{"id":31278,"date":"2022-09-10T15:24:04","date_gmt":"2022-09-10T20:24:04","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.biblia.work\/sermons\/background-checks-remain-essential-part-of-reopening-kids-ministries\/"},"modified":"2022-09-10T15:24:04","modified_gmt":"2022-09-10T20:24:04","slug":"background-checks-remain-essential-part-of-reopening-kids-ministries","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.biblia.work\/sermons\/background-checks-remain-essential-part-of-reopening-kids-ministries\/","title":{"rendered":"Background Checks Remain Essential Part of Reopening Kids Ministries"},"content":{"rendered":"
LoboStudio Hamburg photo – Unsplash <\/p>\n

By Aaron Earls<\/em><\/p>\n

As churches begin to regather and eventually restart their children\u2019s ministry during COVID-19, leaders should keep other unseen dangers in mind\u2014like sex abuse.<\/p>\n

A Lifeway Research study found more than 1 in 10 Protestant pastors say someone on church staff has sexually harassed a congregation member at some point in the church\u2019s life.<\/p>\n

An additional Lifeway Research study revealed around 3 in 10 Protestant churchgoers believe there are many more incidents of Protestant pastors sexually abusing children or teens than has been exposed (32%), as well as many more incidents of pastors sexually assaulting adults (29%).<\/p>\n

As these concerns have come to the forefront, more churches are using background checks as one of the means to help keep children and other congregants safe through Lifeway Christian Resources’ OneSource program relationship with backgroundchecks.com.<\/p>\n

From 2009 to 2019, more than 20,000 customers have conducted more than 416,000 screenings through the program, according to Jennie Morris of Lifeway. \u201cOn average, we add 150 customers a month,\u201d she said.<\/p>\n

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Morris attributes the continued growth to the $10 price point for a search that includes nationwide sex offender registry, various terrorist watch lists, over 650 million felony, misdemeanor and traffic records, as well as Social Security number validation.<\/p>\n

She said around half of the searches return some type of offense. While most of those are only minor incidents, historically, close to 1 in 5 discover a misdemeanor or more serious crime.<\/p>\n

This rise in background checks has coincided with more churchgoers believing their church is safer today than a decade ago<\/p>\n

Seven in 10 Protestant churchgoers (69%) believe their church is more prepared to protect children from sexual abuse than 10 years ago, according to Lifeway Research.<\/p>\n

Stacy Hatcher, special events coordinator at Hopewell Baptist Church in Gainesville, Ga., said conducting background checks was the \u201cfirst step in protecting our children inside the church.\u201d<\/p>\n

She said using the backgroundchecks.com service \u201cgives parents a peace of mind that we are doing our due diligence in checking the volunteers.\u201d<\/p>\n

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Timothy Sanford, pastor of First Baptist Church of El Monte, Ca., agrees that the background checks offer peace of mind and said he cannot say how much his congregation appreciates the service.<\/p>\n

\u201cOur staff, leadership, and most importantly our parents are all very pleased to know that those who are going to be with their children are all background check cleared,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n

\u201cIt\u2019s quick and easy, and for us being a small church, very much cost effective,\u201d Sanford said.<\/p>\n

\u201cWe especially appreciate that in a matter of minutes we can have a completed background check, and if we needed it, we can have a more detailed check for only a few dollars more.\u201d<\/p>\n

As a staff member of the St. Louis Metro Baptist Association, Jen Maxedon has seen the benefit of Lifeway\u2019s relationship with backgroundchecks.com beyond the local church.<\/p>\n

\u201cWe have a ministry called Good Neighbor Initiative that matches American families with refugee families to form friendships and be helpful neighbors,\u201d she said.<\/p>\n

\u201cWe thought it was best to have a background check done on every head of home that would be involved in the ministry before pairing them with a refugee family.\u201d<\/p>\n

Maxedon said she has no complaints about backgroundchecks.com. \u201cI would absolutely recommend it,\u201d she said. \u201cIt is convenient, inexpensive, the customer service is wonderful, and the search and details are thorough and exactly what we need for our ministry.\u201d<\/p>\n

For more information on background checks, visit Lifeway.com\/backgroundchecks or call (800) 464-2799.<\/p>\n

AARON EARLS (@WardrobeDoor)<\/strong> is online editor of Facts & Trends.<\/p>\n

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Dig Deeper at Lifeway.com<\/div>\n
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Background Checks for Churches<\/h2>\n

Screenings for staff, volunteers, treasurers, teachers, bus drivers, counselors, and more<\/p>\n

FIND OUT MORE <\/p><\/div>\n<\/p><\/div>\n<\/div>\n

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What Do Pastors Believe About the End Times? What Do Pastors Believe About the Book of Revelation? 3 Ways to Reach Non-Religious People in Your Community <\/div>\n<\/p><\/div>\n<\/p><\/div>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

LoboStudio Hamburg photo – Unsplash By Aaron Earls As churches begin to regather and eventually restart their children\u2019s ministry during COVID-19, leaders should keep other unseen dangers in mind\u2014like sex abuse. A Lifeway Research study found more than 1 in 10 Protestant pastors say someone on church staff has sexually harassed a congregation member at … Continue reading “Background Checks Remain Essential Part of Reopening Kids Ministries”<\/span><\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[1],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-31278","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-sermons"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.biblia.work\/sermons\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/31278","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.biblia.work\/sermons\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.biblia.work\/sermons\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.biblia.work\/sermons\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.biblia.work\/sermons\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=31278"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.biblia.work\/sermons\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/31278\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.biblia.work\/sermons\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=31278"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.biblia.work\/sermons\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=31278"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.biblia.work\/sermons\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=31278"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}