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This streamlined and easily searchable archive allows churches to use its records for hiring screenings.

Many churches lack close oversight, misconduct reporting systems, or protocols for external investigations.

Believing that clergy have divine or absolute authority can reduce the likelihood of “upward dissent.”

Guilty clergy may misrepresent accountability as a "spiritual attack" or rebellion against God's will.

Protestant Accountability contains public records documenting over 2,700 church workers who either committed sexual abuse or mishandled related investigations while holding institutional authority. The database covers church staff broadly, from associate pastors and worship leaders to youth workers and staff who have never preached.

The volunteer-run database accepts entries such as court records, state attorney general reports, news articles, and—since convicted or ousted clergy may switch denominations—data from other survivor-run archives like Stop Baptist Predators, Bishop Accountability, and Survivors Network of Those Abused by Priests (SNAP).

To avoid inviting libel suits, convicted sex offenders are denoted differently than those named in media coverage about pending investigations, charges, or trials. Moreover, the database pulls from credible sources in the public domain, is not investigative, and does not directly influence legal cases, although it can aid law enforcement.

Rather than instigating hearsay or innuendo, the database preserves public documents that broken links and expired pages often erase. This streamlined and easily searchable archive serves an important purpose: churches can use its records for hiring screenings since Protestant churches have no centralized authority that keeps personnel files.

Founders of Protestant Accountability announced its launch in August at an online press conference organized by the Survivors Network of Those Abused by Priests (SNAP).

Chellee Taylor, key architect of the database, is a survivor of sexual abuse who in 2022 won a settlement from the Southern Baptist Convention after alleging the denomination covered up her assault at Journey Church in Orange City, Florida.

“I don’t want to burn down the church, but I don’t have a problem dismantling the aspects that are harming people,” Taylor told Christian Today. “The reason that we built this site is because........

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