Safe Sanctuaries
Safe Sanctuaries: Creating a safe space for all
Protecting our children, youth and vulnerable adults from abuse, neglect and harm, protecting our volunteers and staff and safeguarding our resources for mission and ministry.
Cassandra Negri
Safe Sanctuaries Consultant
childrensministry@nyac-umc.com
NYAC Safe Sanctuaries Guidelines
Can ministries be held financially responsible for abuse that takes place during third-party use of a church’s facilities?
Liability and Safe Sanctuaries with Third-Party Organizations
Third-Party Use of Facilities and Sexual Abuse Risk: Can Ministries Be Held Financially Responsible?
Inclusion and Hospitality for LGBTQ Youth
Online Children and Youth Ministries
Safe Sanctuaries Policy Checklist
Use this checklist before your annual church conference to make sure your Safe Sanctuaries policy is up to date.
Sample Policies and Documents
- Discipleship Ministries - link to sample policies and forms including children and youth, camping and retreat, and more
- Sample Policy 1
- Sample Policy 2
- Sample Policy 3
Criminal Background Check Information
Abuse Reporting Information
Ministry with Sex Offenders
Information for when a sex offender seeks to join a local church.
Resources
This is a link to a file containing a list of resources, including Joy Melton's books, available to be borrowed from The Learning Center. It includes a brief description of each item. These items can be requested from here while the Conference Center is being remodeled.
Safe Sanctuaries Video Series from Discipleship Ministries
This series has been created by Discipleship Ministries to help local churches, districts and annual conferences create policies and training for staff and volunteers. There are ten videos which last anywhere from 5 minutes to no more than 13 minutes in length. They are available from Discipleship Ministries Safe Sanctuaries (check the box for training videos) or on You Tube .
Video topics include: Best Practices; Background Checks; Policies, Guidelines, Procedures; Healthy Social Media Guidelines; Protecting Vulnerable Adults; Mandatory Reporting; Offsite Considerations; Living Into the Covenant; Registered Sex Offenders; Training Leaders.
NYAC Safe Sanctuaries Workshops
Writing a Safe Sanctuaries Policy
This workshop is designed for churches who do not have a written Safe Sanctuaries policy or who need to edit and revise their current policy. The workshop will help the church understand the importance of having a policy, understand what should be included in the policy, getting the policy approved and more.
Safe Sanctuaries Train-the-Trainer Workshops
This workshop is directed towards the person(s) responsible for training a church's staff and volunteers in the church's Safe Sanctuaries policy. Topics covered will include reviewing and editing the policy, cybersafety, vulnerable adults. You will leave with tools to help you facilitate training at your church.
