Children’s Ministry Policies
Storyline Christian Community Policies and Procedures for Children’s Ministry Created November 2009
Storyline’s Commitment to Children: Children in the Storyline Community live out the values of dependence on God, mission, life change and genuine relationships in their own special way.
Dependence on God: In the Storyline Community we believe wholeheartedly that sharing the story of God will our little ones is one of the most important things we can do to help them to depend on the God who released them to us.
In house church settings and worship gatherings, we use My First Look curriculum, published by the reThink Group, to teach our preschool children basic truths about God and Jesus through Scripture, creative experiences, and worship. This curriculum has a strong value for reinforcing lessons in the home and encourages parents to be active participants in the spiritual formation of their children. As children grow older, they participate more and more in the life of their house church and in worship gatherings.
Mission: We don’t want our children to keep God’s story to themselves. We want them to live it out in the world.
Children are therefore encouraged to participate in our justice initiatives, through which they learn love and compassion for the poor, and to love God’s earth and take care of it.
Children are also encouraged and equipped in house church and worship gatherings to share the story and mission of God with their friends and invite them into the life of Storyline.
Life Change: Our children live in a broken world, and they are already beginning to become infected by its brokenness.
We want our children to look different to the world – not selfishly wanting more stuff, but selflessly laying their lives before God. Not dying to fit in and be like their peers, but dying to themselves and letting God shine through them. Not lost and insecure in an ever-changing world, but safe and peaceful in the story God began authoring for them long ago.
In house church settings and worship gatherings, we aim to facilitate God’s work in our children’s hearts so that they resist the brokenness of the world.
Genuine Relationships: Jesus is our model of selfless friendship and true community. Through interactions in house churches and worship gatherings, we pray that sweet friendships will develop between our children. We pray that they learn God’s story together and forge strong and selfless bonds between each other.
We see our value for genuine relationship lived out in no truer form than in the jabber and squealing shared by two little ones brought together by God’s story.
Purpose of these Policies: To protect our ability to live out the above commitments of spiritual development, we must be a church family dedicated to the emotional, spiritual, and physical safety of our children. It is with this spirit and heart we have created these policies. These policies exist as an extra means of precaution against any mistreatment of our children. We are committed to being proactive and preventative by all means available.
Definitions for the Policies:
Storyline: Storyline Christian Community
Children: this term refers to all children age 18 and under
Worker: any Equipping Staff or volunteer who serves in the children’s ministry
House Church Leader: Storyline appointed coordinator for an individual house church
Equipping Staff: the paid staff of Storyline Christian Community
Staff Leader: the senior member of the Equipping Staff
Staff Administrator: the Equipping Staff member responsible for all administration, who reports directly to the Staff Leader
Children’s Coordinator: the unpaid minister responsible for all children’s activities connected to Storyline, who reports directly to the Staff Leader
Leadership Team: The governing body of the Storyline Christian Community
Informal Setting: any non-worship gathering or non-house church space
All of the following policies are inherently applied to both House Church Gatherings and Worship Gatherings. If any policy is applicable to only one venue, it will be specified in the policy.
Worker Application/Training:
All workers will complete an application and screening process, including a personal interview, reference checks, and a background check. All information gathered in the application process will be kept strictly confidential.
All workers will also participate in a training event. This event includes, but is not limited to:
appropriate and inappropriate physical contact with children
emergency procedures for fire, severe weather, and intruder scenarios
All workers will be familiar with these policies and sign a commitment to abide by them prior to serving.
Any person with prior incidents of sexual misconduct may not be a worker or serve in any capacity with the children of Storyline. There is no exception to this policy.
All workers must have been a part of our fellowship for at least three months. Since employees will not have this community familiarization period, more extensive screening procedures are in place for their hiring process.
Responsible teens (under the age of 18) may assist workers under the direct supervision of an approved adult worker, but may not take the place of an adult worker. These teens will apply, be screened, and be trained in the same way as adult workers.
All workers will also have an annual review, which may include, but is not limited to:
a refreshed background check
personal interview
request for new references
Expected Behavior/General Safety:
Worker/student ratios:
1:3 infants-24 months
1:4 age 2 and 3
1:5 age 4
1:6 Kindergarten through 5th grade
No worker is allowed to date or be romantically or sexually involved with a child.
At any church activities, no adult will be alone with a child under 18 years of age in any non-public place or on any overnight event.
We will use an open door policy in every situation whenever it is within the realm of safety. When one adult is assisting a child in the restroom, the door must remain propped open and another adult should be within earshot. No adult may be alone with a child behind closed doors or in an area where they cannot be seen.
