I know this is going to be a hassle but the rules are that every three years anyone who is working with children or young people in the church has to do the training thing again. I for one can think of a thousand things I’d rather be doing on a Saturday morning but we don’t have any choice. If you’re involved in any sort of children’s or youth ministry even if you’re only going to do the occasional help out in crèche (and yes, I agree, it sounds crazy to me as well), then you have to be here on Saturday. Let’s all make sure we’re here on time so we can get it over with and not have to take any longer than it has to. Thanks.

And now I will show you a more excellent way

I want to thank all those people who have been involved in the children’s and youth ministries of our church over the past year. Whether you’re a regular leader or help out with the occasional driver for youth group events, these are valuable ministries and we are very thankful to God for the contribution you’ve made. Our commitment is to care for all the children and young people who are connected with our church with the same care and love that God has for each of them.

And so once again we have the opportunity to complete the training in safe ministry, not only because it’s a diocesan requirement for us to comply with but because we want to do all we can to ensure the safety of every child and young person in our care. It’s important for anyone who is going to be involved in children’s and youth ministry to complete this training every three years. It’s helpful for us all to be reminded of safe ministry practices as well as ensuring we’re all up to date with the latest changes in government legislation. It would be good if we had as many people as possible trained in this way so that our regular leaders would never be short of helpers to call on when they’re in need of some extra help.

I know there are probably lots of other things you’d be able to fill your Saturday with but we do this as part of our commitment to serve others in the name of Jesus. Our prayer is that the sort of pain and suffering caused to children and young people through any form of abuse or neglect would never happen again. So this Saturday, we’ll meet to pray for the children and young people in our community, we’ll particularly pray for protection over those who are in danger, and we’ll pray for ourselves, to be a community that shares Jesus’ love and concern for those who are most vulnerable.

Safe Ministry training is being conducted by Youthworks Ministry Support and authorised trainers in locations across the Diocese in the week of March 9-16. See here for details. Churches can also train a Local Safe Ministry Trainer to run training for their parish. Contact Ministry Support on 8268 3355.

Feature photo: larimdaME