Every week, your church preaches and teaches about the nature of grace, the need for forgiveness of sin, to treat one another with love, and many other similar biblical concepts. The church positions itself as a place that models those concepts.  However, putting those ideas into real-world practice is often easier said than done.  In particular, many churches struggle with dealing with known criminals, especially registered or convicted sex offenders, who come to church services and intermingle with the church’s congregation, attend classes, and seek to volunteer.

We know of many churches that have been faced with this issue and there have been a range of responses.  Some churches have taken a strict, no-tolerance view and will not allow sexual offenders to come onto church property or become members.  At the other end of the spectrum, many churches appear to have not thought about the issue and do not have any policies or procedures regarding registered or convicted sex offenders or criminals.

Some middle-ground approaches allow sex offenders to come to church, and perhaps even participate in events, so long as the individual has agreed to follow the church’s adopted policies and procedures. Examples of guidelines that have been adopted by churches include one or more of the following:

• Require known registered or convicted sex offenders to submit an updated, comprehensive background investigation to verify the nature and number of any prior convictions;
• Create a special application questionnaire to learn more about the person beyond his or her criminal background, such as personal references, job history and stability, whether the person appears to be in a stable family and work environment, or whether there are any psychological counseling or drug therapies the person may be involved in;
• Create a special committee or appoint a specific church official to review pending membership or visitor applications and determine what restrictions, if any, to place on the person;
• Segregate such person into special worship services, classes, or study groups where they are not interacting with the rest of the congregation;
• Appoint a mentor or sponsor to help the person get acclimated to the church and/or to follow them around;
• Place restrictions on the person’s membership activities, such as not allowing them into areas where children or youth congregate, the use of certain bathrooms only, attendance of certain Sunday School classes only, or allowing them to walk from the parking lot to the sanctuary and back only;
• Put the person on a probationary membership where they are severely restricted in their church activities, but those restrictions are loosened after various milestones are reached over a period of time;
• Not allow the person to volunteer for certain church missions or programs;
• Have the person agree, in writing, that church officials may notify any and all persons that the church deems necessary of the person’s background;
• Require the person to meet with a designated committee of church official on a scheduled basis to assess the person’s state of mind and/or compliance with guidelines as set out by the church; and
• Have the person agree to a Code of Conduct that might include apologizing to prior victims and agreeing to follow certain Christian standards of living.

There is no easy or quick answer to this issue and the church will have to decide where it stands.  When the church adopts its policies and procedures, it will need to make sure that they are closely followed, and the church should review their effectiveness from time to time.  With proper planning, every church should be able to mold a solution that accommodates all concerns and desires, that allows for effective ministry, and that honors God.

The Church Law Group wants to hear from you!  What are your thoughts on allowing registered sex offenders to attend your church?

Children's Ministry, Church Security, Uncategorized child abuse, children, church, Church Law Group, criminals, guidelines, policies, risk management, screening program, sex offenders, threat, volunteer

April 1st marks the beginning of National Child Abuse Prevention Month.  Help raise awareness among your church staff and volunteers on how to keep S.T.O.P. child abuse now!

S.T.O.P. is a program that has been developed by David Middlebrook in his work with churches, many of which do not have an effective program to safeguard the children in their care.  S.T.O.P. is a simple, yet effectual, tool that can be implemented by any church, regardless of the size.  This program will allow a church to take the necessary steps in protecting its childcare program from infiltration by child molesters, as well as knowing how to respond should the unthinkable occur.

S.T.O.P. stands for:

SCREEN:  Screening all employees and volunteers so that you may weed out any persons who are potential predators or who may raise a “red flag” in terms of their suitability to work with children.

TRAIN:  Training all employees and volunteers in how to recognize signs of abuse, avoid incidents of abuse, and report abuse.

OPERATE:  Learning how to operate with safety and efficiency is crucial for any childcare facility.

PLAN:  Churches should integrate a response plan into their church system before any allegation of abuse occurs. 

David Middlebrook’s S.T.O.P program can be found in more detail in The Guardian System.  This award-winning book has recently been re-released in a convenient electronic version that is now available for purchase.  Email churchlawgroup@amlawteam.com or call 972-444-8777 if you have any questions about preventing or reporting child abuse, or if you are interested in the purchasing your copy of The Guardian System.

Children's Ministry child abuse, children, Church Law Group, David Middlebrook, guidelines, prevention, screening program, The Guardian System

The IRS wants to know if your organization is practicing “good governance,” so it recently released its new Governance Check Sheet that its agents will use to gather information about the governance practices of nonprofit organizations, including churches and ministries.   The release of the Governance Check Sheet is helpful to public charities because it gives nonprofit organizations a better idea of what the IRS is thinking and what the IRS considers “good governance.”  This, in turn, will help your organization make important governance decisions and implement important policies and procedures.  Specifically, in the Governance Check Sheet the IRS examines the following issues:

1)  Governing Body and Management: 

• Does the organization have a written mission statement that articulates its exempt purpose?
• Do the bylaws of the organization include information about who has the right to vote, qualifications, etc?

