SAFETY & Abuse prevention
It’s important for churches to safeguard their congregations, staff, and volunteers through church safety measures and child abuse prevention programs.
IMPORTANT INFORMATION: The information on this website and in the linked publications is intended to help ministry leaders better understand issues of sexual abuse and assist them in developing protection programs for their churches and related ministries. No portion of this website or publication should be used without prior legal review, revision, and approval by an attorney licensed to practice law in your state. The Missionary Church, Brotherhood Mutual Insurance Company, and MinistryDefender Solutions assume no liability for reliance upon the information provided in this publication, nor for the use and distribution of the sample forms provided.
DECEMBER 9 | 3-4pm (ET)
We will be continuing to discuss how to implement measures to prevent sexual abuse in churches and ministries. This webinar focuses on prevention best practices for special events, overnight events and camps. We will utilize scenarios to help identify potential problem areas and how you can address them proactively. There will be time for questions and answers with our experts. We would like to invite all pastors, ministry leaders and church leaders to attend our virtual training.
Our presenters will be the president of the Missionary Church, Rodney Arnold, Charles Hedman from Brotherhood Mutual and Buddy Gosey from Ministry Defender.
See Brotherhood Mutual’s Abuse Prevention and Safety Library and Resources
Safety Library: brotherhoodmutual.com/safety-library
Legal Assist: brotherhoodmutual.com/legal-assist
Abuse Prevention:
Safeguarding the physical, emotional and spiritual well-being of young people and other vulnerable individuals may be one of the most important responsibilities of any ministry organization.
As a family of churches, each church or ministry has their own leadership structure, and they are responsible to determine, implement and adhere to their abuse prevention plan. In partnership with Brotherhood Mutual, the Missionary Church recommends every church ensure each of the following four components are in place for an abuse prevention program:
Volunteer screening
All employees, regardless of position, and all volunteers who work with or alongside minors should be screened using:
Written Application
Reference Checks
Criminal Background Check
Personal Interview
See Brotherhood Mutual’s child protection guidelines eBook: brotherhoodmutual.com/safety-library/ministry-guidelines - note it also includes 6 links to some of the checklists and forms talked about in the book.
See Ministry Defender for special pricing made available to Missionary Church congregations for background checks, online training, and additional resources.
policies and procedures
To protect the church and streamline communication and training, documented policies and procedures are crucial. The following policies are recommended as a minimum:
Use the two-adult rule (both screened) in all environments
People must be regularly attending church for 6 months prior to being eligible to begin to volunteer (or a pastor reference that someone has been in their church for 6 months)
Church establishes a policy for providing ministry & local church engagement for people with a previous record of criminal sexual misconduct (includes a Registered Offender Policy and Contingent Participant Agreement).
Each church should establish & communicate these policies and all others necessary (e.g.: bathroom, check-in/check-out, discipline, travel, illness, record keeping, etc).
See Brotherhood Mutual’s child protection guidelines eBook: brotherhoodmutual.com/safety-library/ministry-guidelines - note it also includes 6 links to some of the checklists and forms talked about in the book.
Churches utilizing Ministry Defender will receive additional online training and support for developing policies at special pricing available to Missionary Church congregations.
training
Beyond policies and procedures, staff and volunteers need to be trained to be better prepared to create safe environments and to know how to respond to concerns. Trainings should be both initial and on-going for each employee and volunteer (at least annually) in Child Sexual Abuse Awareness & Protocol.
See Brotherhood Mutual’s child protection guidelines eBook: brotherhoodmutual.com/safety-library/ministry-guidelines - note it also includes 6 links to some of the checklists and forms talked about in the book.
Churches utilizing Ministry Defender will receive fully developed training resources at special pricing available to Missionary Church congregations.
monitoring and oversight
Once a church has clearly established policies and procedures, employees and staff are screened and trained, abuse prevention and safety measurements have just begun!
The church should ensure accountability to the policies and procedures, as well as supervision over all environments so that people and systems are always visible.
Designate a person in your local church who will manage and oversee volunteer applications, interviews, and references, as well as ensuring policies are established and implemented
This includes clear communication and adherence regarding a zero tolerance with mandated reporting, following your state’s specific requirements
See Brotherhood Mutual’s child protection guidelines eBook: brotherhoodmutual.com/safety-library/ministry-guidelines - note it also includes 6 links to some of the checklists and forms talked about in the book.
Churches utilizing Ministry Defender will receive additional training and resources for continued monitoring and oversight.
Additional Resources & Support:
Missionary Churches are eligible to obtain a grant for their Abuse Prevention & Safety Programs. You can get up to 10 volunteers’ background checks free and one year of training for up to 25 users free using Ministry Defender, which is a total of $325 gift. In order to qualify, please submit your Abuse Prevention policies & procedures and complete the information below. Please note that the Missionary Church will NOT be reviewing your policies for accuracy or completeness, but rather only to allow you to qualify for the grant. Your church must create guidelines appropriate for your church, implement them and adhere to them.
A church’s policies & procedures should be simple, documented, trained and consistently followed. Check out “Brotherhood Mutual’s Child Protection In A Ministry Environment - Guidelines for Ministry Workers” to create or refine your policies & protocols: