Abingdon Youth

Never Alone

By Mike Ratliff

Youth Ministry provides tremendous possibilities for the development of important, life-changing relationships between youth and adults. There are many challenges in building those relationships effectively and safely. This statement from Safe Sanctuaries for Youth: Reducing the Risk of Abuse in Youth Ministries underlines the issue:

Churches routinely provide opportunities for close contact and close personal relationships with youth. Such relationships are sometimes encouraged without giving the workers sufficient education and training on establishing and maintaining healthy and appropriate interpersonal boundaries with the youth. (page 19). (For more information, see Safe Sanctuaries for Youth)

Insufficient training may result in inappropriate situations where adults are alone with youth. These situations can lead to misunderstanding, misinterpretation, and false conclusions that overshadow all of the good an individual or ministry seeks to accomplish. They can also provide the very avenue for an abuser to operate. A lack of diligence related to healthy boundaries and practices within youth ministry can allow seemingly innocent, well-intentioned people and actions to do irreparable damage to involved individuals and the ministry where those actions occurred.

The above-mentioned challenges can be easily avoided with planning, training, and diligence. A first step would be to assemble a group of leaders and study a resource such as Safe Sanctuaries for Youth and develop a policy for your local church situation. The basics listed below would be important to any policy:

· Adult leaders who work with youth should have a background check. There are numerous services available on local, state, and national levels, and there are a number of companies that provide this service online. Check with your liability insurance carrier concerning recommendations for this process.

· All adult leaders who work with youth should provide references, including references from other churches, if they have not been in your church for more than a year.

· Any adult who will be driving youth should agree to a driving record check and provide proof of insurance if they will be driving their personal vehicles.

· Adults should never drive alone with a youth of either gender.

· Adults should ONLY meet alone with a youth in a public place (like a restaurant) or in public at the church (chairs in the corner of a gathering space, fellowship hall, and so on). Any meeting with an individual youth should be with his or her parent’s knowledge and permission.

· There should NEVER be a time when only one adult teaches a class, meets alone in the building with a youth, or waits alone for a youth to be picked up.

· Appropriate touch and language should be included in leader training.

· All adults should be involved in leader training to make them aware of your church’s guidelines for adults involved in Youth Ministry. This training should also involve the exit process for volunteers, if there are violations of the policy.

While this is not an exhaustive list, it is a basic set of guidelines for adult involvement with youth. The transition can take some time, but it is important for the safety of your youth, your ministry, and the leaders involved in youth ministry at your church. If you implement these guidelines, you (or your leaders) will not end up in situations that put your Youth Ministry at risk.

Other articles by Mike Ratliff:
When the F Word was Dirty.
Say Goodbye to the Lone Ranger.
Let's Talk About Sex.

Mike Ratliff, an ordained deacon, is part time Youth Pastor at St. Andrew United Methodist Church in Centennial, Colorado. He is also the Director of Crossties, focusing on consulting and leadership for local church youth ministry. The author of Sacred Bridges and numerous articles and curriculum pieces, Mike has been in youth ministry for 30 years.

Brought to you by your youth ministry colleagues at Cokesbury.

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