Safe Sanctuaries

The Only Resource of Its Kind Is Now Two Bestsellers in One! Tragically, churches have not always been safe places for children or youth or vulnerable adults. With this in mind, attorney, pastor, and author Melton outlines a process for developing policies and procedures to recognize and reduce the risk of abuse in the church. Safe Sanctuaries combines and expands information from two of her earlier groundbreaking books, which focused, separately, on children and teens. "Safe Sanctuaries is the most helpful resource I have found dealing with this troubling topic," says one minister. "Straightforward yet non-threatening, the information is helpful for all denominations and congregations of faith." Practical guidance is provided in developing and implementing a substantive, holistic action plan of abuse prevention: recruiting, screening and working with volunteers training models for all who work with children, youth, and vulnerable adults suggestions for congregational response to unthinkable allegations of abuse order of worship celebrating the adoption of "Safe Sanctuaries" policies Melton's transformative, relevant, and foundational resource will train leaders in what they need to know to stay safe and keep the vulnerable in their care safe. This revised edition now features updated and timely information about protecting young people from online predators.

In order to create safe church communities, ministers must set boundaries with their pastoral leadership. Joy Melton seeks to help clergy maintain the integrity of discipleship. During the last five years, Melton has seen an increasing number of cases in which clergy misappropriated church funds or where clergy violated matters of trust that normally exist between pastor and people. Melton has worked with a number of annual conferences to deal with cases of clergy misconduct, and has become aware of the need to educate clergy concerning basics of ethical practice within their roles in the church, as well as to help them become aware of the potential traps they face: isolation, improper self-care, and lack of accountability. Safe Sanctuaries for Ministers explores three large areas of special concern to clergy and church: Counseling and the potential improprieties within the counseling relationship Finances and the potential improprieties related to church finance Sexuality and potential for sexual misconduct. By exploring the connection between various areas of boundary violations, including that which occurs between financial and personal relationships, Melton seeks to help clergy balance leadership, integrity, and accountability in all that ministers do today. Book jacket.

This text is about the fortified churches which form a feature of the borderlands between Scotland and England. Through these buildings the author draws a picture of the people and events which shaped this land, from the actions of government to events and incidents which shaped everyday lives.

- Suggested process and tools for developing and implementing policy; - Guidance in recruiting, screening, and hiring workers; - Basic procedures for safe ministry with youth; - How to handle issues related to camping, retreats, mission trips, lock-ins, choir tours, and other settings; - How to develop a congregational plan to respond to allegations of abuse; - Suggested training model for youth ministry workers; - Sample forms.

The war on terror's emphasis on denying sanctuary and safe havens to terrorists has placed a premium on physical territory, from mountain caves and frontier hideouts to the bordered world of modern states. Denial of Sanctuary highlights the limits of conventional thinking on the subject, and suggests new approaches to understanding this complex and misunderstood feature of modern conflict. Critics of the war on terror have pointed to the futility of waging war on a tactic. Its emphasis on denying sanctuary and safe havens to terrorists, rooted primarily in traditional counterinsurgency theory and poorly conceptualized policy statements, has placed a premium on physical territory, from mountain caves and frontier hideouts to the bordered world of modern states. To fully understand sanctuaries is to uncover the problems and pitfalls of waging war on locations—exposing the secret lives of multiple hidden worlds, filled with extremists, criminals, soldiers, and spies, with the pious and the profane, with dangers that lie below the surface and in the margins. As this volume makes abundantly clear, such a murky underground is far more complex and varied than the conventional wisdom suggests. Terrorists have hidden in plain sight in modern cities, used advanced communications technology to build virtual refuges, crafted militant enclaves out of the disarray of failed states, flocked to distinctly unsafe insurgent battlespaces, and generally challenged the protective limits of law, citizenship, and state. Denial of Sanctuary brings together top experts in the field to expand the debate; to explore the roots, causes and consequences of the problem; and to clarify our understanding of sanctuary in terrorist thought and practice.

How should I respond when a teen comes out? Do I have to tell their parents? What does it mean to be transgender? And how do I talk to a trans youth? These are the kinds of tough questions facing Christian communities everywhere. It's not enough for faith leaders to improvise their way through these questions. Leaders need concrete tools to navigate the LGBTQ+ landscape. Welcoming and Affirming: A Guide to Supporting and Working with LGBTQ+ Christian Youth is one of those tools. A handbook for pastors, youth workers, church leaders, educators, and other adults in Christian settings, the book provides answers to the most pressing questions about sexuality, gender, mental health, safe sex, and more. Written by a team of LGBTQ+ adults, Welcoming and Affirming features first-hand, personal testimonials from queer young adults who have experienced the joys and hardships of being queer and Christian. You'll walk away with a lot of insight, prepared to love, affirm, and accept the LGBTQ+ teens in your community the way God does--exactly as they are. Welcoming and Affirming is a companion book to Queerfully and Wonderfully Made: A Guide for LGBTQ+ Christian Teens.

The Guidelines’ booklets, one for each ministry area, are tools that enable you to help get new lay leaders off to a good start. Each booklet includes the basic "job description" for the leader as well as practical "how-to" information important to implementing ministry effectively. Brief and to the point for the busy, but spirit-led leader, these Guidelines take some of the unknown out of leading these ministry areas. One booklet for each title makes up this set of 26 Guidelines, perfect for making them available to all church members. The twenty-six Guidelines, one for each ministry area, cover church leadership areas including Church Council and Small Membership Church; the administrative areas of Finance and Trustees; and ministry areas focused on nurture, outreach, and witness including Worship, Evangelism, Stewardship, and Christian Education, age-level ministries, Communications, and more. The download file of a product is copyrighted just as a print resource is copyrighted. In the case of the Guidelines Set of 26, the purchaser can extract one copy of each booklet for an individual to use. (For example, one copy can be extracted for the chair of the stewardship committee; one for the person responsible for adult ministries; one for the lay leader). Additional copies are purchased separately as needed. Download files for each individual booklet are sold separately, just as print copies of the booklets are sold separately.

Smaller Church Youth Ministry highlights the big impact small churches can have on the faith journey of their young people. It is designed to encourage and help small churches start, build, and lead effective disciple-making youth ministry. Topics include a biblical foundation, practical helps, tools and activities.