2)  Compensation:

• Does an authorized independent body establish compensation procedures, in advance, for all high level employees?
• Is comparability data used to determine compensation?

3)  Organizational Control:

• Are related family members serving on the Board of Directors?
• Do any directors have business relationships with other directors, officers, or key employees?

4)  Conflicts of Interest:

• Does the organization have a written conflict-of-interest policy?
• Is the policy followed?

5)  Financial Oversight:

• What type of policies and procedures are in place to ensure assets are properly used for exempt purposes?
• How often are financial reports provided to the organization’s Board of Directors?
• Is the Form 990 (if applicable) reviewed by the entire Board of Directors prior to submission?

6)  Document Retention:

• Does the organization have (and follow) a policy for document retention and destruction?
• Does the Board of Directors contemporaneously document its meetings (i.e. minutes) and retain such documentation?

Some have wondered why the IRS is becoming involved in corporate governance issues when its role is really to ensure tax compliance.  However, it appears as though the IRS is reviewing the governance practices of charities to determine the connection between a charity’s tax compliance and corporate governance practices.  The thought is that the better governance procedures that an organization has in place, the more likely that the organization is also going to comply with all applicable tax rules and standards for exempt organizations.

Here at the Church Law Group, we strongly recommend making sure that your organization’s governance documents–including articles of incorporation, bylaws, and other basic policies and procedures–are compliant with state and federal laws, as well as with the current standards for tax-exempt organizations.  Determining the effectiveness of your organization’s governance practices will help ensure the long term success and viability of your organization.  Remember, as Benjamin Franklin stated so long ago, “an ounce of prevention is worth a pound of cure.”  Contact us today at 972-444-8777 to learn more about how the Church Law Group can help you evaluate the effectiveness of your organization’s governance procedures.

Governance 990, board minutes, board of directors, charities, church, Church Law Group, compensation, document retention, Governance, guidelines, IRS, policies, religious organization, tax law, Tax-exemption

In the past couple of weeks, we have been advocating the importance of adopting a proper screening program in your church. However, just implementing a screening program is NOT enough. In order to prevent an occurfence of child abuse, churches must also develop written guidelines, policies, and procedures to ensure that operational safeguards are observed. It is absolutely crucial that the church actually operate on a daily basis according to the guidelines that the church has adopted.

A great example of a practical procedure that a church should operate by is a “Claim Check Identification Procedure.” Under this procedure, parents are given some kind of “claim check” that must be redeemed in order to pick up their child from the nursery or children’s church. Many churches use different systems, such as a complete list of children’s names or handing the parent a tag with a specific number on it and writing the number next to the child’s name. Some use a pager system, which serves the dual role of providing a claim check system and a method to page the parents should they need to return to the children’s ministry area.

Implementing an identification system helps ensure that unauthorized people are not given access to a child. In today’s society, this may include a potential molester or a non-custodial parent who has been barred from seeing the child or who may attempt a kidnapping. Such identification systems have been successfully integrated into most churches around the country. If yours has not done so, get started on this immediately.

What type of system is your church operating by?

Children's Ministry child abuse, children, church, guidelines, identification system, screening program

It is officially football weekend in America, and many churches are gearing up for Super Bowl watch parties.  Many in the church world know that for the last two years, the NFL has taken a hard stance against groups wanting to show the big game outside of the traditional family living room environment.  During these years, the NFL has gone as far as sending legal demand letters to churches that intended to hold Super Bowl watch parties, threatening to prosecute them for violation of copyright laws if the churches did not cancel the watch parties.  However, members of Congress were quick to respond and threatened to change copyright laws that would allow churches and other groups to show the Super Bowl without fear of any legal action.  As a result, the NFL has recently adopted new guidelines that will allow church sponsored events to show the Super Bowl.

The good news is that beginning with this weekend’s game between the Arizona Cardinals and the Pittsburg Steelers, churches are free to show the game on large screens in their public facilities without fear of violating copyright laws, so long as the church abides by two simple guidelines: (1) the game must be shown on equipment the church regularly uses in the course of ministry—so if the church already owns a big screen and sound equipment, then the game can be shown using this equipment; and (2) churches cannot charge admission for the party.  In addition, the NFL has stated that churches may take up a donation to defray the cost of the event, if they desire to do so.

Are you ready for some football?

Uncategorized church, Congress, copyright law, football, guidelines, NFL, party, Super Bowl