The goals for this course are to provide the knowledge and skills to assist local churches in living its ministries in a Safe Sanctuaries® way. If your church has an existing policy, we will give you ideas on how to keep that policy vital and in front of the congregation. If your church does not have a Safe Sanctuaries® policy, we challenge you to lead the way in creating and adopting a policy as well as developing a plan of training church members in that policy.
The required text for the course is "Safe Sanctuaries: Reducing the Risk of Abuse in the Church for Children and Youth" by Joy Thornburg Melton. Please order it from Cokesbury as soon as you register for the course so it has time to be sent to you. Reading is required for successful course completion.
Participants can expect to spend approximately 1 hour per day completing course assignments. Daily activities do not require simultaneous participation. Rather, each learner can engage the activities at a time of day most convenient for them. The course includes videos so participants will need working speakers on their computer for viewing. Course fee is $30 in addition to the separate purchase of the text.
- Facilitator: Stephanie Downey
The Basic Course encourages people to recognize and use their spiritual gifts for work in the Church, helping each congregation to become an outpost for mission and transformation. Individual sessions guide participants through thoughtful reflection on the areas of leading, caring, communicating, and spreading the love of Christ into the world.
The Lay Servant Ministries Basic Course is a foundational course designed to equip new church leaders and renew current leaders in The United Methodist Church. It explores:
- personal spiritual gifts
- servant leadership
- each leader's role in developing future leaders
- the importance of consistent spiritual practices
- the core ministries of Leading, Caring, and Communicating
- Facilitator: Christine Harman