Safeguarding. Sunday

Transcription

1 Safeguarding Sunday

2 Welcome Welcome to this pack full of Ideas to help your church get involved with Safeguarding Sunday 2017, from prayers to preaching ideas. At CCPAS our vision is: to see the Christian community, in all its expressions and traditions, creating safer places, responding appropriately and being proactive in promoting the needs and rights of children and adults at risk of harm. During the 40 years we have been in existence we have seen a really positive shift in many areas in the church s approach and response to safeguarding. Although there have been many advances and changes in attitude we still have a long way to go and must never get complacent. It s far too easy for things like safeguarding to drop off the agenda given all the other competing priorities a church has. What is often not seen is that up and down the country there are thousands of people, many working voluntarily, to make our places of worship safer for all. Their tireless commitment often goes overlooked and can be made more difficult due to a lack of understanding about what is involved. That is why we have created the Safeguarding Sunday campaign. It s an opportunity for churches to raise awareness about the importance of safeguarding, to affirm those who have a responsibility for making it happen, and to renew our commitment together to creating safe places for all. Please join us and share your experiences with us. Justin Humphreys CCPAS Executive Director for Safeguarding Chair of the Christian Forum for Safeguarding

3 Contents Service ideas Kids Are Safe Here Safeguarding Prayer Our commitment to safeguarding Prayers The Safeguarding Hymn Hymns Worship Songs Sermon Notes

4 Service Ideas Service ideas 5 mins mins Whole service Show our Kids are Safe Here film (2.5 mins) Use the Safeguarding Sunday prayer in your service Invite the Safeguarding lead to explain about their role Pray for all those involved in safeguarding with Children and Adults Explain the Churches Safeguarding Policy and why you have one Read aloud together the Safeguarding Commitment statement Use the prayers in this pack within your service Use the Safeguarding hymn as part of your worship service Include one or more of the bible readings listed in this pack Use our safeguarding song list or choose your own Use the enclosed notes to deliver a sermon on a safeguarding

5 Kids Are Safe Here You can find this video on our information page at

6 Safeguarding Prayer Loving Father God, We come to you in the knowledge that you hold all your children in unconditional love. We lift to you those who are vulnerable and in need of protection. Give them your peace, comfort and safety we pray. We cry to you for those who are hurting and whose trust has been broken. Give them your healing, restoration and justice we pray. We bring to you those who seek to forgive others who have hurt them. Give them your strength, courage and hope we pray. For those who have caused your children to stumble, lead them to seek your forgiveness and to enter into true repentance. Thank you for all who give their time, knowledge, and skills to make our communities safe and secure. Give them your wisdom and guidance we pray. For ourselves, we ask you give us your heart for the vulnerable, the oppressed, the disadvantaged and the forgotten. Help us to see them as you see them; to value them as you value them; and to nurture and protect them as they deserve. Help each one of us to play our part in creating safer places for all your people. In you name we pray, Amen. By Justin Humphreys

7 Safeguarding Commitment The Safeguarding Commitment is a statement that churches and Christian organisations can make together to affirm the importance of safeguarding and remind everyone of their shared responsibility to make it happen. Our commitment to safeguarding We commit to each share responsibility for creating an environment that is safe for all We commit to pray for our safeguarding lead(s) and those working with children and adults We commit to respect the boundaries that are in place to protect others We commit to support those in our church who have been hurt or abused We commit to provide on-going safeguarding training for all our workers We commit to allow sufficient time and resources to make our recruitment of workers safer We commit to maintaining an open culture where people are encouraged to share concerns We commit to not take offence when challenged about our presence or behaviour

8 Prayers Caring God, your heart goes out to those who suffer and we must reach out too. But it is not an easy thing to get alongside someone and feel their suffering with them. It takes endless patience and time and energy and we cannot always sustain the effort. Keep us loving beyond the limits that we believe are possible, for your care goes further than we can we ever imagine into the darkest places of suffering, grief and despair. Amen Marjorie Dobson (from Multi-coloured Maze) Grant us, Lord God, a vision of your world as your love would have it: A world where the weak are protected, and none go hungry or poor; A world where the riches of creation are shared, and everyone can enjoy them; A world where different races and cultures live in harmony and mutual respect; A world where peace is built with justice, and justice is guided by love. Give us the inspiration and courage to build it, through Jesus Christ our Lord. Amen Archbishop Oscar Romero ( Copyright 2004 Stainer & Bell Ltd, 23 Gruneisen Road, London N3 1DZ, Reproduced by permission from Multi-coloured Maze, For any further reproduction, please apply in advance to Stainer & Bell Ltd.)

9 Safeguarding Hymn Tune: Here is Love vast as the Ocean May this place be one of nurture where we all may come to know how your endless love sustains us as we live and move and grow. May we work to build your kingdom full of truth and light and grace, living life in all its fullness held in one divine embrace. From our negligence and failures** you have called us to repent, drawing energy for action from the voices of lament. As the secret hurts long hidden may at last be brought to light, may the truth unlock the freedom that is every person s right. For you hold the broken hearted till they learn to live again, and your justice stands like mountains, while your mercy falls like rain when the smallest child is valued, and the strong empower the weak, when each human life is hallowed and the unheard voices speak: So with humble thanks we praise you and we lift to you in prayer all the people you are calling to this ministry of care. Give us wisdom, grace and courage, holding fast to all that s good, seeing Christ in one another we will love and serve our Lord. Used with the kind permission of Ally Barrett. Ally Barrett is Director of Pastoral Studies at Westcott House, a residential theological college in Cambridge which trains people for ministry in the Church of England. She is a former parish priest and children s minister, and has written several hymns Ally says In recent years all churches have become increasingly aware of the importance of being attentive to the welfare of both children and adults at risk, and it feels appropriate to pray for, bless and affirm the huge number of people involved in safeguarding in one way or another. There is relatively little liturgical material on this issue, however; hence why I responded by writing this new hymn.

10 Hymns When I needed a neighbour were you there? - Sydney Carter Leaning on the Everlasting Arms - Elisha A. Hoffman / Anthony J. Showalter We cannot measure how you heal John Bell Worship Songs Holy Overshadowing Graham Kendrick Beauty for Brokenness (God of the Poor) Graham Kendrick Safe - Phil Wickham Safe Place - Enter the Worship Circle The Father s Song - Matt Redman Worn - Tenth Avenue North

11 Sermon Notes Genesis 1-2 Genesis 3-4 Isaiah 49:13-16 Ephesians 3:14-15 (NIV) Family is God s idea and being in relationships and community is part of the image of God. It is not good for man to be alone. The creation mandate states: Be fruitful and multiply, fill the earth and subdue it. Rule over the fish of the sea and the birds of the air and over every living creature that moves over the ground. In Genesis 1-2 we see a picture of a family in paradise. However, in Genesis 3-4 we see an example of a family falling into trouble. Paradise is lost as Adam and Eve are banished from the Garden of Eden. Relationships become distorted and harmony is broken. Family is torn by conflict, jealousy, rage and murder. We see Cain ejected from the family and sent to live in exile. There is nothing new about broken families because all families are made up of broken people. However, we can be encouraged because God cares about families and he cares about people. Isaiah 49:15-16 says: Can a mother forget the baby at her breast and have no compassion on the child she has borne? Though she may forget, I will not forget you! See, I have engraved you on the palms of my hands. God sees the difficulties families face in life. How can we encourage families who are struggling in our communities? How can the church look to provide a place for families to come together and support each other? There are no perfect families and what children need are good enough families. God intends families to be: Places of unconditional love. Places of safety and security. Places of growth and development. Places of forgiveness and healing. These are families where children s needs come first. Christian faith can help to build resilience to cope with adversity. Churches, ideally, can provide a rich network of wrap around care for children along with practical, emotional and spiritual support for parents and carers.

12 Sermon Notes Matthew 18: 1-10 Matthew 19: John 3 Matthew 11:25 Jesus attitude towards children was revolutionary, affectionate and respectful in a culture that devalued children. In Matthew 18 he uses a child as an example to his disciples that: Unless you change and become like little children, you will never enter the Kingdom of Heaven. Therefore, whoever takes the lowly position of this child is the greatest in the Kingdom of Heaven. And whoever welcomes one such child in my name welcomes me. Jesus uses children as examples of those who are dependent, trustful, simple, open, teachable and excitable. But Jesus view of children was not sentimental or romanticised. He had brothers and sisters. He no doubt encountered the Nazareth neighbourhood bully. He had to learn obedience through being subject to his earthly parents. However, the way we treat children is very revealing and Jesus tells us that the way we enter the Kingdom is by becoming like a little child again. In Matthew 19 children are brought to Jesus for him to pray for them, but the disciples rebuke them. Jesus replies by saying, Let the little children come to me, and do not hinder them, for the kingdom of heaven belongs to such as these. How does Jesus want us to treat and welcome children in today s culture? Are there ways in which we hinder children from coming to Jesus? How does he want us to change in that we become more like children in order to inherit the Kingdom of Heaven? The Kingdom of God is a paradox that can look strange to people outside church. The Kingdom is not for the strong, it s for the weak. The Kingdom is not for the rich, it s for the poor. The Kingdom is not for the powerful, it s for the powerless. The Kingdom is not for the proud, it s for the meek. The Kingdom is not for adults, it s for children. Jesus encourages us to protect children, involve children, listen to children, and cultivate a childlike faith.