Dear friends of St Andrew’s and St Peter’s,
“Are you safe?” “How are you? Well? Safe?”
We’ve had to become used to being asked that now we are living with COVID19. (In my aurally challenged life now I sometimes mishear the question as “Are you sane?”. My reply, “Why? Have you noticed something?” usually gets a puzzled look!)
Providing safety has become essential for the toolkit of any organisation or business operating in our community at the moment. I want to reassure you that at present Campbelltown Anglican Churches’ properties are as safe as we can possibly make them. And this standard is not in place just because we are responsible citizens. Above all it is an expression of our love for others.
So when Junior Jivers met on Friday morning – and it was a great re-start – several leaders had already spent much time working hard at cleaning and disinfecting the hall, toilet facilities, toys and equipment. They had established rigorous and clear check-in procedures, and provided hand sanitiser and appropriate seating along with clear instructions for our visitors. Thank you, Kat and team! And that’s all before any of the marvellous fun, Bible input and playing got under way.
And when it was all over, there was an almost equally detailed and demanding program to ensure the hall was as safe as required for the next users.
So on Friday night, Youth group had the great joy of meeting face-to-face again. Again, thanks to the leaders, the same detailed safety regime was in place. Thank you James and team!
Friends, please pray for these two ministries. The leaders and helpers carry a big responsibility for bringing the love of Jesus to little ones, youth, their families and helpers. And God has been at work even though there have been no meetings till now. The teams have lovingly and responsibly taken on this extra work to ensure the safety of all who come. Pray that they will not get weary, that the highest level of safety possible will be in place each week, and above all that God will bring the gospel of grace to many.
But our responsibility to provide safety extends beyond safety from infection.
Safe Ministry Checks.
As an added but essential feature of the Safe Ministry program, training and certification, all those involved with children in our churches must commit to the new Safe Ministry Check. This Check involves each volunteer confidentially answering a set of seven questions about their personal life. The questions are designed to draw out any information which might result in concerns about the suitability of a person to work with children. We are told the vast majority of volunteers will answer “no” to each question or will write a satisfactory explanation to explain their “yes” answer. If, however, concerns are raised, a confidential interview will follow to explore any issues raised.
Can I emphasise one point? Responsibility for ensuring the processes for these Checks are in place and particularly sighting responses and dealing with any concerns raised is for the Senior Minister or his Authorised Delegate alone. He would normally do the reading of responses himself but if it’s obvious the workload is too great, especially in this introductory period as we catch up, he may delegate some of that work to a senior member of staff. At present I am intending to handle this myself. Only when I have done that will any other person be involved – our Safe Ministry Rep (Kerry Olsen) will ensure the barest of details are entered into the parish’s secure Safe Ministry Records: date Check was submitted, result of processing, date of clearance, name of person processing clearance.
If volunteers are aged 18 or over the questions can be answered online on a secure site.
There are other details I will outline in an email I’ll send out to all our present volunteers over the next few weeks – Junior Jivers staff and Youth staff will be the guinea pigs – and I hope to complete the process well before the end of the year as required.
I am both glad and saddened by us having to put this extra feature into our Child Protection/Safe Ministry suite of requirements. I am glad because it has always seemed to me a Working With Children Check and Safe Ministry Training was not pastoral enough. The Check, along with the other two requirements, will provide greater rigour in our processes, but also strengthen the personal pastoral context in which our volunteers minister.
I am saddened by the need for this process because it underlines once more that sin is alive and well in our world. Sadly, the abuse of little ones entrusted to others is all too frequent; and even more sad that it’s within the church of God. We are those who know from God himself the dreadful reality and effects of sin. And we know none of us are exempt. You will know, as we all do, of the awful news of a trusted Christian leader wreaking havoc for the gospel, in the lives of churches and individuals and in their own life and that of their family because of sin. We are fools if we think it won’t happen again – and even greater fools if we think we ourselves are immune.
Now, no process will be a guaranteed defence against sin. This new Check won’t be either. It’s not foolproof, but it is a helpful way to remind our generous and servant-hearted volunteers and ourselves of the kind of life to be lived by a servant of Christ. It will enable them in confidence to alert a trusted pastor to any struggles they think they may be having and seek prayerful help. And it will give church leaders greater reasons to be confident about the ministry of those volunteers.
Above all it will enable us to be even more confident that we and those to whom we minister are safe as they experience among us the love of God in Christ Jesus our Lord.
Sincerely in Christ,
Deryck Howell
Acting Senior Minister
PS. In case you’re wondering, all paid staff have to submit themselves to a much longer “Lifestyle Questionnaire” as part of the process of obtaining the Archbishop’s license to minister.