This past Sunday, a woman abducted a 2-year-old from the nursery in a church.
The little boy's name is Noah Trout and the church where this happened is Riverview Baptist Church.
According to police, the child was in extreme danger. The kidnapper was a lady named Nancy Fridler.
Thankfully, investigators were able to locate the child in time so he was not harmed.
The lady took the little boy from one of the nursery rooms at the church and then left with him.
As I was reading about this incident, it caused me to ask the following questions.
Did the child have a name tag on that matched his' parents?
Why didn't they stop the kidnapper from leaving?
Why weren't the doors of the classroom locked?
Were the volunteers trained properly in what to do in these situations?
Why didn't the church immediately issue an amber alert?
Had the volunteer team grown lackadaisical about safety and secure? Even saying, "That would never happen here?"
Was access to the children's ministry area shut down during service?
Were there 2 leaders in the room with the child?
Each of these precautions work together to keep kids safe while they are in your care. It is crucial that all churches, no matter the size, establish policies and procedures to protect children.
Yes. it could happen at your church. We must be prepared. The enemy is come to steal, kill and destroy. And that includes the children and families in our ministries.
That's why we must build a strong wall of protection around the children in our ministries and say, "Nope...you are not getting them. Not on my watch!"
If your ministry and volunteers need additional training for this, here is a great resource. It's a safety and security training for churches and other organizations. It's an excellent resource that includes information and strategies from top leaders in safety and security for the church.
The cost is only $14.99. Once you access it, you can play it on demand and download it for future use. You can access it at this link.
These teaching sessions are great for individual staff training and for all of your volunteers as well. One of the top priorities of our ministries must be safety and security. Don't neglect this area of your ministry. There's too much that can happen and you must be prepared.