We Are Our Children's
Safe Sanctuary!

Our congregation raises great kids.  In fact, our child and youth programs are so compelling that we have kids that bring themselves to our programs and whose parents are not active in our congregation.  We have a long history of mentoring children and youth.  Our discernment process recognized and supported our excellence with these programs.  We have been a safe sanctuary to countless children and youth over the years.

You may be aware that at the Charge Conference last fall, Baltimore Washington Conference churches were required to commit to writing a formal Safe Sanctuaries policy and implement it over the coming year.  A Safe Sanctuaries policy describes the safeguards a church puts into place to assure the safety of our children and youth so that our church, its buildings and the adults that mentor children and youth truly provide a safe sanctuary.  Just saying we are a safe sanctuary doesn't make it so.

Our church has been operating for a number of years with conscious regard to safe sanctuaries principles so formally writing a policy and implementing it is just another step in our commitment to our children and youth AND to our congregation.  Over the years, more and more organizations have placed more controls over their children and youth programs to eliminate opportunities for exploitation.  The Boy Scouts, Girl Scouts, coaching organizations, and schools have all put programs in place.  Churches are one of the last hold-outs.  As a church, our instinct is to be welcoming to everyone, to not ask uncomfortable questions, to not envision that anyone within our programs would have questionable motives or intentions.  Individuals with a goal of exploiting children and youth know this.  Churches can be a favored target.  The establishment of a Safe Sanctuaries policy makes our children/youth programs unattractive to predators because we take active oversight of these programs.  And even an unfounded allegation of abuse could bankrupt a church and ruin its standing in the community as it works to defend itself.  A Safe Sanctuaries policy also protects the adult volunteers and mentors from unfounded allegations.

Our current policy is posted on our website and includes provisions for volunteer qualification, basic procedures and practices for working with children/youth, how to respond to allegations of abuse, plans for caring after abuse and training of workers.  Our SPRC is responsible for oversight of our Safe Sanctuaries policies.  Now, children/youth volunteers complete an application, receive training on church safe sanctuaries policies, and sign a covenant to comply with our policies.  Criminal background checks are run by the SPRC after authorization from the volunteer.  The cost of this check (~$10) is borne by the volunteer.

We live in a changing world.  I know that our congregation will also adapt its policies and procedures to continue to be a blessing AND a safe sanctuary to the children and youth in our community.

Sandy Gibson
Chair,
Safe Sanctuaries Working Group

(Note: if you would like to show support for our children and youth volunteers, you can help defray their cost for a criminal background check by designating funds to "volunteer background checks".)