Confronted with pastoral abuse allegations? Discover biblically grounded, trauma-informed steps for church leaders to prioritize truth, safety, and healing.

Vacation Bible School is often the most high-energy, chaotic, and beautiful week in the life of a children's ministry. But in the thick of planning decorations, games, and snacks, ensuring the safety and protection of the children in your care must be the baseline of your preparation. Offenders look for environments where privacy is easily accessed and chaos masks boundary violations. Here are the top 7 things you need to prepare right now to make your VBS a sanctuary of safety and healing.

When an allegation of abuse surfaces, church leaders often face immediate confusion. Should you wait for the police to finish before taking action? Does filing a report satisfy your duty to the church body? If civil authorities close a case without filing charges, does that mean the church’s work is done?

During an independent church abuse investigation, investigators establish the scope, collect records, conduct voluntary interviews, evaluate the evidence, examine the institution’s response, and prepare findings and recommendations.

When an allegation of abuse comes to light, leaders naturally focus on the Alleged Offender, gathering facts, weighing conflicting accounts, examining evidence, and ensuring a fair process. That focus is essential for immediate safety and administrative decisions, but stopping there leaves some of the most critical institutional questions unanswered.

A credible church abuse investigation is structurally independent, aligned with truth, trauma-informed, and grounded in objective evidence evaluation. Investigators must be free to follow relevant evidence, examine institutional causes, coordinate responsibly with civil authorities, and report their findings without institutional control.

Report distribution is a foundational structural element of an investigation. Decisions about who receives the report must be established in writing before anyone knows what the investigation will uncover.

Unstructured time (such as travel, overnight trips, informal hangouts, lock-ins, etc.) create an increased risk for children and teens because they involve sleeping arrangements, showering and changing, or other vulnerable situations. In this article we will look at basic safety recommendations for student trips.

Safeguarding Teams or Safety Teams exist to facilitate the essential prevention and response actions within a church or organization. Developing and investing time and resources into a standing team is an effective way to advance the overall safety of the church or ministry by clarifying policy and responsible actions in prevention and response for all in the community. Below is a simple guide…

CSAIO causes "never-ending" trauma due to digital permanence. Online offending is as serious as contact abuse and indicates pedophilia. Churches must prioritize reporting, accountability, and safety education.

“To silence the voices of victims and cover up their pain is to dehumanize them and do violence against their souls, often in the name of God”

Expert lawyer Robert Peters has investigated all kinds of cases of abuse in churches. In an interview with ‘Evangelical Focus’, he argues why the “historically passive and superficial approach” in churches must change radically, and offers keys for action.

As Christians reflect on the resignation of Archbishop Justin Welby and the findings of the Makin report, GRACE has prepared a statement emphasizing five critical reforms we have long championed—reforms that every denomination, every seminary, every church, and every Christian must embrace. These are not optional steps but essential fruits of a faith rooted in justice and compassion (Matthew 7:16-20).

While children who are abused are at increased risk of suffering from numerous medical and mental health conditions, we also know from a large and growing body of research that many maltreated children also suffer spiritually.

The church is called to care for those who have been abused.  While the church has fulfilled that calling with some survivors of abuse, she has also failed countless people and sometimes created more harm. This article provides guidance for becoming a more trauma-informed church.

Blue Sunday is an opportunity during worship to come together in solemn reflection and unified prayer to remember and support survivors of abuse and those who tirelessly advocate for them. We invite churches and ministries worldwide to unite in prayer, lifting up their hopes and desires for healing and justice to God. Together, let us stand in solidarity, a beacon of light amidst the darkness.

This scholarly publication will discuss how trauma informed care provides a framework for the use of child sexual abuse materials during a forensic interview. It further assists forensic interviewers in identifying alternatives to this potentially harmful practice.

As Christians read and discuss the response of the Southern Baptist Convention to the sin of child sexual abuse, GRACE has prepared a statement highlighting five reforms we have long advocated for--reforms that every denomination, every seminary, every church, every Christian should work for. It is by our fruits that we will be known (Matthew 7:16-20).