In a couple of our earlier blogs and podcasts we addressed the issues RSOs face when wanting to attend or join a church. To review quickly, one of the obstacles to us attending or joining is, well, our criminal history because of the attitudes of church insurers. Here is an excerpt from our blog, “Serving God as an RSO,” a table of prominent church insurers, to refresh your memory:
| IMPORTANT CHURCH INSURACE PROVIDERS [1, 2, 3] | |
| COMPANY | NOTES |
| GuideOne | Best overall for church coverage. |
| Brotherhood Mutual | Best for mission trips. |
| Thimble | Best for special event insurance. |
| Church Mutual | Best for religious camps. |
| Great American Insurance Group | Best for larger, active churches. |
| AGFinancial | Specializes in protecting churches, schools, ministries, and other nonprofit organizations as well as businesses. |
| Insurance Board | Specializes in serving churches and related entities in six different denominations. |
Also included in that blog, which we refer you back to for more specifics, is a mention of what many of these major church insurers say about sex offenders. It is not good. Furthermore, there is a clear bias against RSOs among these insurance companies in general as no comparable language can be found about any other category of convicted felon. And then there is the wording about RSOs and churches which can be found even from AI. Here is an example from Google AI Overview:
“Churches in America deal with registered sex offenders through a combination of strict conditional attendance agreements, mandatory chaperones, and limitations on activities, often with input from legal counsel and insurance providers. These policies are designed to protect potential victims while also attempting to offer a path to forgiveness and reintegration for the individual, though some high-risk offenders may be excluded entirely.” [4]
What does that say about the state of today’s churches? That this mindset has become institutionalized. It has been taken up into the fabric of today’s Church scene. This author remembers a time when sharing my past with a church’s pastor for accountability’s sake was good enough, and no doubt there are others who also remember those days. Not so anymore. What changed? Churches moved the goal posts, not us. And you can cover your new approach in terms of “accountability” and “path to forgiveness” all you want, but at the end of the day that is a pack of lies.
Many of you are scared to death of liability. You’ll take counsel from lawyers and insurance agents before you will from God, and then you presume to say you are serving Him? That makes you even more the liars than you already are! Your marquees say, “All are Welcome,” but then you want to show registered citizens the back door. Lies again! Need I remind you that God’s Word says all liars shall have their part in the lake of fire (Revelation 21:8)?
We know that church leadership has a God-given mandate to protect their flocks (Acts 20:25-31). We are not against a probation period for people who have dangerous criminal histories, such as registered sex offenders. This is wisdom. What we do have problems with are the blatant discrimination which churches practice against RSOs and the attitude that somehow we cannot be as fully redeemed as every other type of sinner and prodigal. You can proclaim your faith in the blood of Jesus Christ and the power of the Holy Spirit until you are blue in the face, but your actions scream unbelief! You know what that is? Well, how about looking at what the Scripture calls it:
2 Timothy 3:5: …having a form of godliness but denying its power. And from such people turn away!
You who listen to the lawyers and the counselors and the insurance agents, you who watch ratings-driven crime dramas and treat their presentation as the Gospel, you have a form of godliness and deny its power. Often you don’t even give us the option to turn away from you because you’re falling all over yourselves to get us out of your churches. What a shameful and damnable attitude! These churches not to be called houses of worship, but religious country clubs, and their pastors, hirelings—or worse.
As for those churches who do not turn RSOs and others away, God bless you—as long as you are preaching sound doctrine. In this age of moral cowardice and intermixing with the ways of the world, pastors and churches like you and yours stand out like a lighthouse in a storm. We commend you for your courage and unconditional love. You believe what the Bible says about redemption and the ability of the Lord to change people. We pray that there would be more like you.
As for those who do not welcome us, outraged as we are at you, we still pray that you would come to the light. Our prayer and appeal is for you to move past the counsel of man and embrace the counsel of God. What does the Word of God say? Do you not remember that the first person Jesus saved was a thief on a cross next to Him? And what of this Scripture below?:
1 Corinthians 6:9-11: Do you not know that the unrighteous will not inherit the kingdom of God? Do not be deceived. Neither fornicators, nor idolators, nor adulterers, nor homosexuals, nor sodomites, nor thieves, nor covetous, nor drunkards, nor revilers, nor extortioners will inherit the kingdom of God. And such were some of you. But you were washed, but you were sanctified, but you were justified in the name of the Lord Jesus and by the Spirit of our God.
