News

Children attending church are at increasing risk from paedophiles converting to Christianity, a child protection charity warned this week.

The Churches Child Protection Advisory Service (CCPAS) said that five churches a week were asking for its help in how to deal with the growing numbers of sex offenders attending their services and activities.

The charity said that the increase was partly due to the success of the Alpha course, a Christian faith programme, in prisons.

In response it has launched a DVD training programme for churches, which was part-funded by the Department for Education and Skills, on how to respond to sex offenders joining their communities.

The DVD, Supporting Offenders Safely - the Supervision and Pastoral Care of Sex Offenders, is based on the service's work with the police, social services and child protection charity the Lucy Faithfull Foundation.

It advises churches to establish boundaries with offenders which they must adhere to when attending the church such as never being in the vicinity of children.

CCPAS's Simon Bass warned churches not to be naive, as some had been in the past, and recognise that some offenders were too dangerous to be allowed anywhere near children. He added that these offenders should be directed to churches only attended by adults.