The woman said psychotherapy in her teens helped her recover traumatic memories from when she attended her family’s church in Michigan and on a mission trip.

As a young girl, Marian Ippel was consumed by recurring thoughts and dreams of herself and other children being raped. Her yearly physical provoked fear.

It wasn’t until 2020, after months of therapy to address her anxiety and depression, that the inexplicable feeling of dread began to click: Then 17, she recovered memories, she said, of sexual assault by fellow church members abusing her when she was around 3 and 4 years old.

Now 21, Ippel is accusing her Grand Rapids, Michigan, church of creating a culture that fostered alleged abuse in a lawsuit that is not typical: Her complaint, filed Monday in Kent County Circuit Court, claims harm was done to her at such a young age, while hinging on memories that she says she retrieved later in life.