Dear Friends,
In 1 Thessalonians 2 Paul describes his ministry as being like a mother and father to the Thessalonians. He cared for them like a mother cares for her children, loving them and sharing his life with them. He dealt with them like a father deals with his own children, encouraging, comforting and urging them to live lives worthy of God. It is a remarkable and challenging image – not just for the way it describes a parents’ task but for the way it describes the ministry task.
As parents (and aunties and uncles and grandparents) there are moments of joy and celebration and moments of instruction and discipline. The ministry task is the same and equally important, exciting and draining.
This speaks of course to the expectations you might have as a church member.
The Anglican Church takes ministry seriously and works hard to ensure its staff and all church members who are involved in ministry to young people and the vulnerable are trained and held accountable for doing their work safely.
We share this commitment and eagerly encourage all our church members to do the Safe Ministry Course – it is simple, cheap, online and engaging. You can sit at home in your PJ’s and complete the most important course you will do this year! If you have never been trained or it is three years since your last training, please do the course. Find it at www.safeministry.training.
All our staff, parish council, ministry leaders and growth group leaders are bound by the Anglican Church’s protocol for behavior in ministry called Faithfulness in Service. You can find copies of it on the Safe Ministry Page of the church website. But safe ministry stretches beyond people to property and programs too.
Parish Council have responsibility for all our church sites including St Andrew’s, St Peter’s and other locations where ministry takes place and seek to ensure that the risks associated with using those spaces are managed well. They are currently working on upgrading all our policies in this area.
As a member of church, you are responsible to ensure you are trained in appropriate ways for the ministry you are doing – particularly with children where you must undertake safe ministry training and also obtain a Working With Children Check clearance.
Additionally, we would love you to speak to the Wardens or ministry staff when you see things that are not quite right; that is, people acting strangely, buildings looking unsafe, or programs of concern. As a community we want to work together to have increasingly safe ministry through which we can honour and speak of Jesus to see the world won for Christ.
In Christ
Nigel