The Rev.
Debra Kissinger, Missioner to Children
and Child Advocate
Cruising to Equity Campaign
…make a boatload of difference for kids Putting Our Faith into Action to Seek Justice for Children
Children’s Sabbath 2005-2006
Cruising to Equity Brochure (pdf)
Cruising to Equity Participation Guide (pdf)
Safeguarding God's Children
An Educational Program for Preventing Child Abuse
The Church is called to love, shelter, protect, and defend children
within
its own community and in the world, especially those who are abused,
neglected, or in danger. [The Children's Charter for the Church]
"It could never happen in our church." This might be your
response when
reading about cases of child abuse in the newspaper. Often, we in
the church
have a false sense of security about this problem. The sad truth
is that 80%
of child abuse is perpetrated by someone the child knows and trusts.
a
parent, teacher, coach, or a church worker or volunteer.
The Church Pension Group recently released a program aimed at preventing
child abuse called Safeguarding God's Children. Parents, congregations,
church leaders and clergy can all benefit from this program geared
to
preventing and responding to child abuse in everyday life and in
ministry.
The program includes two professionally produced videos and training
units.
For Parents and Congregations is designed to give all adults who
are
concerned about children and youth a basic understanding of the dynamics
of
child abuse, how to recognize signs that a child may have been abused,
and
what to do if you have concerns about a person's behavior towards
a child or
youth or suspect that a child or youth has been molested.
For Ministries is designed for clergy, employees of churches and
church
organizations, and volunteers responsible for planning, implementing
or
supervising ministries, activities or programs for children and youth.
It
shows what steps can be taken to prevent child abuse in church and
other
organizational settings.
In the Diocese of Bethlehem we are working to reduce the possibility
of
child abuse occurring in our congregations. We have been and will continue to offer training in Safeguarding God's Children. The Diocesan Policy is available for download as an MS Document. Supplemental Materials are also available, as well as an FAQ about the training.
Trainings will take place on Saturdays from 9:00 am to 3:00 pm. All
clergy,
paid church personnel and volunteers who regularly work with or around
children or youth will be required to take or update their training.
If you are interested in the Adult Forum education unit, please contact
The
Rev. Debra Kissinger at Diocesan House at 610-691-5655 x 237 or
dkissinger@diobeth.org.
Download the Brochure (pdf)
Visit
the Children's Ministries Web Site
Please direct any
questions or comments to the webmaster@diobeth.org
