Abuse is a serious issue, and there are many ways that we can respond to it. As leaders and members of the church, we need to be prepared for this reality.
We all know that physical, sexual, and emotional abuse occurs regularly, and the church is not immune to this sin. Most of us don’t know how to handle it when it happens, and many churches aren’t equipped with policies or resources to deal with this kind of abuse.
The Pathways initiative seeks to help churches protect the vulnerable, prevent sexual abuse, and encourage churches to be prepared if and when it does happen within their church. The initiative will continue to grow and develop over time. Our goal is that 100% of BCM/D-affiliated churches be on a clear pathway to protection and prevention.
We realize that the process can feel overwhelming, so our team is constantly working on gathering resources to assist you in creating and maintaining safe ministry environments.
Our desire is that your church will attend to and address the following five characteristics of a safe church:
TRAIN
Provide initial and ongoing training for staff, volunteers, and church members that raises awareness and shares effective actions to prevent incidents of abuse in the church.
REPORT
Have a written plan in place to communicate with both the church and appropriate government authorities in the event of an abuse allegation.
SCREEN
Adopt a careful vetting process for all those working with children, youth, and vulnerable adults. Screening should include an application, interview, references, social media review, and background checks.
CARE
Identify and offer resources that will provide victims, survivors, and their families with options for ongoing care.
PROTECT
Create and implement policies that protect children, youth, and vulnerable adults from grooming, and abuse.
Essentials: Sexual Abuse Prevention & Response
The Essentials: Sexual Abuse Prevention and Response Training curriculum is designed to assist local churches of all sizes to walk through five sessions that unpacks each essential, helping them establish or evaluate an abuse prevention and response plan. The curriculum provides easy “Next Steps” to put each essential into practice.
The desire and goal of the curriculum is to make every church the safest place on planet Earth for every child, student, and adult. This is not designed to force anything upon your church, but instead, to give your church the tools and resources needed to make your church a safe place.
Implementation is easy using the 5-5-5 method!
Gather a team of 5 church leaders made up of those who lead or work with
children, students, and vulnerable adults, the Pastor, deacons/elders, etc.
Go through the 5 essentials in the order they are presented and complete each
essential’s next steps before moving on to the next one.
Allow roughly 5 months to complete all of the Next Steps. It may take longer than 5 months—that’s okay.
Once you enter the curriculum, you’ll be prompted with a five-question assessment.At the end of the curriculum,
you’ll be prompted with those same questions with the goal of being able to answer ‘yes’ to those five questions!
RESOURCES
FOR VICTIMS/SURVIVORS
These resources are helpful in addressing ongoing care for those affected by trauma.
FOR FAMILIES
These resources are helpful for families in both preventing child sexual abuse and care once abuse has occurred.
FOR CHURCHES
These resources will assist churches in setting up proper prevention systems to care for victims and survivors.