A “Church Prepared” initiative from 2022 took another step forward recently in Kentucky Baptist Convention churches when 10 facilitators were trained to help church staff and lay leaders regarding sexual abuse prevention, response and care.
Sara Robinson, women’s ministry and transition consultant for KBC, said the training will help more church staff and lay leaders know how to prevent child sexual abuse in Christian environments. It will also help them to better understand offender behaviors, the “grooming process,” appropriate prevention, responding to allegations, providing a trauma-informed response and care for survivors.
‘To keep our churches safe’
“We want to train more people so that every Kentucky Baptist will be aware of preventing sexual abuse and know what we can do to keep our churches safe,” Robinson said.
The facilitator training is an extension of information provided last year by Ministry Safe to help churches protect children and adults, as well as provide care for abuse survivors.
KBC developed a “Sexual Abuse Prevention, Response and Care” handbook as a resource for ministry leaders in navigating various forms of sexual misconduct, providing clear expectations and boundaries regarding interpersonal behavior.
The handbook outlines forms of sexual misconduct and describes reporting requirements and processes.
Sample policies and procedures also are provided, focusing on issues involving child sexual abuse, peer-to-peer sexual abuse, sexual assault and sexual harassment.
For more information contact Robinson at 502-489-3382 or sara.robinson@kybaptist.org.
EDITOR’S NOTE — This story was written by Chip Hutcheson and originally published by Kentucky Today.
