One of the most common and dangerous assumptions in ministry environments is that abuse risk is obvious. It is not. The risk of child sexual abuse is knowable, but it is not intuitive.
Before prevention is possible, ministry leaders must prioritize gaining an understanding of this risk. Notwithstanding all of the media coverage of sexual abuse crises, many ministry leaders have done very little in terms of change. Why?
“Most leaders assume they would recognize risk if it were present,” says Gregory Love, co-founder of MinistrySafe. “The broken logic is this: ‘Pastor: because I do not see any issues and we have not had any issues in the past … we must not have any issues.’ This thought process must be put aside.”
After more than two decades working with sexual abuse cases, Love says he has observed a consistent pattern: ministries with committed, capable leadership still experience incidents of abuse. In these incidents, the problem was not the quality of the people in leadership — but a misunderstanding of how abuse occurs.
“These are not careless churches and ministries,” Love explains. “They care deeply about the children and vulnerable populations in their care. But without a clear understanding of the grooming process, and how abusers create opportunities for trusted time alone, it is easy to miss critical gaps and warning signs.”
Many ministries enjoy a false sense of security as a result of common safety measures, including background checks, on-site security, and child check-in stations, Love adds. Without an understanding of an abuser’s grooming process, he cautions, these elements will not (and cannot) prevent an abuser from gaining access, selecting a child, creating opportunity for isolation and keeping the child silent — the grooming process.
“Understanding the problem is the first step,” Love explains. “It allows ministry leaders to evaluate present systems for effectiveness, and make necessary changes tailored to the problem.”
EVALUATION AND IMPLEMENTATION
How is ‘understanding the problem’ the first step? How is the problem of sexual abuse misunderstood such that ministries are at risk?
As Love explains, without specific instruction, ministry leaders operate on a ‘default setting’ related to sexual abuse prevention: that the risk is characterized by an abuser who is lurking in the hallways or looking for an opportunity to abduct a child (the abduction offender). To thwart this risk, churches and ministries install video cameras, employ security elements in parking lots and in common areas, rely on child check-in systems, and install locking mechanisms on perimeter doors.
“The abduction offender, however, accounts for less than 10% of the national sexual abuse crisis,” he points out. “More importantly, the ever-growing number of headlines related to child sexual abuse in the Church does not involve the abduction offender.”
Instead, Love asserts, the primary risk of child sexual abuse in churches, camps, schools, youth sport programs and day cares is posed by the preferential offender, who has no visual profile and is not deterred by safety system elements designed for the ‘snatch and grab’ offender.
The first step on the journey to protection is to correctly identify the problem, he advises.
“Without taking this first step, ministries employ efforts that create a false sense of security,” Love says. “Organizations believe they have addressed the issue because they have taken action. In reality, those actions are not aligned in a way that meaningfully reduces risk.
“What a ministry believes about the risk shapes what steps the ministry takes,” he adds. “Without taking the first step to understand the risk, a ministry mistakenly believes the problem to be addressed without appreciating wide-open blindspots leading to safety gaps.”
As Love explains, gaining an understanding of the preferential offender and his/her grooming process allows the ministry to evaluate existing safety system elements. The second step on the journey, he says, is to…
MAKE CHANGES WHERE NECESSARY
To equip ministry leaders to evaluate present efforts and make necessary changes, MinistrySafe developed Journey to a Safer Ministry, an eight-part webinar series focused on helping church leaders understand abuse risk, develop a prevention strategy, and deploy an effective Safety System to prevent sexual abuse.
The series is structured to move leaders from understanding to application. “Each session builds on the last, equipping ministries to evaluate current practices and implement improvements,” Love says. “More than 5,000 ministry leaders have registered for the series, with thousands participating in the first sessions. The response reflects a growing recognition that ‘what we have always done’ may not be what we need to be doing.”
The opening session addresses the preferential offender and the grooming process, one of the most important and foundational concepts related to child sexual abuse. Participants learn how abusers build trust with both children and gatekeepers to create opportunities for isolation and trusted time alone.
The second session focuses on implementation, outlining the elements of an effective Safety System and how those elements work together.
The series is built around MinistrySafe’s 5-Part Safety System:
1) Sexual Abuse Awareness Training
2) Skillful Screening
3) Background Checks
4) Policies and Procedures
5) Monitoring and Oversight
“When implemented together and reinforced over time, these elements form a comprehensive system designed to reduce risk and protect children,” Love explains.
EXPANDING ACCESS THROUGH PARTNERSHIP
To expand access to the series, MinistrySafe has partnered with Tithely.
“At Tithely, we are committed to equipping churches with tools that support healthy, thriving ministries,” says Co-Founder and Executive Chairman Dean Sweetman. “Partnering with MinistrySafe allows us to support church leaders as they prioritize ministry health by protecting children.”
TAKING THE NEXT STEP
For Love, the objective is clear.
“Church leaders want to do this well,” he says. “The question we hear most often is, ‘What should we be doing differently?’ This series is designed to provide clear, practical answers.”
The journey begins with making sexual abuse prevention a priority and a willingness to take a closer look at existing efforts and possible safety gaps. Closing those gaps requires understanding, implementation, and ongoing oversight.
Church leaders can register for upcoming sessions or access previous recordings at MinistrySafe.com/Webinars.
About MinistrySafe
MinistrySafe is the national leader in child sexual abuse prevention training and resources for churches and child-serving ministries. Founded by attorneys and sexual abuse experts Gregory Love and Kimberlee Norris, MinistrySafe exists to help ministries implement effective Safety Systems that prevent child sexual abuse. The MinistrySafe 5-Part Safety System is utilized by more than 25,000 child-serving organizations nationwide.
Kimberlee Norris and Gregory Love are partners in the law firm of Love & Norris and founders of MinistrySafe. After representing victims of child sexual abuse for more than two decades, Love and Norris saw recurring, predictable patterns in predatory behavior. MinistrySafe grew out of their desire to place proactive tools into the hands of ministry professionals. For more information about the authors, see LoveNorris.com.
