If you’re a leader at a local church, thank you for your important ministry! This document includes some additional guidance for how to effectively use Conference-developed training in your ministry setting.
The Model Safe Sanctuaries Policy #
The Model Local Church Safe Sanctuaries Policy is a resource developed by the Conference that, in many cases, can be adopted “as-is” by local churches (more details and the model policy itself can be found at that link).
You’ll want to make sure your church has adopted the Model Policy (or a policy based on the Model Policy) before having staff and volunteers take this training, and to provide them with a copy of the policy prior to sending them training details.
Previous Model Policy Revisions #
If your church has not yet adopted the updated Model Policy and training is still needed, the 2021-2025 Model Policy Training will remain available and accessible, including for new enrollments, through December 31, 2025. Please make sure you have adopted the revised Model Policy by January 1, 2026 as only the updated version of the training will be available after that date.
Recertification #
The Model Policy calls for staff and volunteers to be recertified at most every three years. To facilitate this, a new version of this course will be released each year, but the content will not change. When sending course information to staff and volunteers, just make sure you’re sending the current year’s version.
Background Checks #
It is recommended that staff and volunteers update their background checks at the same time they update their training. If you have not already established a background check account with Ministry Safe, you can do so at this link.
Need Help? #
If you need assistance, please don’t hesitate to reach out to Rev. John Fleischauer, Conference Safe Sanctuaries Coordinator, at john.fleischauer@umcna.org.
