Involved in ministry at your church? Then you need to adhere to a new code of conduct. PHILIP GERBER, Director of the Church's Professional Standards Unit and a member of the Child Protection Committee, explains what it involves.

Southern Cross: What do you want people to do with the new code, Faithfulness in Service?

Philip Gerber: We would want every person involved in ministry " particularly youth ministry, but ministry generally, whether volunteer or paid, to have a copy of it. People do need to use it, not just distribute it. They need to use it as a basis for discussion and training and so on. It gives you a tool, for example, to use within your Sunday School group, and say, "let's open up the chapter on children, let's read it through and let's talk about it". We hope it will get fairly wide distribution.

SC: Which kind of ministries?

PG: Obviously all the children's and youth ministries " Sunday Schools and youth fellowships and so on. But also people who are in pastoral ministry because there are matters in here that relate to pastoral care.

So parishes that have pastoral care teams that go around and visit people need to have a look at this even if they don't do pastoral care with children. Any ministry, really, where you are going to have people who in the context of that ministry are going to talk to you about matters and you're going to deal with them pastorally.

SC: Even the person who leads the monthly Bible study?

PG: Yes, if it's the sort of Bible study that is typical. People raise personal issues and you don't just teach them the Bible, but you also end up relating to them and ministering to them.

SC: How about people who receive pastoral ministry?

PG: It's a code that people receiving pastoral ministry might want to have access to, to see whether they're unhappy or feel uneasy about a circumstance. Obviously not everyone will read it but if they feel uncomfortable with a situation, looking through this will give them a bit of an idea of what a pastoral worker should be doing. They will be able to clarify in their mind and say, "well, yes, I feel uncomfortable and this pastoral worker or minister is crossing a boundary and it's reasonable for me to feel uneasy'.

SC: If someone feels a boundary has been crossed, what's the next step that they can take?

PG: Two main steps. One " and this is often difficult in terms of the power balance " they should raise it with the person concerned. But often that's not possible, and in that case they should either raise it with the person who supervises that person or alternatively get onto one of our contact people. So they may ring with no real intention of making a complaint or bringing an allegation, but they've been in a difficult situation and feel uncomfortable and they can talk it over.

SC: Will the code make it easier for people who may have felt uncomfortable but may not have known what to do?

PG: I think that's right. They won't just be going on their own instincts whether the person is acting inappropriately towards them but will actually have a guideline which says "well, that's what's happening to me'. "Permission giving' is a good way of putting it. If someone feels uneasy and they read the code then they may feel it's okay to say something about it.

SC: Why introduce a new code now if a code has already been in place from 1998?

PG: The previous code certainly outlawed child abuse and sexual misconduct, it was crystal clear and as tough as the present code. What it does do is bring in other issues such as pastoral ministry and finances and so on. There shouldn't be anything that is a surprise. It really should be a statement of what everybody would say we would expect of clergy and church workers.

SC: In your experience, what do people in ministry struggle with the most?

PG: I think the toughest is exercising a position of trust where you are focused primarily on the interests of the person you're ministering to without being trodden on and becoming a doormat. It's knowing that the boundaries are actually set by that rule, that the person you're responsible for pastorally comes first in the context of that relationship. So you don't have the liberty to push certain boundaries which you might have in other relationships.

SC: What should happen if a student minister, for example, starts a relationship with a member of a Bible study?

PG: There are no hard and fast rules saying "you must leave the Bible study, you must do this, you must to that'. It's a matter of people being honest and open and upfront. They should be upfront with themselves, with the person they're developing a relationship with and the people you're responsible to so that it's open and everybody's accountable and there's no misunderstanding.

And that's where people run into problems. Where there's a power or a trust relationship between a leader and a member of a youth group and that power relationship is used inappropriately, there's a problem. But if it's a boyfriend/girlfriend relationship that's developing and if it's open and upfront and everybody knows about it, and it's dealt with properly, the code doesn't envisage that should be a problem. It does talk about disclosing to your colleagues and making alternative arrangements if there is a close pastoral ministry.

If you have a close pastoral relationship and it starts to develop into a romantic relationship you need to acknowledge that. It is a difficult area, and each case is different.

SC: Why is good financial management linked to personal behaviour and is it linked to child abuse?

PG: It's not as close a link as that but it is certainly the case. We've read studies overseas that would indicate where people are breaching
boundaries in financial areas or in other areas, there is some correlation between a tendency not to understand the proper boundaries in personal behaviour and sexual or child abuse areas.

However, that's not to say that everyone who robs a bank is a child abuser, certainly not. But there is quite a good comparison between a person who gets into a position of financial responsibility and management and then thinks they can take advantage of this either with in pastoral relationship or with children.  We need to give some guidance to people as to what they should and shouldn't do. We've always expected our clergy to have financial propriety and be squeaky clean.

SC: Will the code stop abuse and misconduct? Will it help churches who are struggling with these kind of issues?

PG: I think it will be one tool. It's not the whole answer, as it is still possible for someone to ignore it or for a whole church to just ignore it.
However, together with proper screening, leadership and training it will go towards bringing these issues out and potentially stop it happening. This is both from the point of view of people who may be inclined towards misconduct but also from the point of view of leadership and clergy who have responsibility. They will be aware of it and feel more confident to say when someone who works with them is crossing the boundaries, "hang on, that's dodgy, we need to talk about it'.

There are standards in the code, which are expectations, but there are also guidelines that only try to give advice because we can't cover every situation. We've made the standards broad because we don't want to say, for example, you must have two leaders in every Bible study. If you start being prescriptive, there's confusion about whether people are really doing the right thing.

SC: Who are the key people in all of this?

PG: Rectors, of course, but the young ones coming through After College Training are too, because they often have responsibilities for youth groups. If they start to use it as a tool it will be very positive. I think people are very glad we're stating these things.

Faithfulness in Service was adopted at the 2004 General Synod and at the Sydney Synod. It will be distributed to churches in the New Year. Seminars will be held for clergy in 2005. Electronic copies are available at www.anglican.org.au/GS2004 or for a free copy phone Carol on 9265 1604.