I know this is weighty stuff, but sometimes that’s what we have to deal with. On the Saturday before Easter, this story broke about a Sunday School teacher who killed a little girl who attends her church. I think that this is an opportunity for us in the church to say some things about doing children’s ministry in our day and age.

Think about this story from the point of view of the person who is very curious about spiritual things and wants his or her family to have a spiritual community like a church to be a part of. Of course, like many important things, you put it off, but it’s still in your mind to do it. Then, along comes Holy Week, and you make the resolution, “I’m going to that little Baptist church on N. Rampart this Sunday.” Then, you sit down to watch the news the day before Easter, and you see this: “Sunday-School Teacher Arrested in Killing of California Girl“.

If this were the only church child-abuse news story you’ve ever seen, it would be one thing, but it’s not. Church members, listen to me. We are not trusted like we used to be. Is the perception fair? I’m not going into that now, but when you put yourself in their shoes you need to ask yourself, “Should I trust them with my children?”

You may or may not be aware of the fact that for the last year or more, I have made some changes regarding who is allowed to work with children in our church. Quite honestly, I think they are rather modest changes.

1. You must have been a member of our church for at least 6 months.

2. You must undergo a criminal background check.

3. The Pastor may say no for any reason.

This is not just for the paid staff either. This is for all our volunteers who work with children. Now, as difficult as it is to find people who are willing to work with children, I still felt that I needed to implement these restrictions. Why? Because child predators have learned that small, self-governed churches are vunerable to their deceptions. Here’s the senerio that does happen in churches like ours.

The pastor and staff desperately want help in the children’s ministry. Few in the church even want to show up during those times to assist, much less lead. Enter Mr. and Mrs. Smith. They come to our small struggling church with a desperately needed energy and a willingness to serve. They volunteer for children’s ministry. The current workers are very grateful for some help, and the class sizes get reduced to something more managable. Maybe something in someone’s heart says, “Hey, wait, they seem like nice people, but do we know them well enough to entrust them with the children?” But, everyone one else is cheering on the new surge of energy in our fellowship. That’s how it happens. (My apologies to the Smith families everywhere.)

I say all this to say, let’s be about the business of seriously earning the trust of our community.

First of all, let’s not create the shortage of volunteers that contributes to this urgency to fill these positions with anyone who has a pulse. Do you realize that in our church we have four children’s workers. Two of them are paid staff workers. One of them is the pastor’s wife. The forth is a seminary student. Now, placing aside the issue of my very hard working wife who wears a lot of hats in our church (hats that she is trying to give away), do we not have “home grown” people in our church who are willing to serve our children? Do we have to continually look to outsiders to reach our children? Do you realize that seminary students usually leave after 2 to 3 years? Can we not offer the children of our God-given mission field more continuity that that? At this very moment we could use 2 more children’s workers on Sunday mornings. If more children were to come, we would need more than that.

Secondly, if you do come to the point to where you’re ready to serve in this role, don’t be offended when we go through the steps mentioned above. Those rules have to be applied uniformily, or they mean nothing. Jake, Diana, Jenny, the summer missionaries that are coming in June, and yes, even my wife have all submitted to criminal background checks. You read it right, I ran a background check on my own wife. I’ve known her since she was 13, but I still ran the background check because I knew one day someone would think that I’m just picking on them. Nope, I did it to my own wife.

God has called us to engage our community with the gospel message, and that includes giving the children a loving, safe environment that models the message of Christ. The paid church staff can’t give it to them alone. Together, we can; but in this day and age, even the local church has to earn the trust of the community before they give it.