At the worship gatherings only, all workers will be identified with name badges.
It is the responsibility of all workers and parents to promote the emotional and physical safety of the children giving regard to all factors and circumstances known to them. If in their opinion, an unsafe condition exists, such persons shall immediately take appropriate precautions under the circumstances to protect all children. Nothing contained in any policy, procedure, or instruction shall be construed to relieve persons from this responsibility. Further, parents are primarily responsible for their children when the children are not under the direct supervision of Storyline workers.
Anyone threatening to harm a child should be removed from the activity immediately. If the threatening person cannot be removed, then all of the children in the activity should be removed if safely possible. All threats should be reported to the Children’s Coordinator or House Church Leader immediately.
Matters of Security:
All concerns regarding the safety and care of our children will be taken seriously.
At the worship gathering only, workers are equipped with a paging system as means of communicating with parents and other church personnel.
Workers are trained in emergency procedures for fire, severe weather, and intruder scenarios. Some will also be trained in CPR.
No weapons of any kind are permitted at church-sponsored activities. The only exceptions will be made for duly appointed law enforcement officers.
The parent of a child participating in the Children’s Ministry is welcome to stay with his/her child and participate in the activities. A visiting parent, however, is not considered a worker, and is therefore not allowed to take other children to the bathroom, administer discipline to another child, or be alone with another child besides their own.
Drop-off and pick-up procedures:
At worship gatherings only, children are identified with a name tag on their back; parent/guardian is given a corresponding pager and must complete the sign-in sheet.
At worship gatherings only, corresponding pager must be returned and matched with child; if the pager is lost, a photo ID corresponding to the sign-in sheet will allow the release of the child; contact information will be verified for reimbursement should the lost pager not be found and returned within two weeks. After the two week period, if the pager has not been found, the parent/guardian is responsible to reimburse Storyline for the expense of the pager.
Personal items left with children should be labeled clearly, and all personal items will be returned when the child is picked-up.
Storyline recognizes there are substantially more female workers than male workers. Because of the large number of female workers versus male workers, it will be necessary for female workers to take male and female children to the restroom. In no event shall a male worker take a female child to the restroom.
Parents are encouraged to take their child to the restroom just prior to dropping them off.
Again, parents are primarily responsible for their children when the children are not under the direct supervision of Storyline workers.
Curriculum: Curriculum regarding sexual issues will not be presented to age-appropriate children without prior notification to parents. It is possible, however, for sexual issues or questions to surface in conversations about Christian living or Biblical passages. In all circumstances, workers will do their best not to discuss these matters while alone with a child. In addition, such conversations must include the Biblical perspective of sex.
Discipline:
Two adults must be present during conversations with an individual child regarding inappropriate romantic behavior or sexual issues. At least one of the adults should be of the same gender as the child that they are talking to, and an attempt should be made to include at least one of the child’s parents. If it is impossible or impractical to find another adult or parent, the conversation should take place in an area open to the view of others. Afterwards, the worker should file documentation with the Children’s Coordinator stating the efforts that were made to find the second person or parent, the time and date of the conversation, and a short description of the content. Workers will not conduct discussions regarding sexual topics over email, instant messaging, chat rooms, blogs, twitter, electronic social networks, or phones.
Discipline Procedure:
1: If a child breaks a rule or is disruptive, the worker will verbally warn him/her once.
2: If it is necessary to correct the child again, the worker will warn the child that being disruptive to the group is a serious matter and is not acceptable behavior.
3: If the child’s disruptive behavior continues, the worker should remove them from the group and return them to the supervision of their parent or guardian. The Children’s Coordinator must be notified of this occurrence. Workers must never use verbal abuse to control a child. Physical abuse such as hitting, shaking or spanking should never be used by a worker. When necessary for the safety of other people, however, careful physical restraint may be used until the parent/guardian arrives, or until the other children can be removed from the space.
4: If a child must be removed from others two weeks in a row or three times in the same quarter, the Children’s Coordinator will contact the parents for a conference (including the House Church Leader if the disruption is happening at House Church) before the child is allowed to return to a children’s activity. A plan of action will be developed at this conference to avoid further disruptive behavior.
If a child’s behavior is extreme, the worker should remove the child immediately from the group, bypassing all warnings. For example, if a child begins kicking other people, the child should be removed from the group immediately.
