Safe Sanctuaries is the name commonly given by local United Methodist Annual Conferences and local churches to their individual efforts to make conference, district, and local church programs welcoming and safe for children and youth. The General Conference mandate of 1996 requires all United Methodist congregations, regardless of size, to implement policies and procedures that help protect children, youth and vulnerable adults; protect the adult workers who serve in these ministries; and protect the various assets of the church for making disciples of Jesus Christ.
The Annual Conference Safe Sanctuaries Team developed a policy to govern the programs and ministries sponsored by the South Georgia Annual Conference. This policy was presented and approved at the Annual Conference session in June 2007 and then amended at the June 2022 session. Click here to download the policy.
What should churches do to keep participants safe from abuse and workers safe from false allegations of abuse?
Safer Sanctuaries: Nurturing Trust within Faith Communities is the new and comprehensive resource that continues the tradition of Safe Sanctuaries ministry by building on the trusted policies and procedures that have guided churches over the past twenty-five years. This resource contains theological grounding for the work of abuse prevention, psychological insights about abuse and abuse prevention, basic guidelines for risk reduction, age-level specific guidance, and step-by-step instructions on how to develop, revise, update, and implement an abuse prevention plan in your church or organization. For more information on ordering this resource, click here.
Each church should recruit a team of church leaders, including Nursery, Children’s and Youth staff, age level coordinators, chairpersons from Trustees and Finance committees, educators, attorneys and police persons to write policy and procedures for each church’s governing body to adopt. If a church is not actively engaged in enforcement of their policies and procedures, they run the risk of being found negligent.
As a Christian community of faith and a United Methodist congregation, you should:
- Screen paid and volunteer workers.
- Implement prudent operational procedures in all programs and events.
- Train paid and volunteer workers regarding policies and procedures.
- Report suspected incidents of child abuse according to Georgia state law; respond appropriately to both victim and the accused as well as to media inquiries if an incident occurs.
Every local church should know:
- How to educate the church
- How to write policy and procedures
- How to screen workers
- How to train workers
- How to report suspected abuse
South Georgia Safe Sanctuaries Information and Resources
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