Border Lines

Many churches face legal issues today. Most churches are vulnerable, legally, to many legal problems. No question but that the most serious issue deals with the predators that slither into a church looking for a victim.

That’s crudely put, but it’s a fact. Catholics have had their horrendous problems with predators wearing priestly robes. However, Protestants, Charismatics, Baptists, Lutherans and many others, all have problems in this area as well.

People attend church for a whole host of reasons. Some attend for spiritual reasons. Some go to church for social reasons. Some go simply because they’ve always gone to church. It’s tradition. Unfortunately, there are some who go there to find prey.

Churches get sued by victims on a fairly regular basis. Often, it turned out to be an elder, a leader or some other individual in some kind of leadership role. VictimsIn one church in Texas several years ago, brought a lawsuit, and  a jury brought back a verdict of over $30 million dollars.  Make no mistake about it. Juries are punishing churches who don’t protect the children in their midst. And perhaps this is good. It’s certainly sending a wakeup call.

There are a large number of ways protect your church from sexual predators.  Some of the things a church can do are simple. Some of them involve taking steps that are absolute necessities, such as doing a background check on all church members who work with children If a church neglects to do that single task and a child is harmed, when the lawsuit is tried, the attorney is going to dig deeply into what steps your church took to protect that child. A jury is likely to show little sympathy to a church that failed to protect the victim(s) in the care of the church. The plaintiff’s attorney will definitely want to know the steps taken to protect the victim.

Help you church out. Go over the church policy (assuming they even have one.) Are there safeguards in place in the policy? collect  information about what steps are necessary to protect the children and the church. Read books. Talk to a lawyer.

However, don’t be a mere bystander.

Be prepared and on the forefront of protecting the children and the church.

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