Recognizing God’s tender love and concern for children (see Luke 18:16), we believe it is our responsibility to do all that is reasonably possible to protect the children of this church from being physically or sexually abused while they are under our care. It is also our responsibility to guard our youth workers from being falsely suspected or accused of wrongful behavior toward a youth. To reduce the risk of these problems, we have adopted the following guidelines for screening and supervising all of our children and youth workers.

1.      A “children or youth worker” is any individual who regularly supervises or has custody of minors in our church, such as a nursery attendant, Sunday School teacher, or youth group leader or assistant.

2.      All applicants for children or youth work shall complete the following screening process unless the Session grants a special waiver:

• Letter to Potential Children and Youth Workers: Please read first.

• Application form: Applicants must complete an “Application for Children and Youth Work” form. If an applicant prefers, he or she may answer any or all of the questions on these forms through a private interview rather than in writing. You can download by clicking on links.

• Personal references: The Session reserves the right to ask for and to contact references.  References may be asked to complete a “Reference for Children and Youth Worker” form in writing or they may be interviewed by an Elder in person or by telephone.

• Interview: Each application will be interviewed by two elders to discuss their sense of calling to the ministry and follow up questions to the “Application for Children and Youth Work” form.

• Public notice: Through an announcement in the church bulletin other members of the church will be informed of applicants’ desire to work with youth, and they will be invited to let the Elder responsible for screening know if they have any concerns about any applicant’s qualifications for this ministry.

3.      A background investigation shall be conducted on all applicants for paid staff positions, and, at the discretion of the Session, may be conducted for any other applicant. This investigation may include: (1) contacting churches or other organizations where the applicant has served; (2) contacting employers for whom the applicant worked within the past five years; and (3) requesting a criminal record check in this state and, if feasible, in states where the applicant has lived during the past five years.

4.      All information acquired during the screening process will be treated as confidential and will not be disclosed to others outside the Session unless the Session deems that limited disclosure is necessary to protect a child from possible harm.

5.      Final approval to work with youth shall be made by the Session. Approval to work in a particular children or youth ministry shall be made in consultation with the leader of that ministry. The applicant may also need to talk with the leader of the particular youth ministry in which they wish to be involved to discuss the applicant’s gifts and qualifications, and to decide how the applicant might serve in that ministry.