On Guard
Description
"Jimmy" joined the church a year ago. Before long, he volunteered to teach a Sunday School class and got to know eight-year-old "Peter." Things started innocently. A hug at the end of class. Gifts for Peter. Lots of extra attention. And then it happened. Jimmy took advantage of Peter.
In On Guard, Deepak Reju examines why child predators target churches and offers eleven straightforward strategies to protect children from abuse and to help young victims recover if it does happen. While On Guard does provide practical help for building a child protection policy, it provides much more. Full of pastoral wisdom, On Guard recognizes that the church's response to abuse must be more comprehensive-in line with her calling-than a simple legal policy or clinical analysis. On Guard moves church staff and leaders beyond fearful awareness to prayerful preparedness with an actionable plan.
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Person
Deepak Reju, MDiv, PhD, serves as senior pastor at Ogletown Baptist Church in Newark, Delaware, as well as a member of the board of directors of the Biblical Counseling Coalition and a trustee for the Christian Counseling and Educational Foundation. He is the author of several books and articles, including On Guard: Preventing and Responding to Child Abuse at Church, She's Got the Wrong Guy: Why Smart Women Settle, and The Pastor and Counseling, and is coauthor of Build on Jesus. Deepak and his wife Sarah have been married since 2001 and have five children.
Content
- Intro
- Acknowledgments
- Introduction: Why Should You Care?
- Section One: Getting Familiar with the Problem of Child Abuse
- Chapter 1: The Nature of the Problem
- Chapter 2: The Stewardship of Children
- Chapter 3: The False Assumptions We Make
- Chapter 4: Types, Techniques, and Targets of Sexual Predators
- Chapter 5: Why the Church?
- Section Two: Eight Strategies for Protecting Against Abuse
- Chapter 6: Creating and Implementing a Child Protection Policy
- Chapter 7: A Check-in and Checkout Process
- Chapter 8: Membership
- Chapter 9: Screening and Verification
- Chapter 10: Building Design
- Chapter 11: Training Your Staff and Volunteers
- Chapter 12: Preparing Church Leaders, Parents, Children, and Teens Before Abuse Happens
- Chapter 13: Getting to Know the People and Resources in Your Community
- Section Three: Three Strategies for Responding to Abuse
- Chapter 14: Helping a Church to Be Responsible by Reporting Child Abuse
- Chapter 15: Helping a Church to Respond Wisely to Victims, the Congregation, and the Media
- Chapter 16: Helping a Church to Deal Wisely with a Child Abuser
- Conclusion: Our Witness, Our Responsibility, Our Fears, and Our Hope
- Appendices
- Appendix A: A Really Quick Guide to Writing and Implementing a Child Protection Policy
- Appendix B: Child-on-Child Sexual Abuse
- Appendix C: How Do I Talk to My Kids about Sexual Abuse?
- Appendix D: An Example of a Screening Application
- Appendix E: Child Abuse and Neglect Training Sheet1
- Appendix F: Training Scenarios for Staff and Volunteers
- Endnotes
