SAFE SANCTUARIES
Heeding Christ’s call to all people to love and serve one another (John 13:15,34), to serve those most vulnerable in his name, even the “least of these” (Matthew 25:40), and to welcome children and youths in Christ’s name (Matthew 18:5), the Mt. Pleasant UMC of the Susquehanna Conference of the United Methodist Church has developed Safe Sanctuaries Policies with accompanying procedures to reduce the risks of abuse to children, youths and vulnerable adults in our ministries and events. The Safe Sanctuaries Policies come out of the guiding covenant of the Susquehanna Conference, “…acknowledging that it is by God’s grace that we live together in covenant agreement,” and focus on the following covenant agreements:
- We covenant together as a Conference to diligently seek God’s will as we endeavor to make disciples of Jesus Christ for the transformation of the world; and,
- We covenant to do no harm by words or actions.
The Mt. Pleasant UMC Safe Sanctuaries Policies seek to provide a safe and secure spiritual environment for children, youths and vulnerable adults, to comply at all times with the Pennsylvania Child Protective Services Law, and to practice cyber-safety in computer, internet, cell phone and other evolving cyber technologies to reduce the risk of abuse in our ministries to and events for children, youths and vulnerable adults. United Methodists are a connectional people. As we work to fulfill the Great Commission of Jesus Christ (Matthew 28:19), we use the ever-changing cyber technologies available to us to teach about God’s love and to strengthen our connections as the Body of Christ in the world.
It is the purpose of this policy to first of all protect the children, youth and vulnerable adults that come to us; the second is to protect our staff, both paid and volunteer, from potential allegations of abuse. All persons who accept the responsibility of supervising children, youth & vulnerable adults must have the following clearances:
PA Child Abuse clearance
PA State Police Criminal clearance
FBI Criminal clearance/notarized affidavit
The entire policy can be found here and can be downloaded here.