The importance of safeguarding should be communicated to the whole church, says Emma Lawson.,,,
Safeguarding isn’t just a niche job for a lone member of staff. It’s a justice issue modelled by Jesus which the whole church should embrace, says Christian safeguarding charity Thirtyone:eight. We asked Communications Manager Emma Lawson to explain.
Who needs safeguarding in church?
The main groups we work with are children, young people and adults who have care needs or disabilities.
But it’s also important to note that people can be vulnerable at different times of their lives. A church might be running a pregnancy advice group or a money management course, for example, and issues could transpire during this relating to domestic abuse. So it’s not always the obvious groups we need to look out for.
Also, if churches are engaging with their communities by running things like food banks or toddler groups, you can encounter safeguarding issues here too. It’s about preparing for that, doing all you can to be aware of things that might crop up and knowing how to respond when they do.
How can churches get safeguarding right?
Guidance from government and charity regulators includes having someone in the role of Safeguarding Coordinator. They will lead on implementing policies and processes and following up any concerns reported. That could be one person, but ideally it would be a group of people of both sexes.
Safeguarding is everyone’s responsibility though, so communicating about it to the whole church is really important. We can have all the policies and procedures in the world, but unless people know about them and bring them to life they won’t be truly effective.
The leadership needs to champion safeguarding too, leading by example and being willing to take part in training. They need to help spread the message that church should be a safe place for everyone.
Churches need an open culture where everyone understands the importance of safeguarding. Practically speaking, that can mean communicating and reviewing accountability structures and decision-making processes, supporting safer recruitment and informing leadership on current issues and good practice. It also means making sure people know who to contact and report concerns to at the relevant authorities and agencies.
Churches also need to encourage open communication and transparency at all levels, have a clear whistle-blowing policy and support people who speak up when they experience or witness poor behaviour.
What mistakes do churches make with safeguarding?
Sometimes churches focus on making volunteers aware of safeguarding issues, which is great, but forget to raise awareness and communicate safeguarding to vulnerable people themselves.
What churches can learn from this is to involve children and vulnerable adults in their safeguarding and ensure they communicate in language everyone understands.
Also, it’s important for churches to be prepared when something is reported. Sometimes they have policies and procedures in place but they’re not prepared for when an issue is disclosed.
What new safeguarding issues should churches be aware of?
There’s more awareness of and conversation around culture and leadership now, with stories coming out recently of Christian leaders abusing their positions of trust.
Dr Lisa Oakley and Justin Humphreys of Thirtyone:eight, published a book on that called Escaping the Maze of Spiritual Abuse which stimulated some good reflection.
One of the main ways to address this is by creating healthy, open cultures of accountability and transparency, where leaders are not put on an unhealthy pedestal but are subject to the same accountability as others.
From Direction Magazine issue 241
