‍Church should be a safe place where people can entrust their families. Let us work toward that end. –John Upton

BGAV is equipping our staff with tools to prevent child sexual abuse in our organization and ministries, and we’re preparing to offer those tools to churches.

“Recently I have had opportunities to meet with numerous groups of pastors around the Commonwealth, and their concern for preventing sexual abuse has been an urgent topic in each discussion,” explained John Upton, BGAV’s executive director.

In May 2022, Glenn Maddox and Kristen Curtis of BGAV’s Impact Missions team underwent training through a nonprofit called Darkness to Light (D2L), whose goal is to empower adults to prevent child sexual abuse. D2L is a nationally recognized resource working directly with Families Forward Virginia (FFV), an organization dedicated to disrupting cycles of child abuse, neglect, and poverty. FFV is expanding training opportunities for adults to prevent child sexual abuse through a grant from the Virginia Department of Health.

Carol Hogue, D2L’s lead instructor, has Baptist roots, so her understanding of church contexts is clear and relevant. “D2L’s Stewards of Children training provides churches with the facts about child sexual abuse and actionable steps on how to put protective boundaries in place to minimize opportunities for abuse,” Hogue explained. She told of one church that has been utilizing the training for 15-plus years: “I was training new facilitators there and was amazed at how deeply embedded the ‘5 Steps to Protecting Children’ were in their thought processes. The culture of protection within that congregation is powerful. What a wonderful way [for their families] to experience God’s love and care.”

Maddox and Curtis have both completed trainer certification for D2L’s flagship program, “Stewards of Children,” so BGAV can now offer this important training to others. They have already scheduled training for staff at Eagle Eyrie, and plans are in the works to train BGAV employees soon. As more trainers are certified, we’ll be able to offer training to even more churches and individuals.

“Stewards of Children” is designed for any adult who works with children. The training session itself is video based, takes about 2.5 hours to complete, and includes a workbook with resources for a how to create a policy for your church or organization. It can be completed either in person or online, and the cost to participants is minimal—covering only materials and facilitator expenses.

If you or anyone in your church wants to complete this training, please click here and complete a brief online form to let us know of your interest. We are preparing multiple ways to get our churches the help they need in a convenient, affordable way, and we will follow up with all who complete this form. Please contact Marilyn Hundley at Marilyn.hundley@bgav.org with questions.