Justin Humphreys, Head of Safeguarding at the Churches Child Protection Advisory Service was speaking after new NSPCC-compiled figures showed that more than five complaints about child sexual abuse are made very hour in the UK.
The number of reported child sex offences across England and Wales has risen by a third.
Justin Humphreys told Premier's News Hour adults need to have honest, open discussions with young people: "It's not about being scaremongers but it's about saying, look, there are some genuine issues here, there are genuine risks that are posed to young people.
"Let's be alert and awake to those issues, let's not shy away from having the conversation."
More than 45,000 offences were reported to police in a year according to the NSPCC - the equivalent of 124 every day.
The figures showed that where the gender of the victim was recorded, 30,393 were female and 7,639 were male.
Justin Humphreys said: "We are still not seeing the full extent of this situation and that then needs to be for everybody concerned a particularly potent reminder about the need to be aware to this reality - so there's always more we can do."
He said that the reason for an increase could be due to changes in the way police record crime and survivors being encouraged to speak out.
There has been a 33% rise in complaints to police in England and Wales about child sex abuse.
Police in England and Wales recorded a total of 41,457 sexual offences against under-18s in the financial year 2014/15, compared to 31,238 the previous year.
Listen to Premier's Alex Williams speak with Justin Humphreys here: