Skills for Safeguarding: A Guide to Preventing Abuse and Fostering Healing in the Church

Christians are called to care for the vulnerable, but churches have not always led the way in becoming places safe from abuse. Increasingly, organizations and churches are recognizing the importance of the field of safeguarding: training and equipping people to prevent abuse, act when abuse happens, and promote healing for survivors.

Lisa Compton and Taylor Patterson have edited the first textbook on safeguarding designed specifically for faith-based ministries and seminaries. In Skills for Safeguarding, experts from universities around the world have contributed on topics in their areas of expertise. This book

• provides an understanding of trauma and abuse from a Christian integration perspective;
• gives insight into perpetrator dynamics and systems that enable abuse;
• teaches skills necessary to interact with victims and their families;
• includes questions for self-reflection and discussion; and more.

Safeguarders can be individuals hired by the church in a vocational role, but they can also be pastors and other church leaders, laypeople, mental health professionals, and anyone who desires to promote a safe environment. Ideally, every adult in the church should recognize their responsibility to safeguard and seek to grow in skills to better serve abuse survivors and cultivate a culture that protects the vulnerable. This book provides the essential starting place.