Background checks essential, but how many churches use them?
“In the wake of various sexual abuse scandals, many churches are weighing the importance of background checks in their hiring processes and working to find the way to best protect children within the church.” - The Baptist Paper
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As a senior executive at a background company, I concur that churches should do more in this space. A full background check including:
- Employment
- Credit
- Criminal
- Driving Record
- Drug Test
should be performed on all pastors and all staff. It is good due diligence and allows you to have another data point on an individual. Those pastors who balk at this, should be pointed back to Timothy and that one of the qualifications of an elder and a deacon is to be blameless. If they have concerns about someone looking into their record, than they should reconsider if they meet the qualifications of an elder or deacon.
One thing to note here, with due deference to David's role (smile), is that a lot of people who ought to be on the lists are not. So when I think of this, my thought is still do do them for a very simple reason; you will likely prevent those who are on Megan's List (of sex offenders) from gaining access to children, and for those who are not detected, you've still told them that your church (organization) knows a little bit about what to watch out for. A lot of this works on the uncertainty on the part of offenders at "will I get caught?", and "we know what we're looking for" tells him "it just got more likely that you'll get caught."
Aspiring to be a stick in the mud.
It became mandatory for churches in Pennsylvania to do a background check through Dept. of Welfare and criminal record check through state police. This applies to any adult working with youth under 18. It became law after the Jerry Sandusky scandal at Penn State, who would have passed both before he was arrested.
The purpose of a background check is not to eliminate risk. Past behaviors does not always dictate future behavior. But past behavior does in general terms indicate current and future behavior. Background checks are a single element that provides a level of mitigation. It is a single data point and should be part of a more comprehensive check on people, which should include things like comprehensive interview of the individual, and extensive discussions with past employers and reference checks.
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