By Anna Groff

In addition to ordering Sunday school curriculum and buying supplies for classrooms, take a few moments to consider steps to ensure safety for the Sunday school students at your church this fall. Equipping teachers with the information and tools they need ahead of time can go a long way in supporting a healthy environment for all. Dove’s Nest is here to serve your church. Additional materials can be found on our website.  

The following is an example of one church's guidelines for touch. Each church and faith community will need to create their own list that fits their community. Used by permission from Germantown Mennonite Church's Child Protection Plan (2014).

Over eighty professionals attended Dove’s Nest’s “Amish and Old Order Mennonites & Child Safety” diversity training in Geneva, New York, on May 21, 2019. Dove’s Nest speaker and cofounder Jeanette Harder led the training.

One significant element of emotional health is understanding the importance of boundaries, especially in church settings and faith communities. As Dove’s Nest speaker Leah Schulte says, “Emotional and spiritual energies run high in these spaces—so we thirst for physical touch to affirm those feelings.”

The following is an example of one church's rules for touch. Each church and faith community will need to create their own list that fits their community. This list is used by permission from The Child Safeguarding Policy Guide for Churches and Ministries by Basyle Tchividjian and Shira M. Berkovits. Here is another example of Appropriate Touch Guidelines.

April is Child Abuse Prevention Month in the United States. Dove's Nest encourages faith communities to take time during April to consider the plight of abused children and find practical methods to end child abuse and neglect in the communities where they live, work, and worship. 

Anna Groff's Q&A with Katie Misz, family life minister, and Ron Weirich, lay minister for family life ministry, at Waterford Mennonite Church, Goshen, Indiana.

By Anna Groff

Last month, I took my two daughters to McDonald’s to play in the play area and get some ice cream. We needed to get out of the house, and it was too dark for the park. While I was in the parking lot getting them out of their car seats, a security guard alerted us that we might want to use the drive-through, as there was a man inside “tweaking out” on meth. I thanked him and said we’d head to another McDonald’s up the road.