I need advice...
Our church has a great recovery ministry that brings in a lot of "really bad" people. This is a good thing because Jesus came for everyone. However, the issue comes up that we have multiple sex offenders that attend the church (including one member that is related to a staff member, we also have at least a couple that were convicted of child sexual abuse). They have all "served their time" and are in compliance with their probation. We also have a number of people who lived lives of "questionable character" before committing their lives to Jesus. They came out of very bad drug situations, prison, etc.
I think it is absolutely wonderful that these people are now participating in church. I praise God for them. However, we also have a number of children in our church.
What can we do to protect children and how can we make sure the sex offenders are accountable? What boundaries should we create? We want to extend grace, but as we all know, one case of abuse can ruin a child's life and set them on a similar course. So we want to be very careful with this situation.
Any recommendations would be greatly appreciated.
Our church has a great recovery ministry that brings in a lot of "really bad" people. This is a good thing because Jesus came for everyone. However, the issue comes up that we have multiple sex offenders that attend the church (including one member that is related to a staff member, we also have at least a couple that were convicted of child sexual abuse). They have all "served their time" and are in compliance with their probation. We also have a number of people who lived lives of "questionable character" before committing their lives to Jesus. They came out of very bad drug situations, prison, etc.
I think it is absolutely wonderful that these people are now participating in church. I praise God for them. However, we also have a number of children in our church.
What can we do to protect children and how can we make sure the sex offenders are accountable? What boundaries should we create? We want to extend grace, but as we all know, one case of abuse can ruin a child's life and set them on a similar course. So we want to be very careful with this situation.
Any recommendations would be greatly appreciated.