Loading...A family has walked through your church doors for the first time. What might they see? Hear? Feel? Experience?
A warm welcome? A visit to the nursery? Time with a few church school teachers? A sense that they could belong to a community of believers?
Child theology encourages us to look through the eyes of children, rather than to impose our adult views and understanding upon them. So we need to ask: what do the children see? Is there a way for them to be a part of the gathered community and exercise their own gifts for gospel bearing? When we look at our parishes, do we see youngsters enthused by their faith and playing a full part in worship? Do we see them growing in faith?
I believe that families are looking for a parish that answers yes to these questions. In order for a parish to do so, however, it must be a safe and welcoming place. It must be a place where families’ faith and the faith of their children will grow in community in a healthy way. It is interesting to note that one etymological root of the word “safe,” means “whole.” The Latin “salvus” implies healthiness. Both wholeness and healthiness are foundational for the growth of our Christian faith and the growth to spiritual maturity – no matter our age or stage.
In a practical way, does the impact of the policy and procedures we have for Safe Church in the Diocese of Central Pennsylvania lead us to wholeness and healthiness? I believe it does because:
- Safe Church is about our covenant relationships with God and with one another;
- Safe Church is about providing a healthy, safe environment for all of God’s children;
- Safe Church implies a faith community that takes seriously its promise to do all in our power to support one another in our life in Christ;
In short, Safe Church is about all of us being aware of potentially compromising situations and daring to address them in healthy ways before they become problems. Most especially, it is about living together in ways that prevent abuse from happening – to respect the dignity of every one. As such, it is a major part of ensuring our parishes are safe and welcoming places.
In 2003 Resolution X031, a pastoral letter from the house of Bishops on child sexual abuse was to be read and distributed in every parish. In it, the Bishops wrote: “the Body of Christ, the Church, must be a place where adults, children, and young people find the love and blessing of God, and where no one might be hurt and where hurts may be healed. Our Baptismal Covenant mandates that love, respect, service, and justice must be put into action and permeate all dimensions of the life of our parish.” We promise that before God and each other. Safe Churchtraining provides an opportunity to do this, enhancing our ability to live out our Baptismal Covenant within our communities of faith and in the world beyond.
Learning about the prevention of sexual misconduct and abuse of power creates a greater recognition of the spiritual and public trust given to a faith community. Post training, parishes will often create a more beautiful environment, put glass in the doors of classrooms (allowing them to be more open), have more adults tending to the children in healthy ways, and encourage those adults to teach, mentor, and provide hospitality with care. Amazingly, when all that happens, faith grows!
We all know that the worship of God requires openness, trust, intimacy, vulnerability, and a safe, supportive community. Abuse and harassment are, therefore, violations of the faith shared by a parish. I find the theories of John Westerhoff particularly insightful on this issue. In his book, Will Our Children Have Faith, Westerhoff takes the faith development theory of Emory University’s James Fowler one step further. Faith is broader than religion and spirituality – all human beings have it regardless of religious or nonreligious upbringing. It is a part of our being, and rests in our identity with community and belief in God.
He writes: “Children should be helped to develop the spiritual qualities of wonder and inner peace – and the sense of something greater than themselves. No child is complete without some passionate spiritual engagement.” So in envisioning how we might live out our vision of safe church we know that:
- Parents need to feel assured of their children's safety in all church activities, and of the church's commitment to provide for their children's safety, in order to focus on worship and their own spiritual growth; and
- Staff and volunteers need to be equipped, protected, supported and accountable as they lead and nurture children.
As a diocese, we will continue to provide Safeguarding God’s Children training, including online training, we will continue to provide consultation through our children and youth committee for healthy safe practices for ministry with young people and we will continue to keep our promises and work with our Bishop Nathan for zero tolerance. To that end may our diocese have an abundance of children who are growing in their faith and leading us to the next generation of being church.
