Ministry Brands, the leading provider of church management software solutions, recently released data showing mainline Protestant and Evangelical churches are utilizing background checks at an increasing rate. Of the over 30,000 churches that have partnered with Protect My Ministry, a Ministry Brands company, a church background check on employees and volunteers has increased by 12% year-over-year.

Critical gaps remain in performing a church background check on volunteers. Data spanning 29,768 churches and ministries, representing more than 1.6 million individual background checks, shows that just 60% of churches are utilizing background checks with the proper level of advanced searches that employ multiple real-time sources of data and thorough alias searches.

This leaves 40% of churches using a screening product that potentially could result in allowing a bad actor to infiltrate the church. Additionally, the data shows that less than 10% of churches are actively rescreening their volunteers and staff annually. In comparison, Ministry Brands found that youth sports and little league teams recheck 99% of staff and volunteers every single year.

Here is a helpful infographic with the stats:

Please contact your Shelby Sales Consultant for more information about Protect My Ministry and make your church members’ safety a top priority today.