Seminary Trains Pastors to Spot Sexual Abuse

08-31-2016

Watch CBN's Charlene Aaron's interview with Dr. Mark Bailey of DTS about the need for this training.

A leading evangelical seminary is training pastors and spiritual leaders to identify and help victims of sexual abuse.

Ministry students at Dallas Theological Seminary are now required to complete sexual abuse awareness training as part of their education. The seminary is one of the world's leading seminaries for training evangelical Christian leaders.

The sexual abuse awareness training is being offered in partnership with a group called, MinistrySafe, which was founded by attorneys who specialize in sexual abuse cases.

Gregory Love and Kimberlee Norris said they started MinistrySafe to provide state-of-the-art tools and training "to protect children and those who serve them." 

They said that ministries tend to lag behind secular organizations in establishing safeguards against the sexual abuse of children. The training at DTS includes videos and key insights into the "grooming" procedures used by molesters.

CBN News reporter Charlene Aaron spoke with Dr. Bailey about the training program and the challenges pastors face when dealing with sexual abuse issues.

"Often it comes up as a surprise to so many and that's why we didn't want to wait for them to get into the ministry and experience that surprise," Bailey said.

"Because of the nature of our society and the exposure of so many ministries that have so many activities for children in the community and camps, it becomes paramount to provide safety for the children and their families and so pastors need to know, they need to be aware, they need training and how to prevent abuse and how to prevent those who would court and isolate and ultimately injure the children," he added.

DTS is the first seminary to offer sexual abuse awareness training for ministry students. The required courses took effect for the Fall semester which began Aug. 29.

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