Safe Ministry
Everyone should be safe at church. To help our church be safe, we require every person in any ministry role to complete these steps:
Online, self-paced training that should take 2-4 hours total. Complete Safe Ministry Essentials or Safe Ministry with Children (if role interacts with persons under 18). Then send us your completion certificate.
This is like an application form for serving, including a confidential questionnaire with questions we need to ask for safety reasons. We’re not looking for perfect people, just people who want to serve Jesus.
Read and abide by Faithfulness in Service. If you’re aiming to live as a Christian this should be fine, but this will tell you the breaches for which a person might be suspended removed from a ministry role.
Notes
- For roles that interact with children you’ll also need to submit a valid WA Working with Children Check.
- Safe Ministry Training costs $20 (Essentials) or $35 (with Children). For reimbursement use this form.
- Email Safe Ministry Training Certificate and Safe Ministry Check to address at the foot of this page.
Questions and Answers
The short answer is that these are the steps our organisation has deemed necessary to maximise the safety of everyone at church. Another answer is that it helps our staff and our church be ‘above reproach’ (1 Timothy 3.2 etc.) in the eyes of the community.
That won’t necessarily be the outcome at all. All Christians are sinners whose only hope is God’s grace. But if your background includes (e.g.) criminal activity, it will help us in a range of ways if we know about that before you start serving rather than afterwards.
Unfortunately no. In our church, you will need to complete a (shorter) Safe Ministry Training Refresher course every three years. If you go to another church in our diocese, you might not have to re-do Safe Ministry Training, but you will have to submit a fresh Safe Ministry Check.
All your information will be handled confidentially according to the Diocese of North West Australia’s Privacy Statement and Privacy Policy.
The short answer (which most organisations would also give you) is that you still need to complete our training. We think that having everyone ‘on the same page’ in this area helps make our churches safer. Also, standardised training helps us fulfil our responsibilities legal obligations in this area.
