{"id":31027,"date":"2021-05-26T13:03:10","date_gmt":"2021-05-26T17:03:10","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/sharefaithblog.wpengine.com\/?p=31027"},"modified":"2021-05-26T13:03:10","modified_gmt":"2021-05-26T17:03:10","slug":"make-people-feel-safe-at-your-church-with-these-helpful-tips","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.sharefaith.com\/blog\/2021\/05\/make-people-feel-safe-at-your-church-with-these-helpful-tips\/","title":{"rendered":"Make People Feel Safe at Your Church with these Helpful Tips"},"content":{"rendered":"

Photo credit: @beachbumledford via Twenty20<\/em><\/p>\n

It is so exciting to have churches opening their doors back up after a year of being confined to online or outside services. However, with in-person services comes the\u00a0needed\u00a0implementation\u00a0of\u00a0church\u00a0safety and security.\u00a0<\/span>\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

Having people back in the buildings means that staff and volunteers need to have a plan in place to keep the congregation and children safe.\u00a0<\/span>\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

Many parents choose a church based on their children\u2019s ministry and\u00a0whether or not\u00a0they feel comfortable having their kids there. A major part of church growth is dependent on the children\u00a0and youth programs in place.\u00a0<\/span>\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

There are multiple ways churches can implement safety and security.\u00a0Here are some steps to take in keeping your church safe:\u00a0<\/span>\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

Select the right people for your ministry.\u00a0<\/span><\/b>One of the first steps in creating a safe environment at your church is to make sure that the people who are volunteering are properly vetted and serving in the correct spaces. Include an application and interview process for all volunteers. Screen them so you can get to know who is serving before they start. You\u2019ll have a better idea of not only who they are as a person (and whether any red flags pop up), and you can also direct them to an appropriate area to serve. For example, somebody might want to serve in the children\u2019s\u00a0ministry\u00a0but they may not have experience with\u00a0kids,\u00a0or they would be better at volunteering on the welcome team. You won\u2019t know unless you have a proper screening process in place.<\/span>\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

Implement background checks.<\/span><\/b>\u00a0Along with the volunteer application and interview process, it is extremely important to\u00a0conduct\u00a0<\/span>background checks<\/span><\/a>\u00a0on all church staff and volunteers, especially if they are working directly with children. Even if they aren\u2019t serving in the children\u2019s ministry, kids are usually all around at church, so it is\u00a0significant\u00a0to have all volunteers screened for a criminal background check. For most parents, children\u2019s ministry is one of the most\u00a0important\u00a0aspects that either keeps them coming back to\u00a0that church or turns them away. The safety of their children truly matters, so if they know that your\u00a0volunteers\u00a0have all been background checked, it may help give them more peace of mind. Not to mention it could keep you from having to deal with lawsuits\u00a0later on.<\/span>\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

Stay\u00a0up to date\u00a0with volunteer tracking.<\/span><\/b>\u00a0Be aware of the status of your volunteers. Are they active or inactive? Have they been serving for years or are they just starting the process? If you know where they\u2019re at in the journey, you can easily\u00a0keep track of any trainings they\u2019ve completed or paperwork they\u2019ve filled out. Then you can follow up as needed.\u00a0<\/span>\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

Enforce child safety training.\u00a0<\/span><\/b>Provide\u00a0<\/span>child protection training<\/span><\/a>\u00a0materials and classes for all volunteers, but especially for those serving in the children\u2019s\u00a0ministry. There should be protocols and standards in place to keep children safe. Utilize the \u201ctwo-person\u201d rule, so a child is never alone with an adult. Consider having a safety team around the children\u2019s area. Include emergency training in the classes and teach volunteers what to do if there is an\u00a0illness\u00a0or injury.<\/span>\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

Have a safety\/security team\u00a0in place.<\/span><\/b>\u00a0Aside from having a safety team in the children\u2019s ministry, train volunteers for other areas of the church\u00a0as well. Have people in place that can help if a random person shows up to church who is acting strange and could harm others. Placing security members at entrances and exits and throughout the sanctuary and lobby could be helpful.\u00a0<\/span>\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

Host safety trainings for all volunteers.\u00a0<\/span><\/b>Along with the trainings for child safety and having a specifically designated security team, all volunteers should have some sort of training to help in case of emergencies. Consider hosting safety trainings throughout the year for all staff and volunteers, and especially for those who are in the onboarding process. The more people who are equipped to help, the better.\u00a0<\/span>\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

