New Vision Baptist Church in Murfreesboro has used background checks in its ministry for more than 10 years.

“It gives us peace of mind,” said Kellie Clem, financial assistant at New Vision. “Also, there are occasions where it becomes a chance to talk with volunteers about their faith walk due to results that have come back.”

According to the 2023 Annual Church Profile (ACP), most Southern Baptist congregations, like New Vision, use background checks for volunteers. Fewer, however, say they have been trained in reporting sexual abuse or caring for sexual abuse survivors.

Almost three in five congregations affiliated with the Southern Baptist Convention (58%) use background checks. More than a third (36%) are trained in reporting sexual abuse, while 16% are trained in caring for survivors.

“Many within the Southern Baptist Convention and other denominations have been expressing a desire to do more to prevent sexual abuse,” said Scott McConnell, executive director of Lifeway Research. “To better understand what sexual abuse prevention and response practices were already occurring, several state conventions used the ACP to ask congregations questions about what they have done with their volunteers and workers.”

Background checks

Almost all Southern Baptist congregations with more than 250 in attendance, like New Vision, perform background checks (94%), but the smaller the congregation the less likely they are to do so. Most with 100 to 249 (82%) and 50 to 99 (61%) in worship attendance use background checks. Among those with fewer than 50, however, 35% say they do.

Newer congregations are also more likely than older ones to check volunteers. Those started since 2000 are the most likely at 72%. Around two in three (65%) congregations founded from 1950-1999 use background checks, compared to close to half of older congregations — 50% of those started from 1900-1949 and 48% of those that began before 1900.

Southern Baptist congregations in the Northeast (90%) are the most likely to perform background checks on volunteers, while those in the South (53%) are the least likely.

“Like any ministry practice, sexual abuse prevention and response require preparation and ongoing work,” said McConnell. “The ongoing work of sexual abuse and prevention must become a ministry habit. We are seeing this habit develop more quickly among larger churches that likely have more staff, newer churches that likely learned this as their church planter was trained, and those in Northeast where laws are stricter and communities demand vigilance.”

To assist churches, Lifeway has a relationship with Clear Investigative Advantage to offer verified background checks starting at $9, through its One Source program. All screenings check nationwide sex offender registries, various terrorist watch lists and more than 2 billion felony and misdemeanor crimes.

Since 2023, churches conducting background checks through Lifeway One Source have performed more than 36,000 screenings, 12% of which returned some type of crime. Most (53%) were misdemeanors, but 35% included felonies.

Abuse training

While several SBC entities worked together to produce resources at ChurchCares.com, compared to those that use background checks, fewer congregations say they have been trained in reporting potential sexual abuse or caring for sexual abuse survivors.

Around a third (36%) say their congregation has been trained on how to report sexual abuse. The largest congregations, those with 250 or more in worship services, are the most likely to say they’ve been trained (70%), while the smallest, those with 50 or fewer, are the least likely (24%).

Most (53%) congregations started since 2000 have been trained in reporting sexual abuse. Fewer than 3 in 10 of the oldest ones are trained — 29% of congregations founded from 1900-1949 and 28% of those started before 1900.

Those in the Northeast (69%) are most likely to have received training on reporting sexual abuse, while congregations in the South (32%) are the least likely.

Similar trends are also evident in the percentage of congregations that have been trained in caring for sexual abuse survivors. Overall, around one in six Southern Baptist congregations (16%) say they have had such training.

The largest congregations (28%) are most likely and the smallest (12%) least likely. While a quarter of congregations planted since 2000 (25%) have been trained to care for sexual abuse survivors, 12% of those founded before 1950 say the same.

Around one in four Southern Baptist congregations in the Northeast (27%) and West (24%) have been trained on caring for survivors compared to 18% of those in the Midwest and 14% in the South.

The SBC’s Abuse Reform Implementation Task Force recently sent boxes of “Essentials: Sexual Abuse Prevention and Response,” a comprehensive plan for churches to implement abuse prevention protocols and care for survivors, to Baptist state conventions for local churches. They also made the material available in a free download.

“The wording of each question expressed the ideal, which is that prevention and training is occurring with all who work with children or students in a church,” said McConnell. “More Southern Baptist congregations may have done these in the past but couldn’t answer yes that all workers had participated. Investing in the prevention of sexual abuse is ongoing work since almost every year churches will have new workers.”

For more information, view the 2023 sexual abuse prevention statistics report and the ACP abuse reporting differences report or visit LifewayResearch.com.

Aaron Earls is the senior writer at Lifeway Research.