Safe Church

Safe Church Commitment Statement

Syndal Baptist Church (SBC) is committed to ministering to children, young people and adults by providing a church environment that is physically, emotionally and spiritually safe.

Our church is committed to ensuring the safety and wellbeing of all children, young people and adults, particularly those in positions of vulnerability, and will endeavour to provide a safe environment through our policies and procedures, including but not limited to recruitment, training, supervision, reviews, code of conduct, duty of care, risk management, workplace health and safety, conflict resolution, zero tolerance for discrimination against inclusion in our programs, zero tolerance for abuse, and environmental best practice.

The following values reflect the culture we are committed to promoting within our church: growing, inclusive, missional, generous, caring.

Statement of Commitment to Child Safety

Syndal Baptist Church (SBC) is committed to child safety. All children and young people at SBC have the right to feel and be safe. We support and respect all children, as well as our staff and volunteers.

We are committed to providing a culturally safe environment for Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander children and those from culturally and/or linguistically diverse backgrounds, and to providing a safe environment for children with a disability to ensure they can participate equally.

We have zero tolerance for any/all forms of child abuse, and all allegations and safety concerns will be treated very seriously and consistently in line with our policies and procedures. SBC is committed to preventing abuse of children and young people by identifying risks early, and removing and reducing these risks.

We have specific policies, procedures and training in place that support our leadership team, staff and volunteers to achieve these commitments.

Syndal Baptist Church (SBC) is committed to protecting the safety of all people within its programs, ministries and events.

All people, regardless of age, gender, race, culture, disability and family/social background have equal rights to this protection.

All people, including children and young people, have the right to be respected and valued as well as feel emotionally, physically and spiritually safe at all times.

Our policy has been developed to uphold this commitment to safeguarding and to adhere to National and Local legislation.

Purpose of the policy

This policy outlines how SBC prioritises the safety and wellbeing of children, young people and those considered to be vulnerable, and what steps we will take to do this.

This policy aims to:

• protect children,  young people and those considered vulnarable who participate in our programs.

• provide staff and volunteers with the overarching principles that guide our approach to child protection and general wellbeing.

SBC believes that a child, young person or adult should never experience abuse of any kind. We have a responsibility to promote the welfare of all children, young people and adults, and to keep them safe.

Scope of the policy

This policy applies to all staff, volunteers, or anyone working on behalf of Syndal Baptist Church (SBC). This policy applies to all activities conducted by SBC.

Our policy aims to:

• Minimise the risk of abuse, misconduct and the misuse of positional power.

• Ensure that all cases of suspected abuse and misconduct are handled thoroughly.

• Ensure that leaders and programs are safe.

• Ensure that all people are respected and valued.

For a copy of the complete Safe Church Policy, please click the button below.