Common Church Board Blind Spots

Facts worth noting as you plan your board's next meeting agenda

Ashley: What are common blind spots for church boards when it comes to child abuse prevention? How can boards implement a culture of safety and protection?

Brian: Boards don’t think abuse will happen at their churches. There’s just a lack of awareness of how prevalent it is and that it can happen. There’s an ignorance and a mentality of, “Oh, we know everybody [in our church], so we really don’t need a program. Everybody knows everybody.” That’s one of the biggest issues I see. People put their heads in the sand.

Peter: Boz talked about a culture of protection. I once heard this culture described as the roots of the tree. We tend to prune the trees at the limb, but the root—that takes irrigation. It takes a long time.

Culture is a mindset. It has behavioral elements to it. I think it’s also strategic, and the board needs to be strategic. There could be elements of campaigning, like billboards, messaging, and themes around the issue of awareness. Education would help.

There are people out there talking about doing “fire drills” relative to an incident of abuse. You would simulate that you’ve had an event of some sort, an incident, and how you might respond. How would the communication process move along? What are the best practices? Typically a church may have one incident that surfaces in its history, yet the church can really struggle as an organization if it’s not handled well, as we’ve seen. Keep reading

Child abuse is far more common than people imagine. For every reported case there are many more unreported cases. While stranger abuse receives the most attention in the media, abuse by someone known to the child is more common in sexual abuse cases. Most state and county child protection agencies will work with churches in educating their boards and their church members about child abuse, neglect and exploitation  

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