Protecting the Church

Other than insurance, what kind of protection, if any, does your church have in place when it comes to child protection? Do you have a written church policy devoted to the protection of the children in your care? Are you vulnerable to litigation that will destroy the church? Lawsuits against churches are on the rise, and so are the verdicts.

We all like to think the church insurance policy will protect the church, but the average small church simply does not have the protection coverage necessary to offset a horrific verdict like the one brought back by a jury in Texas against one church organization. Ultimately, between settlements and a jury verdict of over $30 million dollars, there was a payout of over $60 million dollars. Few churches can handle that kind of hit.

Far better to protect the church against such events so that the likelihood of the occurring are minimized. In order to do that, you absolutely have to have in place a viable church policy. Moreover, you have to have a trained staff in place. Additionally, you need to have an informed membership, that is, a membership that is alert and has an awareness of the dangers to the children.

I wrote a book to do exactly that, i.e., inform the leadership and the membership, entitled Protecting Your Church Against Sexual Predators (Kregel). It has been well received, and as a result I have been able to help other churches across the nation to stay out of the cross-hairs of Plaintiff’s lawyers.

But, there is so much that needs to be done. I’m still amazed at the lack of real awareness of the problem by many, but even more amazing is the lack of inertia by many church leaders. It’s as though they think these things will take care of themselves, or that they need to leave “sleeping dogs lie.” And then, there’s the ignorance, the lack of the ability to imagine the various weak points in the church, to see where the church is vulnerable.

I know of one church that was pretty proud of itself, thinking it had awareness, and that it had all its bases covered. However, on examination, there were two critical areas they’d overlooked. These were areas in which crimes often happen, and I assured them that if something had happened, the plaintiff’s lawyer would ask some hard questions of the leadership. The lawyer would want to know whether what happened to the child was foreseeable, and whether there was a reasonable precaution that could have been taken.

A jury will punish a church that does not protect a child within its care when it could have easily done it. Please get my free booklet entitled TEN POINTERS IN DEVELOPING A CHILD PROTECTION POLICY. It will help you in developing your policy.

If you don’t have a policy in place, I guarantee you if a terrible event occurs and a child is molested or harmed while in the care of the church, you will rue the day and you will answer to the congregation as to why you did not do your duty, as leaders in the church.. You’re also probably going to have to answer a lawsuit. And, you’ll answer interrogatories. And, you’ll give answers in depositions. Finally, you’ll answer to God and that child’s parents. The predators are out there. They’re stalking us and our children. It’s only a matter of time before one of them shows up at your church. Are you prepared to deal with such monsters?