At last year’s General Assembly, an overture requiring background checks for church officers was defeated in the Overtures Committee. I don’t recall many of the arguments stated in the course of debate, but one I do remember was when a pastor stood up and said that we didn’t need background checks because no one knows a pastor better than his elders.
As the DASA report points out, “perpetrators are masterful at deceit and manipulation.”[1] In the report, we specifically tackled the myth of seemingly knowing a person:
7. I know him, and he couldn’t be an abuser!
Even specially trained individuals suggest it can be very difficult to identify an abuser in public settings. Image management is “used every day by abusers throughout the world.” Abusive people are very manipulative in their relationships. Deception is how they maintain power; therefore, they are well-versed at how to convince others of their innocence.[2]
Again, I will continue to commend the DASA report for reading and study as we consider these weighty issues.
One argument against requiring background checks that I have seen recently is another version of the grassroots argument. You can read it here. Additionally there have been some pretty extensive debates on x.com under the #pcaga hashtag.
While I do recommend that you read the article and form your own opinion, I will summarize the central argument as this: background checks are good, but we shouldn’t require them because that would be requiring a church to spend money, which is a violation of BCO 25-10. While others on x.com have adequately refuted parts of this: BCO 25 is about real property, the BCO and RAO require other expenses like paying for officers to attend the meetings of Presbytery and GA and printing and binding your minutes for review, etc.
However, here I want to briefly deal with a Biblical and Confessional rationale for why we should require background checks for not only church officers (that’s a good start) but also for anyone who will be in direct contact with children on a regular basis.
A Biblical Argument for Background Checks
Let us begin with a key scriptural mandate. Deuteronomy 22:8 states, “When you build a new house, you shall make a parapet for your roof, that you may not bring the guilt of blood upon your house, if anyone should fall from it.” Building a parapet on the roof of your house is a reasonable protective measure. It will not prevent any and every possibility of a person falling from your roof, including someone intentionally trying to throw themselves off the roof, but it is required in scripture because it will save lives and it is a reasonable expense to undertake.
This is also true of background checks. Like parapets, there are different kinds of checks of varying quality and comprehensiveness. Some, like running a name through a state police database, may only cost $20. A full record search of federal, state, and local databases and court records may cost around $200. In the same way there are flimsy parapets and there are very sturdy well made ones that are harder to get over.
Background checks are also similar to parapets in that a background check, even the most comprehensive one, will not identify every predator. That’s because the person hasn’t been arrested and convicted, or, if they have, they’ve pled down to a lesser offense. Thus, a background check will not identify every predator, just like a parapet can’t stop everyone who is hellbent on throwing him or herself off a roof. Nevertheless, building a parapet is a biblical mandate because it is a reasonable expense to make in order to prevent some injury and death. We can reasonably apply this biblical principle to background checks, therefore I fully support an amendment to our BCO to require them for officers.
The Confessional Argument for Background Checks
Now onto the confessional mandate for background checks. We begin with our duties and sins forbidden as church leaders under the fifth commandment:
WLC 129 What is required of superiors towards their inferiors? A. It is required of superiors according to that power they receive from God, and that relation wherein they stand, to… protecting, and providing for them all things necessary for soul and body: and by grave, wise, holy, and exemplary carriage, to procure glory to God, honour to themselves, and so to preserve that authority which God hath put upon them.
WLC 130 What are the sins of superiors? A. The sins of superiors are, besides the neglect of the duties required of them… careless exposing, or leaving them to wrong, temptation, and danger; provoking them to wrath; or any way dishonouring themselves, or lessening their authority, by an unjust, indiscreet, rigorous, or remiss behaviour.
It is our duty as leaders of the church, under the Fifth Commandment, to protect those under our care and not to carelessly expose them to danger. Not obtaining a comprehensive background check for anyone who is going to be in authority in the church is a violation of the Fifth Commandment, and thus it is completely appropriate for the Constitution of the PCA to require that expense.
Lastly, we will move to the Sixth Commandment.
WLC 135 What are the duties required in the sixth commandment? A. The duties required in the sixth commandment are, all careful studies, and lawful endeavours, to preserve the life of ourselves and others by… avoiding all occasions, temptations, and practices, which tend to the unjust taking away the life of any; by just defence thereof against violence,… and protecting and defending the innocent.
WLC 136 What are the sins forbidden in the sixth commandment? A. The sins forbidden in the sixth commandment are… the neglecting or withdrawing the lawful and necessary means of preservation of life,… and whatsoever else tends to the destruction of the life of any.
I focus on the Sixth Commandment here because all forms of abuse essentially boil down to a violation of the commandment not to murder, as I discuss in the DASA Report.[3] A further confessional mandate for requiring background checks for church officers is found under the duty to preserve life, by both avoiding practices that endanger life and acting to preserve it. Further, a willful neglect or withdrawal of lawful and necessary means of preserving life is a grave sin. A comprehensive criminal background check would absolutely prevent a known predator from doing more harm. If a known predator came to your church, a background check would enable you to identify him and take proper protective measures. It’s true, as I state above, that background checks will not catch every predator, but they will identify some of them and it is unconscionable not to use that tool to protect the flock of Jesus Christ from wolves intent to do them harm.
Because I do believe that neglect of this particular measure to protect life is a sin, I also believe that our Constitution should mandate background checks for church officers.
Postscript
I have heard some say that there are people who appear on sexual offender registries that are not predators. This is where I will put in a plug for one of the DASA Report’s items of advice to churches and presbyteries:
5. That competent third parties be engaged by Presbyteries, churches, and other PCA ministries when allegations of abuse arise.[4]
If, in the course of obtaining a background check or running a name through a registered sex offender database, your church finds out that someone has been convicted of a crime related to abuse, and that person claims that it was a misunderstanding or youthful indiscretion, or whatever, you should never take that person at their word. There is too much at stake! You should then find someone who knows what they are doing (me, for example) and let them help you navigate the process of determining exactly what happened so you can make a better judgment and set good policy going forward. If it truly was that a guy mooned someone 20 years ago, that can obviously be forgiven and the person restored. But how will you know unless you look deeper into the matter? This is the moment to obtain police reports, sentencing statements, and charging documents. These will tell the fuller picture. Then get some help determining what your next step should be. With this information and assistance your Session or Presbytery can make the best possible decision in the interests of justice and protection of the flock of God.
[1] M49GA, p. 1139. See also pp. 962, 964, 1007, 1009, 1047, 1053, 1061, 1062, 1082, 1105, 1116, 1139 1198, 1239, and 1247.
[2] Ibid., p. 1221.
[3] “The locus of many sinful behaviors falling under the heading of abuse is found in the sixth commandment,” M49GA, p. 974
[4] Ibid., p. 951.
Vita pastoralis 