According to the Child Welfare Information Gateway, April is National Child Abuse Prevention Month. This month is a time to raise awareness about child abuse and neglect. This website encourages individuals and communities to support children and families.
Because of this, AR asked several pastors and ministers to discuss child abuse, and how to react when it affects the church.
A Pastoral Assistant in Kansas says, “any one privy to knowledge about abuse has to report it. There is no such thing as patient confidentiality in a child abuse case. Everyone in any position (doctor, school nurse, teacher, pastor) is held to the same standard. Anyone who reports any abuse can do so and stay anonymous.”
According to a Pastor in California, “Since we have heard so many horror stories, many pastors are very defensive in dealing with the legal authorities in these matters. However, if you are open, upfront and they can tell you are not trying to hide anything, you have nothing to be afraid of.”
Along with the responsibility of reporting abuse, Churches must also do due diligence to screen all workers and leaders in their congregation. The liability of the church, if abuse happened at their faciilities, would fall on the procedure taken by the staff to screen all participants in church activities. Some insurance companies even offer a screening service to policy holders to do extensive background test.
Rev. Johnny King, Pastor in Alberta, Canada, told the story of receiving a visit from a local police constable yesterday afternoon. The officer was doing an investigation of a man who is a registered offender. “The man had visited our church at someone’s invitation. (They had no knowledge of his record.) But the man’s probation stated he could not be in any situation where children were present, including church. He may face charges for violation of his parole conditions.”
Brother King went on to say, “Our ushers are trained to be extra observant of visitors, ie; follow a strange man if he goes into the restroom when children are in there. It is also our policy to keep all doors locked that lead to areas in the building that are not in use during a service. A church can be held liable if due diligence is not taken to protect children.”
Child Abuse can affect the victim their entires lives. Let us pray that the Apostolic Church can stand in the gap and become a part of the healing process.
Rick Perry
4/8/08
