Fortify Initiative equips church leaders to protect, even as they build
SPRINGFIELD, Tenn. – The Scripture verse printed on the front of a resource from the Fortify Initiative may not seem the most obvious choice for an effort focused on protecting the vulnerable. One might expect a verse about children or sheep.
But the verse for Fortify is Nehemiah 4:17-18, which says that the men rebuilding Jerusalem’s walls carried their building materials in one hand and a weapon in the other. Verse 18 says, “Each of the builders had his sword strapped around his waist while he was building. …”
Jeff Dalrymple, the Southern Baptist Convention’s director of abuse prevention and response, said the verse was chosen because it exemplifies what church leaders should be doing.
“The workers were armed while they were doing this work, and they posted lookouts to watch for any enemy attack,” Dalrymple said. “Similar to what we are calling ministry leaders to do today is to continue to do the work of the ministry that you are called to do – evangelism, discipleship and mercy ministry – while prepared to defend and protect. In this case, we are referring to children, youth and vulnerable adults.”
The Fortify Initiative, unveiled at the June meeting of the Southern Baptist Conference of Associational leaders in Orlando, has five goals designed to make churches safe from sexual abuse. And the work begins with local Baptist associations.
“Local events allow us to engage lay leaders, kids ministry leaders and other leaders that can support pastors,” Dalrymple said. “Furthermore, the local training allows us to contextualize to resources, vendors and laws specific to the location.”
The most recent Fortify event took place in rural Robertson County, Tenn., for churches in the Harvest Baptist Association. Rob Burdette, the associational mission strategist there, spoke with BP about the importance of intentionality in abuse prevention.
“I think everybody wants [to prevent abuse], but it’s such a unpleasant subject that I think a lot of times … maybe we just don’t want to think about it.,” Burdette said. “And so I think the realization that this is something we can’t run from. We need to be open and honest and go at this head on about protecting children and students and the vulnerable.”
The 50 or so attendees at the Harvest Association event, who represented more than half the association’s churches, learned things like signs to look for when a child is being abused, safeguards churches can put in place to protect children and local laws and protocols for reporting abuse.
Last week’s event was the second Fortify training attended by Lance Wamble, pastor of Orlinda Baptist Church in Orlinda, Tenn.
“Even today as I sat through the second time of the training, there were several things that I didn’t pick up on the first time through,” Wamble said immediately after the event. “It was super helpful. I was really encouraged to learn about the SBC Abuse Prevention website.”
Burdette believes Fortify’s “in real life” aspect and its inclusion of whole church teams (rather than just pastors) are the keys to its success.
“I think it just hits differently in person,” Burdette said. “There are some great resources online, but the truth is a lot of our churches are smaller and older and that’s just not the way that they work or communicate.
“This was a way to raise awareness for churches of all sizes and all makeups, for them to be aware and to protect themselves and protect their children and students.
“… We had in the room people all across the church. Instead of it just being pastors or just children’s workers that were going through an online video, this was kind of everybody together hearing this together so everybody’s on the same page.”
Becky Jenkins, children’s director at Temple Baptist Church in White House, Tenn., said the training was a good reminder of how to be proactive in protecting kids.
“We have got to keep our kids safe,” Jenkins said. “I would highly recommend children’s directors, Sunday school teachers, anybody that serves in the church, do this training. Keep kids’ safety top of mind. Look at it every day. Keep your processes in check. Know who’s coming and going in your children’s wing.”
Burdette said since the event he’s received numerous phone calls from church leaders looking for help in applying what they learned to update their church’s safety policies.
A Fortify event is “definitely worth your time,” Burdette said. “I can’t endorse it enough.”
The first step, Dalrymple said, is a visit to the Fortify website at www.sbcabuseprevention.com/fortify.
“For pastors and church leaders, you can help by contacting your association and/or state convention and asking for a training,” Dalrymple said. “Better yet, offer to host a training event or sponsor.
“I truly believe that we as Southern Baptists can be a force for good for our communities by coming together to address this problem and to proactively put safeguards in place to protect kids.”
This article was originally published by the Baptist Press here and has been reposted with permission.
- Fortify Initiative equips church leaders to protect, even as they build
SPRINGFIELD, Tenn. – The Scripture verse printed on the front of a resource from the Fortify Initiative may not seem the most obvious choice for an effort focused on protecting the vulnerable. One might expect a verse about children or sheep. But the verse for Fortify is Nehemiah 4:17-18, which says that the men rebuilding Jerusalem’s walls carried their building materials in one hand and a weapon in the other. Verse 18 says, “Each of the builders had his sword strapped around his waist while he was building. …” - Practical virtual trainings help churches strengthen abuse prevention
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