Let little children come to me and do not hinder them for the Kingdom of God belongs to such as these. Mark 10:14
What do you like to do on Saturday? Watch your children’s sport? Read the newspaper from start to finish? Go for a bike ride? Attend Safe Ministry Training? Although Safe Ministry Training might not be your first choice for a restful Saturday, it is a valuable thing to do.
Safe Ministry is a platform that rests on three strong pillars: good leadership, safe environments and safe practice. Safe Ministry training helps to ensure that these three pillars are strong in our churches. It reinforces best policy and practice and ensures that everyone working with children and young people knows their roles and responsibilities. It helps us to be aware of important issues regarding our young people’s safety and to ensure that our churches are safe places for children, youth and families.
Because keeping our young people safe is so important, everyone working with children and young people in an Anglican Church needs to complete Safe Ministry Training. And to keep up to date, everyone needs to attend a refresher course every three years after that.
That’s only one Saturday every three years that we have to give up for something as important as keeping our young people safe.
Attending Safe Ministry training is not just about ticking a box to say we’ve done it. There is lots of opportunities for learning new information, developing skills, discussion, questions, and sharing ideas. It is a place where we have the opportunity to think about the specific needs of our ministries. One person commented that “I found the small group discussions helpful to share information and ideas with people working in other churches”. Another person said, “I am here as a warden considering policy so it is great to hear problems and solutions”.
How can you encourage people at your church to do Safe Ministry Training?
• Reminding the members of your church of the importance of Safe Ministry Training.
• Advertising Safe Ministry Weeks in your church – Every year Youthworks runs courses all over Sydney for one week in March and November.
• Making it easy for your people to attend by training someone to be a Local Safe Ministry Trainer. This trainer would be qualified to teach Safe Ministry to members of your church. This means that you can run the training at a time and place that is convenient for the people in your church.
• Supporting the people in your church who attend by assisting them with the cost of the training.
• Acknowledging the people who have attended Safe Ministry training in your church services.
• Surprising your people with a special lunch at their Safe Ministry course.
So to all those people who have given up their Saturdays (or evenings) to attend a Safe Ministry Training, thanks for giving up your free time to come to the course. And thanks for caring about the wellbeing of the children, youth and families who will be impacted by high standards of safety in our churches.
Feature photo: jefito
