By Dr. Jeanette Harder, Dove's Nest's Cofounder and Speaker's Bureau Member

How did I get here? After spending 14 months in my basement taking Zoom calls and pacing the floor, I got in my car and drove over 1,000 miles across the country to spend the summer researching Plain communities’ responses to child abuse. To say I experienced culture shock would be a gross understatement.

Nancy Kauffmann is a founding board member of Dove’s Nest. She was on the board of directors from 2009 to 2021, most recently as board president, and has served in ministry leadership roles at congregational, conference, and denominational levels for 40 years. Nancy is a member at College Mennonite Church in Goshen, Indiana, and has two grown children and one granddaughter.

After almost six years of service, Anna Groff submitted her resignation to the Dove’s Nest board of directors on July 26, 2021. She will begin as assistant professor of communication at Goshen College in Indiana this fall.

By Marlene Bogard, Former Dove's Nest Speaker's Bureau Member, with 2021 Updates from Dove’s Nest Staff

Congregational mentoring programs are designed to nurture
a spiritual friendship—one youth to one adult. How does the mentoring relationship fit with some of the procedures that
Dove’s Nest suggests?

Teaching and Modeling the Healthy Use of Power in Congregations

By Dayna Olson-Getty

YOUR CIRCLE OF GRACE
Sunlight streamed through the sanctuary windows as a group of children reached their arms high above their heads, wiggling their fingertips in the beams of light. After a pause, the children’s hands swooped toward the floor, their fingers brushing the carpet. A moment later, they stood, stretching their arms in front of their bodies as far as possible, then extending them behind their backs, each inscribing a complete circle around their body.

Abuse happens within a system of people; it is not simply between the offender and the victim. It doesn’t occur in isolation, but rather where there is community, family, and friends.

Blog post first published by Melodie Bissell, Plan to Protect in the February 2021 newsletter.

Best practices are ideal for the simple design of a program or an event. We are all aware though that when caring for the vulnerable, a program is seldom simple, rather, as we learn in the Cynefin Framework, we often find ourselves in complicated or complex situations where best practices do not fit the scenario. 

We join you in celebrating a new year—2021! Many of us have yet to know how our personal, work, and church lives will unfold in the coming months. Still, we are hopeful for some kind of normalcy. In that spirit, we offer this challenge to you and your faith community: commit to at least one of these important child protection goals this year. 

This new training video is available to you and the adult volunteers at your church for a one-time fee of $75.

To ensure that your online Sunday school classes and other activities using Zoom go as smoothly as possible, try to follow these guidelines.

1. Type of equipment: