About the Safe Church Health Check
Churches of Christ in NSW & ACT (CCNSWACT) is committed to modelling the love of Christ by promoting physical, emotional and spiritual safety in all that we do. We recognise that the growing number of recommendations and legal requirements may leave you feeling apprehensive or overwhelmed. We are confident, however, that the Safe Church Health Check (SCHC) will support you as you navigate these challenges.
Read more about the background of this check here:
Where Do We Start?
In order to successfully complete a Safe Church Health Check, there are a few fundamentals that must be accomplished first.
1. Appoint a Safe Church Team
If you are a church leader or church administrator, the first step is to have the governance body of your church appoint a Safe Church Team. The Safe Church Team may include paid staff and/or volunteers, we have provided a Model Role Description to outline their responsibilities. It is a very important role that should report directly to the church’s Senior Pastor and Governance body. The Safe Church Team must have at least one male and one female. Where possible, potential conflicts of interest should be avoided.
2. Amend, adopt and communicate relevant Policy and Procedures
These documents (referred to as the ‘Safe Church Package’, or SCP) must be marked with the date they were formally adopted by the governance body. This is important as it ensures that the governance body is aware of the contents of the documents, provides formal authority for the documents and indicates how recently any particular document was amended. The Safe Church Team may go through the process of identifying policies and amending procedures for your church context, but it is important to understand that the Senior Pastor and Governance body will still have legal responsibility for ensuring that reasonable precautions are taken within the church context. The most recent versions of the SCP documents for churches of Christ in NSW & ACT can be found in the Ministry Portal under My Resources (Access to this site requires authorisation from CCNSWACT.)
3. Complete your Safe Church Register
Ensure that all volunteers have been screened, signed the Code of Conduct and that child-related workers have also provided their WWCC and completed Creating Safe Spaces training.
4. Consider the Safe Church Health Check questions
As you answer the questions, be aware that arrangements may differ significantly from church to church – particularly according to church size and resources. We have provided some ideas and examples for any question where details are requested. However, you may have alternative ideas, or in some instances, you may have reasons to suggest that a particular item is not relevant or necessary in your context. If that is the case, please just provide a brief explanation of those reasons.
5. When you can answer ‘yes’ to all the questions, you are ready to submit!
The Safe Church Health Check is designed to support churches as they address various obligations. How these obligations are addressed will vary from church to church, depending on your context. Please contact us if you have questions about how specific requirements might apply in your context. We are here to support you.
The Ten Child Safe Standards – Information and Forms
Please click on each tile to explore each standard indicated, and to access and complete the corresponding form for each standard. You must complete each form as part of the Safe Church Health Check.
Church Declaration Form
Please complete the Church Declaration Form after you have finished reading each Child Safe Standard and completed each corresponding survey form. If you have any questions, please feel free to contact Ross Stewart via hello@ccnswact.org.au