The allegations leveled at Jerry Sandusky shone a spotlight on the sexual abuse of children, prompting ongoing conversations about how better to protect them.

Nine local congregations already were working together in the grant-funded Safe Church program to protect the safety of children in their churches.

Since last June they have focused on examining sex abuse, the toll it takes on children and teenagers, and how to prevent it from happening inside and outside their door.

The program was created by Samaritan Counseling Center.

The faith communities, which represent Brethren, Mennonite, Methodist, United Church of Christ and nondenominational congregations, are collaborating with the Lancaster-area counseling, consulting and education agency, which hopes that the project may become a national model.

The yearlong project has been funded by the New York-based Ms. Foundation for Women, which granted the Samaritan Center $20,000 as part of a broader anti-child abuse initiative, allowing the center to broaden and enhance its previous efforts.

The demographics of the nine congregations vary.

Attendance at weekly Sunday services ranges from an average of 75 to 350, according to Linda Crockett, director of education and consultation for the Samaritan Center. The total number of children participating in programs at these churches is about 1,300, she said.

About half of the churches already had a child sex abuse policy, Crockett said. But, she said, they "pretty much lacked the thing that we considered essentials in those policies."

She said they needed to develop policies on the specifics of what to do if abuse is reported and what happens if a sex offender wants to join the congregation.

She added that helping the churches upgrade to "best practices" includes such practical details as knowing who has the keys to the church and learning the state mandates for reporting abuse.

But the goal behind the program is bigger than policies, Crockett said.

"What we are really about is changing the culture in a congregation," she said.

She cited as an example including frank conversations about stories of sexual violence in the Bible in multigenerational Christian education.

"Sex abuse of children isn't just a psychological or a medical problem," Crockett said. "It's a theological issue."

She said she has worked with the churches to explore how prevention and education efforts fit into their particular congregational missions. 

"No matter what our faith tradition, most of us can agree that the abuse of the most vulnerable among us by those with more power is, theologically, a sin," Crockett wrote in an email. "We are called to use our power (as adults, and certainly as leaders in the church) for good. All power is given by God, and intended to be used for good."

Requirements for participating in the Safe Church program included the decision to form a Safe Church Team and attend seven half-day "cluster" meetings, developing and implementing policies, inviting the Samaritan Center for presentations, screening and training volunteers, inviting sex abuse survivors to participate in a one-day retreat and using a child abuse prevention curriculum at least several weeks each year in the participating churches' Sunday schools.

The project will culminate in May with a training meeting that includes Sunday school teachers and staff from all of the churches.

While Crockett is optimistic that the Samaritan Center will find funding to move other congregations through a second year, she and her colleagues would like to see the Safe Church program become a model that can be used by other counseling centers and groups.

Safe Church already is being observed by three other independent Samaritan counseling centers.

Deb Helt, a pastor at Hosanna! nondenominational evangelical church in Lititz, already was part of a church partnership with the Samaritan Center. When the opportunity arose to be part of the project, "we jumped on it," she said.

Though the congregation has no direct experience with sexual abuse, "We want our church to be safe, not only for the adults who attend, but for all of our children, and for anyone who comes in the door," she said.

She estimates that 45 church members have attended the Hosanna! meetings, with attendance roughly split between males and females.

"It's been an honor to be part of this with other churches and to know that we are all working together for a common goal — to make sure that sexual abuse and domestic violence don't happen in our churches and in our communities," she said.

Other participating churches include Stumptown Mennonite of Bird-in-Hand, Pilgrim Mennonite of Akron, Long Memorial United Methodist in Lancaster, Lititz Church of the Brethren in Lititz, First Reformed United Church of Christ in Lancaster, Mountville Mennonite in Mountville, Speedwell Heights Brethren in Christ in Lititz and Bethany Grace Fellowship in East Earl.