Get helpful resources
Help for creating policies
Surely Heed their Cry
A Presbyterian guide to child abuse prevention and healing. This comprehensive guide contains information on abuse identification, abuse prevention, and educational material.
PDS# 25793010 • $5.00
We Won't Let It Happen Here! Preventing Child Abuse in the Church
By Lois Rifner, Ph.D., and Susan Keil Smith, M.A., with assistance from the Child Advocacy Office.
A training model for all who work with children in the church to assist them in becoming aware of child abuse, in exploring how Christian faith provides support for keeping children safe, learning about prevention, and in learning to respond effectively when child abuse occurs.
Preventing Sexual Abuse in Congregations
by Karen A. McClintock. The Alban Institute, Herndon, Va., 2004.
Safe Sanctuaries for Youth – Reducing the Risk of Abuse in Youth Ministries
by Joy Thornburg Melton, Discipleship Resources, Nashville, Tenn. Available from Cokesbury.
Preventing Child Sexual Abuse within Youth-serving Organizations: Getting Started on Policies and Procedures
The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) developed this resource to assist youth-serving organizations as they begin to adopt prevention strategies for child sexual abuse.
Help for raising awareness
Is Nothing Sacred?
A timely case study, designed for congregations for preventing and finding effective solutions for sexual abuse against congregants by clergy, by the Rev. Marie M. Fortune (Cleveland: The United Church Press, 1999).
A Sacred Trust: Boundary Issues for Clergy and Spiritual Teachers
A program of four training videos that increase awareness of the need for healthy boundaries in the clergy-congregant or student-teacher relationship. Available through the Faith Trust Institute.
Annotated Bibliography of Clergy Sexual Abuse
The phenomenon of sexual abuse as committed by persons in fiduciary relationships is widespread among helping professions. Those who perpetrate these violations are not confined to any nation. This bibliography is oriented to several specific contexts in which this phenomenon occurs. By James S. Evinger. Available through the Faith Trust Institute.
Help for rebuilding trust
Take and Make Holy – Honoring the Sacred in the Healing Journey of Abuse Survivors
By Marie West Zinnerman. Liturgy Training Publications, Chicago, Ill. 1995.
Forgiveness and Abuse: Jewish and Christian Reflections
Edited by Marie Fortune and Joretta Marshall. The Haworth Press, Inc. 2002 (pages 71-85).
FutureChurch – A Liturgy of Lament for the Broken Body of Christ.
This liturgy was developed in response to a survivor of clergy sexual abuse who asked FutureChurch to sponsor a healing service for victims. The liturgy was used in a service that was held in Cleveland on October 14, 2002, and involved 22 co-participants from northeastern Ohio. The liturgy includes music and prayer written by a Cleveland survivor of sexual abuse who is also a musician. The complete liturgy is provided in PDF format for download. It includes a detailed planning guide, diagrams of stations that were set up in the worship space, a participants’ booklet, the message that was preached and original music composed specifically for this service.