In the passage above, pay special attention to the word “fornicators.” In the New Testament Greek and in the context of this Scripture it means those who practice unlawful sexual intercourse. It is widely considered a catch-all term for any and all illicit sexual activity outside the covenant of a Biblical marriage (between one man and one woman). [5] For that matter, the term “fornication” would include actions that would be considered sexual offenses today. [6] As debased as the pagan Greek culture was in ancient times, of which the city of Corinth was a glaring example, a number of these fornicators had to have been what we would call sex offenders today—pedophiles, rapists, et cetera.
But then this Scripture said, “and such were some of you” (emphasis mine). Not are, but were. All these types of folks described in 1 Corinthians 6:9-11—the idolaters, the homosexuals, the thieves, et cetera, and the fornicators—were changed! They were washed, they were sanctified, they were justified in the name of the Lord Jesus and by the Holy Spirit. God saved them and changed them. Jesus Christ is the same yesterday, and today, and forever (Hebrews 13:8). He can and will do for RSOs today the same that He did for sexual deviants and criminals in the past. Who is any pastor, any church, any professing Christian to say otherwise?
Speaking of, now we turn from the leadership of churches to their congregations. Some who claim to be Christians are among the worst gossips and finger-pointers on this planet. Do you not realize that there are folks who come into your churches every week who are beat up and hurting from life, struggling with different things, or even coming out of prison? Are you in such a hurry to kick it with your cliques that you don’t even notice others except to look down on them and talk badly about them? Where is your compassion? Didn’t any of you at some point in your lives need the same kind of grace and mercy that you now withhold from others?
While it is true that there are sexual offenders who will never change, the same can be said of anyone into any sin, not just sexual sin. There are a lot of us whose consciences God mercifully reawakened, healed, and repaired. We became dreadfully sorrowful over what we had done in sexually victimizing others. We no longer have the desire to do such hideous things, and we pray for those whom we harmed as well as for their families. People who have committed sex crimes often deal with an extraordinary level of guilt and shame, magnified further yet by the stigma placed on such crimes.
These people get saved, come out of prison or some other place, looking for a church to attend and welcome them. What do they get? Church leadership, if they even allow RSOs to join their churches, treat them like perpetual parolees. Congregations talk about them behind their backs, shun them, or in some cases try to get them hurt or falsely accused of new crimes. Some of these individuals coming into churches are still dealing with a lot of hurt of their own, their faith hanging by a thread. When this kind of rejection and mistreatment hits them, it could drive them back into crime, or away from God, or even to suicide. And some of you would actually be pleased because you didn’t want them there anyway, yet you expect God to bless you and to feel the same way you do? If you think the Lord is pleased with that then you are in for a very rude awakening!
Churches, in the name of God, please show compassion to registered citizens! Develop policies that will satisfy accountability yet allow for eventual freedom from permanent scrutiny. Remember, Christ’s atonement is sufficient to save and to change anyone, even RSOs. Congregations, quit throwing stones. None of you is without sin. If it were not for the salvation of Jesus Christ we would all be hellbound no matter what we had done. Church leaders, if there are probationers or parolees who because of the conditions they are under cannot presently attend a church, provide meaningful outreach to them. Remind them that they are loved by both you and the Lord. Show it in how you treat them. And all fellow believers out there, remember, there but for the grace of God you could have become an RSO. You say you never would, but under the right circumstances, who’s to say what would have came out of the depths of your heart? The heart is deceitful above all things, and desperately wicked; who can know it? (Jeremiah 17:9). Quit being bound up by psychiatry, psychology, liability, and so on. Take counsel at the mouth of God, not the mouth of man. Take counsel from His word, not a manmade legal document. If you have been guilty of shunning and restricting registered citizens then repent now. Here you have a second chance to show real faith in God and in His Word, and to show real love to such individuals. You cannot even imagine the magnitude of the good you will be doing by such kindness.
REFERENCES
All Scripture references are from The Holy Bible, New King James Version, Copyright © 1982 by Thomas Nelson.
[1] https://fitsmallbusiness.com June 26, 2023, article by Nathan Weller, “Church Insurance: Top Companies, Cost & Coverage.” Retrieved 11/16/2025.
[2] https://www.agfinancial.org AGFinancial: “Property & Casualty Insurance.” Retrieved 11/16/2025.
[3] https://www.insuranceboard.org Insurance Board: “Who We Serve.” Retrieved 11/16/2025; slight editing.
[4] Google: “Search Labs | AI Overview: How Do Churches in America Deal With Registered Sex Offenders?” Retrieved 11/18/2025.
[5] Google: “Search Labs | AI Overview: Is the Term ‘Fornicator’ a Catch-all Term For Illicit Sex in the Bible?” Retrieved 11/20/2025.
[6] Google: “Search Labs | AI Overview: Does Fornication in the Bible Include Actions That Would Be Considered Sexual Offenses Today?” Retrieved 11/20/2025.
