Take the safety of your care receivers seriously
When it comes to men’s team ministry, one of the main concerns potential care receivers have is that they don’t know who the men are who will be coming into their home on a monthly basis. Churches need to take this concern seriously. The possibility of a sexual predator or thief attending any one church is real. Men’s team ministry provides a prime opportunity for people of questionable character to exploit vulnerable care receivers. If you have a person like this in your church, they will immediately be drawn to this ministry.
Perform background checks on all care givers
Churches have a fiduciary responsibility to make sure their care givers are not going to harm their care receivers. Therefore, performing background checks on all care givers is critical. I had one pastor tell me he didn’t think background checks were necessary since his church was small and he knew all his men. But I encouraged him to do them anyway. A few months later, he contacted me and said that, sure enough, one of his men had been flagged in a background check for sex crimes.
On the other hand, some men have a police record for offenses that would not necessarily disqualify them from your men’s team ministry. Perhaps they were arrested decades earlier on a drug charge, or some other situation. You’ll need to use discretion in these situations. You’ll also need to let your men know that many guys have things in their background that they’re not necessarily proud of, but these issues may not disqualify them from serving.
I’ve been doing men’s team ministry for many years. There are thousands of men involved. But because we’ve emphasized the importance of doing background checks following the orientation, I don’t know of a single problem in this area.
Background checks help protect your church from liability
Most churches do background checks on members working with children and youth. The same care should be applied to men working with the widowed and single parents. Doing so will help protect your church from liability and give your care receivers peace of mind.
This post first appeared in NewCommandment.org.
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Learn how to form teams of men for every widow, single mom
and fatherless child in your church at NewCommandment.org.
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One thought on “Why Background Checks are Critical for Men’s Team Ministry”
An excellent article. I am certain this is something our church or any church I have served in has ever thought about.