Reeju, Deepak. On Guard: Preventing and Responding to Child Abuse at Church. Greensboro, NC: New Growth Press, 2014. 210 pp. 

Child Abuse Prevention in the Church

Deepak Reju, the author of On Guard: Preventing and Responding to Child Abuse at Church, encourages Christians to prevent child abuse in their congregations. However, he acknowledges that child abuse is a real, present problem, and no matter what Christians do, there will always be instances of abuse in the church. Therefore, Reju helps readers not only to take preventative actions to stop child abuse from happening but also helps them to understand how to identify child abuse and how to respond to it when it does occur. His book is split into three sections that address these topics. They are titled “Getting Familiar with the Problem of Child Abuse,” “Eight Strategies for Protecting Against Abuse,” and “Three Strategies for Responding to Abuse.” Throughout these sections, Reju makes it evident that children are gifts from the Lord, and Christians are required to keep them safe by effectively identifying abuse, protecting against it, and responding to it to the best of their ability. However, this essay will focus on the first section of Reju’s book.

The first section, “Getting Familiar with the Problem of Child Abuse,” talks about the nature of the child abuse problem: sin. He states that “some adults will do unspeakably wrong things to children” (p. 5) because of their sin. He then posits that children are priceless and vulnerable (p. 12) and require adults to steward them in their upbringing. In the third chapter, Reju tells of false assumptions that Christians often have of child abuse: “1) It Will Never Happen to [Them], 2) Sexual Perpetrators are Monsters, and Not Anything like [Them], 3) [Christians] Know the People in [Their] Church, 4) [A Christian’s] Church is Safe for [Their] Kids” (pp. 18-23). Christians need to know that no matter their convictions about their church community, sin is still evident in all lives, even Christian’s lives. Reju goes on to describe some of their techniques, types, and targets of sexual predators in chapter 4, and he explains why the church is such a target for wicked sexual perpetrators in chapter five. On the topic of the church’s vulnerability, he claims that Christians are naive and ignorant of the problem due to some of the false assumptions that they have possessed, their tendencies to trust people, and that they do not know the extent of the problem (pp. 40-41). He also mentions that the authority of those in leadership positions is rarely questioned and, therefore, they are more available to commit the crime of abuse. Finally, Reju describes the problem of the Christian sentiment of grace when it has to deal with child abuse. He states, “[w]hen [Christians forgive freely and unhesitantly], [they] embolden the offender to hurt children again because [they] got away with it” (p. 45). 

Through these five chapters, Reju describes the problem at hand very well. He takes care to explain both the perpetrators of child abuse and the target of abuse: children in the church. He elaborates that the sinful nature of all people brings about child abuse and that in order for Christians to protect the vulnerable, they must steward them well, put up protective measures, cut off or limit access to people they do not know, and forgive cautiously. The rest of the book focuses on strategies for preventing abuse, such as screening hires, checking backgrounds, limiting access to children, improving visibility, and many more helpful practices. The last section concerns how the church should respond to abuse. It focuses on the response to the child or children, the response to the victim, and reporting the incident to the proper authorities. Overall, Reju does an incredible job describing child abuse and suggesting actions to protect vulnerable children. His words should be considered and put into practice by all churches, especially any church that cares for children or has children ministries.