Here in one place are the studies and discussion questions helping us to think through what it means to plant safer churches Planting Safer Churches I would encourage Church leadership teams to work through these over a series of sessions. I am also currently preparing a series of YouTube videos to accompany the discussions
Tag: safe guarding
Planting Safer Churches
This may seem like an unusual title. On the one hand, we would hope that churches are safe, loving and accepting places. This is where the Gospel is preached and where people whose lives are being changed come. On the other hand, can we really expect church to be safe? Isn’t there something intensely dangerous… Continue reading Planting Safer Churches
Ministry nuts and bolts: What the pastor needs to know about safeguarding
Most churches are reasonably aware of the requirement for Safeguarding policies and DBS checks now. However, it’s not something that you are going to get detailed training on in seminary and how churches engage with those requirements varies with some being fantastic and others a little chaotic. Also, I still hear people complain that such… Continue reading Ministry nuts and bolts: What the pastor needs to know about safeguarding
Confidentiality and pastoral care
Often in pastoral care, the question of confidentiality will come up. This is important because when you are counselling someone, they are placing themselves in a vulnerable situation and may be telling you things that they’ve never told anyone before. They may be nervous about how making that known will affect them and their relationships.… Continue reading Confidentiality and pastoral care
Abuse, safeguarding and church discipline
One of my main concerns is to see healthy churches planted into urban contexts. We often talk about the church planting bit but I also try to talk as much as possible about the healthy bit. When we talk about healthy churches we are thinking both about health in terms of right doctrine/teaching and good… Continue reading Abuse, safeguarding and church discipline
Pastoral care – guidelines
Yesterday I shared some training notes on giving pastoral care in the church. Here are some guideline notes based on guidelines and policies from a previous church Safe-guarding Your church should have a children’s and at risk adults’ safeguarding policy. It is important that we recognise that those policies respond to specific legal and medical… Continue reading Pastoral care – guidelines
Developing Robust Safeguarding policies
In a recent article, I wrote in defence of safeguarding policies and officers. Here I want to put forward some suggestions for how to have good, robust policies in place. First of all, I believe it is important to start from a Biblical basis. Elders have a responsibility to provide good spiritual food for the… Continue reading Developing Robust Safeguarding policies
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