Go with the thorough background screening solution<\/h3>\n

Safety is incredibly important for churches. It\u2019s not something everybody walking through the doors thinks about, but it\u2019s something your church staff and volunteers should be aware of and\u00a0have a plan in place.\u00a0Get peace of mind and provide safety for your congregation\u00a0through\u00a0<\/span>ShareFaith\u2019s\u00a0full-service background checks<\/span><\/a>\u00a0and child safety training for all areas of ministry.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Photo credit: @beachbumledford via Twenty20 It is so exciting to have churches opening their doors back up after a year of being confined to online or outside services. However, with in-person services comes the\u00a0needed\u00a0implementation\u00a0of\u00a0church\u00a0safety and security.\u00a0\u00a0 Having people back in the buildings means that staff and volunteers need to have a plan in place to […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":31031,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"spay_email":"","footnotes":"","jetpack_publicize_message":"","jetpack_is_tweetstorm":false},"categories":[1],"tags":[],"class_list":{"0":"post-31027","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-general"},"jetpack_featured_media_url":"https:\/\/blogrouting.sharefaith.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/05\/innocent-little-children-waiting-for-the-serman-to-865JRSD.jpg","jetpack_publicize_connections":[],"yoast_head":"\nMake People Feel Safe at Your Church with these Helpful Tips - Sharefaith Magazine<\/title>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/sharefaithblog.wpengine.com\/2021\/05\/make-people-feel-safe-at-your-church-with-these-helpful-tips\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"Make People Feel Safe at Your Church with these Helpful Tips - Sharefaith Magazine\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:description\" content=\"Photo credit: @beachbumledford via Twenty20 It is so exciting to have churches opening their doors back up after a year of being confined to online or outside services. However, with in-person services comes the\u00a0needed\u00a0implementation\u00a0of\u00a0church\u00a0safety and security.\u00a0\u00a0 Having people back in the buildings means that staff and volunteers need to have a plan in place to […]\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:url\" content=\"https:\/\/sharefaithblog.wpengine.com\/2021\/05\/make-people-feel-safe-at-your-church-with-these-helpful-tips\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:site_name\" content=\"Sharefaith Magazine\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:publisher\" content=\"https:\/\/www.facebook.com\/SharefaithPage\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:published_time\" content=\"2021-05-26T17:03:10+00:00\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:image\" content=\"https:\/\/blogrouting.sharefaith.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/05\/innocent-little-children-waiting-for-the-serman-to-865JRSD.jpg\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:width\" content=\"1920\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:height\" content=\"1080\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:card\" content=\"summary\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:creator\" content=\"@sharefaith\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:site\" content=\"@sharefaith\" \/>\n<script type=\"application\/ld+json\" class=\"yoast-schema-graph\">{\"@context\":\"https:\/\/schema.org\",\"@graph\":[{\"@type\":\"WebSite\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.sharefaith.com\/blog\/#website\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/www.sharefaith.com\/blog\/\",\"name\":\"Sharefaith Magazine\",\"description\":\"The Best in Church Leadership, Worship, Tech and Gear!\",\"potentialAction\":[{\"@type\":\"SearchAction\",\"target\":\"https:\/\/www.sharefaith.com\/blog\/?s={search_term_string}\",\"query-input\":\"required name=search_term_string\"}],\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\"},{\"@type\":\"ImageObject\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/sharefaithblog.wpengine.com\/2021\/05\/make-people-feel-safe-at-your-church-with-these-helpful-tips\/#primaryimage\",\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/blogrouting.sharefaith.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/05\/innocent-little-children-waiting-for-the-serman-to-865JRSD.jpg\",\"width\":1920,\"height\":1080},{\"@type\":\"WebPage\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/sharefaithblog.wpengine.com\/2021\/05\/make-people-feel-safe-at-your-church-with-these-helpful-tips\/#webpage\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/sharefaithblog.wpengine.com\/2021\/05\/make-people-feel-safe-at-your-church-with-these-helpful-tips\/\",\"name\":\"Make People Feel Safe at Your Church with these Helpful Tips - Sharefaith Magazine\",\"isPartOf\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.sharefaith.com\/blog\/#website\"},\"primaryImageOfPage\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/sharefaithblog.wpengine.com\/2021\/05\/make-people-feel-safe-at-your-church-with-these-helpful-tips\/#primaryimage\"},\"datePublished\":\"2021-05-26T17:03:10+00:00\",\"dateModified\":\"2021-05-26T17:03:10+00:00\",\"author\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.sharefaith.com\/blog\/#\/schema\/person\/1934eae265ee976147f8cfe4ec53cb10\"},\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"potentialAction\":[{\"@type\":\"ReadAction\",\"target\":[\"https:\/\/sharefaithblog.wpengine.com\/2021\/05\/make-people-feel-safe-at-your-church-with-these-helpful-tips\/\"]}]},{\"@type\":\"Person\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.sharefaith.com\/blog\/#\/schema\/person\/1934eae265ee976147f8cfe4ec53cb10\",\"name\":\"Sharefaith Team\",\"image\":{\"@type\":\"ImageObject\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.sharefaith.com\/blog\/#personlogo\",\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/secure.gravatar.com\/avatar\/8464e92f0defc55d259c6c3cf4ac7e9b2de32bfba982df4f5da19a5e4154dadb?s=96&d=mm&r=g\",\"caption\":\"Sharefaith Team\"}}]}<\/script>\n<!-- \/ Yoast SEO Premium plugin. -->","jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"jetpack_shortlink":"https:\/\/wp.me\/p9jHXE-84r","_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.sharefaith.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/31027","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.sharefaith.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.sharefaith.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.sharefaith.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.sharefaith.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=31027"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.sharefaith.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/31027\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.sharefaith.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/31031"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.sharefaith.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=31027"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.sharefaith.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=31027"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.sharefaith.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=31027"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}