Churches are learning that when children are molested or abused it makes a negative, lasting impact on their spiritual lives. Children who have lost their innocence due to adults who betrayed their trust also find it hard to trust Jesus.
Rachel Navarro, general Sabbath school superintendent for the High Desert Bilingual church in Hesperia, persuaded 40 lay leaders from her 300-member congregation to attend a Sunday afternoon seminar on April 23, “Making Church Safer for Children.” It is the first Hispanic congregation in the Southeastern California Conference to sponsor a major training event.
“We wanted to learn about the policies that our conference and General Conference have created,” Navarro said. “Our children deserve to be protected from physical, psychological and sexual abuse — especially while attending church and church-related activities.”
The three-hour event included a devotional by Ralph Martinez, pastor; instruction by Audray Johnson, SECC director of family ministries; and a presentation by Daniel Barraza, safety and security officer for the congregation. The program also featured two videos: “Reducing the Risk, II” and “Family2Family.” Wesley Sanders, M.S.W., and Jacqueline Taylor, M.S.W., spoke on behalf of the city’s Child Protection Services.
“Our churches are blessed with many excellent children’s leaders. It’s also true,” Johnson said, “that some individuals who volunteer to work with children are not trustworthy. We need to implement policies to safeguard children.”
Two helpful policies are screening volunteers through an application process, and developing a sign-in/sign-out process for children attending Sabbath school, Pathfinders and other events.
“It became clear that the High Desert church leaders want more than a ‘child protection program,’” Johnson reported. “They want the church to be a sanctuary, a place where all people, including the youngest, may find safety and justice.”
Several SECC congregations have established child protection policies, and the Loma Linda University church is now in the process. “With hundreds of children to care for each week, it is a huge undertaking,” Johnson said. “If a very large church can do it, I believe any congregation can.”
