Safe guarding policy and moral conduct

Our safeguarding policy at the potters house church Worcester is as follows: 

As part of its mission, the Church is committed to:

• Valuing, listening to and respecting children, young people and adults as well as promoting their welfare and protection.
• To protect children and vulnerable adults who attend our church
• Safe recruitment, supervision and training for all the children's/youth workers within the church.
• Adopting a procedure for dealing with concerns about possible abuse.
• Encouraging and supporting parents/carers.
• Supporting those affected by abuse in the church.
• Maintaining good links with the statutory childcare authorities and other
  organisations. 

CHURCH POLICY

The Church leadership recognises the need to provide a safe and caring environment for children and young people as enshrined in the children's Act 1989.

It also acknowledges that children and young people can be the victims of physical, sexual and emotional abuse, and neglect. 

The Church leadership has therefore adopted the procedures set out in our policy which recognises the need to build constructive links with statutory and voluntary child protection agencies. 

Our Church is a member of the CCPAS (Policy no 3411) and have been members since 2005. 

Our policy and guidelines are based on the model published by the Churches' Child Protection Advisory Service (CCPAS) and prepared in consultation with the local authorities.

 The Church leadership undertakes to file a copy of the policy and practice guidelines with CCPAS and social services, and any amendments subsequently published.

The Church leadership is committed to on-going child protection training for all children/youth workers and will regularly review the operational guidelines.

The Church leadership also undertakes to follow the principles found within the Abuse of Trust guidance issued by the Home Office and it is therefore unacceptable for those in a position of trust to engage in any
behaviour, which might allow a sexual relationship to develop for as long as the relationship of trust continues.

The following policy was agreed by The Church leadership, for service/ events on Sundays & Wednesdays (and any other service time for revival services, conference etc.)

• We are committed to supporting parents and families
• As leaders of the church we are committed to the nurturing, protection and
  safeguarding of children and young people.
• We recognise that child protection is everybody's responsibility
• We are committed to following the agreed procedures and following statutory,
  denominational and specialist guidelines.
• We seek to support all in the Church affected by abuse
• We review this policy annually.
• If you have any concerns for a child or in relation to any child protection matter then speak to our designated child protection co-ordinator Mrs Vimbai Milly Ssessanga, who can be contacted  at vimbix.vs@gmail.com if you have any safe guarding concerns.
• . A copy of the full policy can be seen in the church office upon request.

This is a Policy Concerning Pastoral Moral Integrity:

We believe that a Pastor is to represent God to the congregation and community with the highest standard of integrity, and his actions should be blameless (1 Timothy 3:2) and his actions should be such that he has a good report with people, both within and without the congregation (1 Timothy 3:7).

We also believe that the Pastor is a Shepherd of the congregation, and his highest duty should be to care for, and protect the flock (1 Peter 5:2).

These dual Biblical requirements are to be demonstrated in our relations with the opposite sex, and in the area of sexuality in general. God demands purity of all believers, and Pastors are held to a higher standard (James 3:1), so as to not cause anyone to stumble.

1. Counselling: A Pastor must guard against both the impression of impropriety, and human nature to bond emotionally with those receiving counselling. A Pastor should never counsel a member of the opposite sex alone. If the counselling cannot be done in the sight of other people, the Pastor should always have someone else in the room while counselling.
2. Sexual communication: Any conversations or communications – written or electronic, should never involve flirtatious or sexual discussions or innuendos (Col 3:8). No counselling should involve sexual topics or discussions without another person present in the conversation.
3. Sexual contact: Any form of sexual contact, or sexual touching of any person we are not married to, violates our Biblical standard of holiness (1 Cor 6:19-20), and immediately disqualifies us from Pastoral ministry.

If a Pastor falls into any form of sexual sin, or damages his testimony morally, he is liable for immediate removal from the ministry.

1. He will have his Pastoral credentials immediately removed, and no longer qualifies to be a Pastor.
2. His Pastor is to determine the facts and damage of the case to determine whether or not he should be put out of the church
   for a period of discipline.
3. If there are any further moral violations, or any form of contact with a person they were sexually involved with,
   they will usually be put out of the church for a period of between 6 months and 1 year.
4. At the end of the proscribed period of discipline, he must meet with his Pastor, who will make a determination
   concerning repentance and fitness to return to the congregation.
5. He will not have any public ministry for a period of 2 years while he rebuilds his relationship with God, his marriage and public testimony.
6. At the end of 2 years, if he seeks to return to Pastoral ministry, and his pastor is willing to speak for his repentance and character, he can request a restoration meeting that must include his Pastor, and 3 Leaders of the Fellowship.

They can question him to determine his fitness to return to ministry, and make any recommendations of how soon/what capacity he is able to serve in.

           7. As the Bible holds up a Pastor’s marriage as a basic requirement of ministry (1 Timothy 3:1-13), any violations by the Pastor’s wife in the area of sexual communication or contact (as discussed above) will disqualify the couple from Pastoral ministry.

The terms of discipline (described above) would then be in effect.