A couple of weeks ago, members of our staff team went away for a couple of days to plan and review our ministries. A small part of that time was spent discussing our policies for conducting pastoral relationships online.
One of the characteristics of most people aged between 10 and 30 (give or take) is that they are constantly connected and continually socialising through a variety of means including phone, text, instant messaging and social networking websites. While they study they’re also chatting to their friends on MSN. While they’re working they’re sharing their thoughts on Facebook. While they’re waiting for a bus they’re texting their friends or tweeting on their mobile. If you’re old (like me who doesn’t even have a mobile) you may not understand all of this or why it’s necessary, but this is an important part of how many younger people relate to one another.
This has implications for gospel ministry because ministry is about relationships. However, relationships in ministry need to be managed carefully. The Anglican code of conduct for clergy and church workers (that is, anyone with a recognised ministry position in the church, including youth and children’s leaders) sets out some principles that are relevant here:
- Trust is essential in pastoral ministry
- Boundaries need to be maintained so that the work doesn’t take over all of the worker’s life
- Favouritism or special relationships (whether real or just perceived) should be avoided, especially with children and young people
- Church workers should be carefully selected for suitability
- Proper supervision and openness must be maintained in ministry at all times
- Conversations/interactions should take place such that the risk of misconduct or the accusation of misconduct is minimised
- Records should be kept of significant interactions, giving due regard to privacy
- No one should abuse children (inappropriate physical contact, perving, innuendo, sharing inappropriate material, threats and bullying) or “groom” a child for future sexual abuse
- Photos and videos of children should not be used without parents’/guardians’ permission
In view of these guidelines, electronic communication in particular needs to be managed carefully. The nature of this communication is that it is private and can easily be kept secret; it can occur at any time of the day or night; and occurs in the sometimes sexually-charged context of the internet. Parents may think that their child is doing their homework but they may in fact be in their bedroom “chatting” until late into the night (with absolutely anyone!). Parents may also give their child a mobile phone for safety and convenience, but they can’t know what kind of material is being shared or texted.
It is difficult for a youth or children’s worker to apply “Safe Ministry” principles in this context. However, it is hard to form a relationship with a young person without relating to them in these ways that they are used to. For this reason we are establishing the following ground-rules relating to electronic communication for anyone who works with children or youth in our parish…
1. Consent will be obtained from parents/guardians before any church worker interacts with a child or young person on their mobile phone (voice or text), via email, or through social networking websites such as Facebook, MySpace, Twitter, MSN, etc. This has already been taking place innocently (as far as I know) without consent, so consent will be obtained ASAP. This consent will probably be part of a registration process for our youth and children’s groups and will be accompanied by consent for appropriate photos of kids to be taken and used for youth group (not private) purposes.
2. No church worker will conduct any kind of live conversation (via phone, text or online) after 9:30pm with anyone under 18, except in cases of emergency.
3. Church workers will keep exact records of all correspondence with children or young people (online chats and text messages must be saved).
We have wonderful groups of leaders in both youth groups, our kids club and our Sunday schools. I am not aware of any impropriety having taken place in any of these groups. However, these rules are necessary to help protect our leaders as well as our kids in future. I hope that our care for kids in this area will give parents confidence in our ministries and be a witness to the love of Christ.
Filed under: Uncategorized
