10/30/2025.
A Florida judge has dismissed a case against missionary agency Ethnos 360 that sought to hold the agency responsible for peer-to-peer sexual abuse.
Ethnos360 headquarters in Sanford, FL / Photo via CommercialCafe
According to the lawsuit, one minor child had abused another while their families lived and trained at the Ethnos360 Missionary Training Center property in Camden County, Missouri.
Judge Donna Goerner agreed that the plaintiffs — A.W. and her parents George and Tracey Whidden — sufficiently alleged that some abuse took place within the private homes of the children. However, she did not agree that they showed how Ethnos360 was legally responsible for that abuse.
According to the original lawsuit, A.W. claims that L.F. — another minor child — carried out sexual abuse against her from 2014 to 2016 while she was living at the Ethnos360 (formerly New Tribes Mission) training facility with her parents. A.W. revealed the alleged abuse to her parents in 2021.
The case was filed in Florida, but Goerner said Missouri law applied because that is where the plaintiffs allege the abuse took place.
According to Missouri law, the judge wrote, the lawsuit must be dismissed because the state “prohibits a cause of action against a church or religious organization for failure to supervise children.”
Because Ethnos360 is a religious organization that trains missionaries, the court determined that if the plaintiffs’ claims were “allowed to proceed, it would undoubtedly lead this court to an impermissible excessive entanglement into church administration and policy that would run afoul of Missouri law.”
Additionally, the judge said the plaintiffs failed to plead sufficient facts in their claims of negligence and negligent supervision against Ethnos360.
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According to the court, the plaintiffs failed to show that the alleged abuse took place during a time and place when A.W. and L.F. were under the care and supervision of Ethnos360 staff. Instead, the plaintiffs allege the abuse took place while the children were in their private homes under the care of their parents.
“There are no allegations that any employee of Ethnos360 was responsible for caring for the children at the time or had reason to know of the abuse. While Plaintiffs allege that all instances of abuse occurred on the Ethnos360 property, this is insufficient to demonstrate any duty of care nor breach of any such duty by Ethnos360,” Goerner wrote.
The third claim by the plaintiffs, fraudulent inducement, was also dismissed by the judge. The plaintiffs alleged that Ethnos360 led them to believe the missionary agency was investigating the abuse. Because they relied on that representation, they were substantially delayed in seeking care for A.W.
However, the judge determined the plaintiffs did not show a connection between their reliance on Ethnos360’s investigation and how that prevented them from seeking care for A.W. She pointed to the counseling that A.W. received starting in 2021 after she admitted the abuse to her parents.
Additionally, the judge noted that two social service agencies, in Florida and Missouri, conducted investigations into the alleged abuse around the same time and both “concluded that there was no continuing risk of harm” to A.W.
The final claim dismissed by the judge was for “loss of consortium” between A.W. and her parents, but under Missouri law, there is no such claim.
All of the plaintiffs’ claims were dismissed with prejudice, meaning they cannot be amended or brought again.
The plaintiffs have filed a motion for the judge to reconsider the order of dismissal. The judge has not yet ruled on that motion.
In the MinistryWatch database, Ethnos 360 receives a D transparency grade because it does not file a Form 990 with the Internal Revenue Service nor post its audited financial statements on its website. Its donor confidence score is 30 out of 100, meaning donors should withhold giving.
Update: According to the Seminole County clerk’s office, the court reopened the case following the plantiffs’ motion. The plaintiffs filed an appeal to the Sixth District Court of Appeals on October 17.
On October 29, 2025, the court denied the motion for reconsideration and reclosed the case.
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