When you hear the term “Safe Church,” what comes to mind? Is it “Safeguarding God’s Children,” a child abuse awareness and education course that many parishioners, especially those of us who work with children, have taken? Or does the term call to mind physical safety concerns such as the need for caution cones around broken sidewalks, smoke detectors and fire extinguishers in key places, and easy access to a defibrillator?
If you routinely read articles in “The Messenger,” attend parish meetings, and listen to messages from the pulpit, you likely have a sense that clergy, vestry, educators, and our church community are paying attention to church safety from all aspects. We are. We are a diligent bunch. So why all of this talk about “Safe Church”? With all of these people paying attention, isn’t St. John’s already a safe church?
I believe that we are, however, it is our responsibility to be vigilant as well as diligent when it comes to the safety and security of our children. We need to keep our eyes open to the fact that bad things can and do happen. Children at St. John’s are not immune.
The purpose of SafeChurch, a child sexual abuse prevention program developed by the Samaritan Counseling Center, is to help churches, like ours, to take seriously the growing incidence of child abuse and to develop a culture and policies that protect our children.
The fact is that we at St. John’s care about each other and live by our mission: Grow in God, act in service, witness in love. That means that we pay attention to the growth and development of everyone, especially those who walk through our doors. The most vulnerable among our citizens are children. Whether they participate in church school, youth events, after-school programs, or are simply attending a Sunday service, it is our responsibility to protect and nourish them. It’s a big responsibility. And given state laws that were recently enacted to protect children from abuse, all of us need to be aware of what is legally required of us when we suspect that abuse may be happening.
St. John’s has established a SafeChurch Committee. Members include Marylee Sauder (chair), John Gouveia, Cynthia Minnich, Cindy Morris, and me (Mary Woolson). St. John’s is part of a cluster of nine churches that are meeting monthly from now until November to learn about child sexual abuse issues and to develop safe church policies for our respective churches.
Our first job is to educate our congregations about the issue of sexual abuse and why it is crucial for us to take steps to prevent it. To that end, we have scheduled a “SafeChurch Sunday” parish meeting for Sunday, March 22, from 9 to 10:15 a.m. in the Parish Hall. A representative from the Samaritan Counseling Center will share a presentation and answer questions as we begin this journey. Parishioners who are sexual abuse survivors may want to take care if attending the meeting as we will be covering some difficult ground.
I think it’s fair to say that we all care about children. After all, they represent our future. Let’s be brave enough to talk about the reality that bad things can happen to our children and let’s be proactive enough to put practices and policies in place that help protect them. Please mark your calendar and plan to attend this important meeting:
SafeChurch Sunday
March 22, 2015
9 – 10 a.m.
Parish Hall
Featuring: David Miron, SafeChurch,
Good Samaritan Counseling Center