Connectional Reflections
Is your church safe for children and youth?
by Dan Gray
Placing a child before the disciples, Jesus declared, "whoever welcomes one such child in my name welcomes me." (Matthew 18:5) In welcoming children and youth, we welcome Christ Jesus!
In Jesus' next breath, he spoke of the horrible fate for those who cause the little ones who believe in him to stumble: "...it would be better for you if a great millstone were fastened around your neck and you were drowned in the depth of the sea." In addition to welcoming children and youth, Jesus calls on his church to nurture and protect children and youth.
We recognize this God-given mandate in our acts of worship that involve baptism and confirmation, where we as the community of faith pledge to God and one another that we will establish children and youth in the faith and surround them in a community of love. Similarly, our "Social Principles" recognize our responsibility to care for children and youth: "Children must be protected from economic, physical, emotional, and sexual exploitation and abuse."
Sadly, our society has seen an increase in the abuse of children and youth. Each year in the United States, there are about three million reported incidents of abuse and neglect of children and youth, involving about five million children and youth. Child advocacy experts estimate that six million more incidents go unreported each year. Considering only the three million reported incidents, there is about one incident of abuse/neglect every 10 seconds, seven days a week, including Sabbath. I imagine this breaks God's heart.
Perhaps even more tragic, even more heartbreaking to God and hopefully to us, is that the reported incidents of child/youth abuse occurring in churches is increasing. This evil has cut across denominational lines, occurring even in Holston churches. Regardless of our local church's size, we cannot pretend that abuse could not happen through our ministries.
In 1996, the United Methodist Church recognized by resolution the risk of abuse and Christ's mandate to welcome, nurture, and protect young people in his churches. Our denomination has called upon us to take steps to reduce the risk of abuse.
To equip our local churches to develop policies and procedures for reducing this risk, our conference is hosting two "Safe Sanctuaries" training events in March. Policies and procedures developed by local churches should apply to both volunteer and paid staff, and both lay and clergy. Such policies not only reduce the risk to children and youth, but also help protect the workers and churches involved in these ministries. Thus, anyone serving in children's and youth ministries, including clergy, should attend these workshops. Clergy CEUs are available.
Holston Conference children's ministries is hosting "Safe Sanctuaries for Children" workshops on March 5-6 as part of its "March Forth for Children" event at Cokesbury Center in Knoxville, Tenn. The workshops will be led by the Rev. Joy Melton, a United Methodist minister, attorney, Christian educator, and author of the "Safe Sanctuaries" series. For more information, contact Anita Henderlight, coordinator of children's ministries, at (865) 690-4080 or e-mail.
Holston Conference youth ministries is hosting a "Safe Sanctuaries for Youth" workshop led by Melton on March 5 at 6:30 pm, also at Cokesbury Center. Contact Dan Gray, coordinator of youth ministries, at (423) 928-2156 or e-mail for more information.
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