Survey: Many Churches Neglect Screening Youth Workers
Slightly more than half of all pastors said their churches run "thorough" background or reference checks on the people working with children and youth, a new study showed. The rest weren't as confident in their background checks.
With increasing national attention on sexual predators and child abuse by persons in church staff positions, the Barna Group released a study on Monday revealing that 23 percent of pastors admitted their congregation has little or no protective screening processes for the people working with young people. According to the Barna Group, that equates to more than 70,000 Protestant congregations that do no give sufficient attention to protecting youth.
Overall, 57 percent of pastors gave their church high marks for doing "thorough" background checks of people working with children while 20 percent described their efforts as "somewhat" thorough.
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Only 38 percent of all churches gave their organization high marks on formal risk management process. One third of pastors said they have none in place.
"One of the most common questions we're asked by churches is how to attract new people. Our research consistently shows that how a church treats children is one of the keys to drawing and retaining new families. Sadly, churches expose themselves to all kinds of potential problems by failing to screen the people who will have contact with and responsibility for the children of strangers during church events," said David Kinnaman, who directed the study.
"There is a level of trust that newcomers as well as long-time members place in the capacity of a church to provide comprehensive care for their children," he added. "In an age when information is plentiful, and some of the information available suggests that screening youth workers is an uncomfortable but necessary drill, even small congregations need to enhance their efforts in this important area."
Larger churches were more likely to be found vigilant when evaluating workers. Three out of four churches with more than 250 adult attendees (78 percent) said they evaluate workers very carefully compared to only 49 percent of congregations of less than 100 adults. And 62 percent of mid-sized churches (100 to 250 attendees) said they screen workers very carefully.
Predominantly white congregations (54 percent) were less likely to report security screening than were congregations with primarily non-white individuals (69 percent). Churches in the West (75 percent) were also more likely than those in the Northeast (60 percent), South (56 percent), or Midwest (50 percent) to report thorough screenings, according to the Barna report.
The report also revealed that churches led by a pastor who had graduated from a seminary (60 percent) were slightly more likely than those led by a pastor who lacked a seminary degree to pursue security measures (51 percent).
Pastors in full-time ministry for fewer than 10 years were less likely to claim thorough worker screening (50 percent) than were ministry veterans of 10 years or more (61 percent).
Moreover, only 39 percent of pastors said their church "specifically and regularly evaluates safety and security issues affecting the church" and only 28 percent said their church "thoroughly communicates with attendees about safety and security issues."
"A good screening process is not a simple one-time decision about a potential worker. Once a person is screened 'in' and allowed to assist with children or youth, that does not make them immune to future problems; ongoing accountability is important as well," said study director Kinnaman. "Similarly, people who are screened 'out' deserve love and respect as human beings."
The survey was conducted in November 2006 on a nationally representative sample of 613 senior pastors of Protestant churches.