Transportation:
All workers who will drive vehicles for Storyline-sponsored activities must complete the transportation form and submit a copy of his/her driver’s license and insurance card before driving. All exceptions to the transportation policies must be documented in writing by the Children’s Coordinator.
All drivers must be over the age of 25 and have a correct license for the vehicle they will be driving as set forth by the Texas Department of Public Safety. Vehicles with more than 15 passenger capacity require a CDL license.
Approved drivers can expect periodic driving record checks. Violations/accidents on a driving record could potentially disqualify an applying driver or remove a previously approved driver.
All vehicles will have proper insurance coverage as required by the state of Texas.
All vehicles will be multi-passenger (no motorcycles, scooters or mopeds). In addition, no motor vehicle will be allowed to carry more than the passenger capacity specified by the manufacturer.
Trips in excess of four hours, one-way, require two approved drivers.
Trips in excess of fifteen hours will require a relief driver or for the trip to be divided into two segments with eight hours rest between segments.
Drivers are expected to follow all traffic laws and posted signs on the journey. Any citations issued for traffic violations must be reported to the Children’s Coordinator immediately.
Drivers should keep cell phone conversations to a minimum (hands free units are preferred). Text messaging is not allowed for the driver while the vehicle is in motion.
Drivers will not consume any substance that may impair their driving abilities within 24 hours before the trip or at any time during the trip. Such substances include alcohol, prescription drugs, over-the-counter drugs, and illegal drugs.
Drivers will exercise particular caution when loading and unloading passengers by looking for load zones which are distanced from other traffic, and by keeping the vehicle out of gear.
Driver’s privileges will be reviewed more extensively by the Children’s Coordinator and Equipping Staff if he/she:
has had 2 or more moving violations in the past four years
has had a wreck in past four years
has been convicted of any felony crime
has had any measurable amount of alcohol or controlled substance in his/her system
has ever been involved in any type of illegal drug activity
fails to adhere to all driver policies
Anytime a trailer is used on a 15 passenger van and the total gross weight of the trailer and van exceeds 10,001 lbs., it will require the driver to have a chauffeur’s license and an approved braking system on the trailer.
An adult sponsor is required to be present in addition to a driver for all trips involving more than six children.
The driver will not be considered a sponsor while driving.
Sponsors are to assist drivers and help maintain the behavior of all passengers.
Sponsors will remain awake and alert to surroundings.
Passengers are to:
remain seated with seat belts properly fastened
face forward while the vehicle is in motion
refrain from roughhousing, throwing, and screaming
Informal Settings/Overnight:
Any worker must obtain parental permission before spending time alone with a child in an informal setting.
Any informal setting used for a gathering of our children must be free of any displayed photos or videos showing nudity.
Any movies to be shown to children must be approved by the Children’s Coordinator.
For overnight stays, sexes must be segregated at bedtime, but are otherwise encouraged to stay together as much as possible.
At least two adults will always be present on all overnight activities.
Parents will be informed should a Children’s Ministry activity include traveling to an informal setting, and a permission slip will be attained from parents for children in the 5th grade and younger. Permission slips for children 6th-12th grade will only be obtained if the activity includes an overnight stay.
Reporting:
All suspicions of abuse (including neglect) will be taken seriously.
When a worker learns of or becomes suspicious of child abuse by someone other than a worker:
All knowledge about the situation should be promptly documented with as much information and dates and times as possible.
The knowledge/suspicion should be reported immediately to the Children’s Coordinator, who will in turn inform the Equipping Staff.
Together, the worker, Children’s Coordinator, and Equipping Staff will determine if the evidence supports a decision to report the abuse.
If the evidence supports a decision to report the abuse, the Children’s Coordinator and Equipping Staff will assist the worker in reporting the abuse to Child Protective Services (no one is able to report incidents to CPS on behalf of someone else). Again, all decision, evidence, conversations, and actions should be recorded. The time table for this reporting should not exceed 48 hours from the original learning/suspicion.
No worker should ever confront the accused–this is for the safety of the child.
All involved will keep all pertaining information confidential, communicating about the incident with no one except each other, the church attorney, and the investigating authorities.
Any contact with the media should be referred to the Staff Leader or church attorney.
As in all circumstances the safety of the child is most important. If the worker, Children’s Coordinator or Equipping Staff believe the child could face immediate danger upon leaving the worship gathering, an Equipping Staff member will call the police. Should a worker and House Church Leader believe the child could face immediate danger upon leaving a house church gathering, the House Church Leader will call the police.
Everyone will give full cooperation to investigating authorities.
Storyline will seek to provide appropriate pastoral care to those involved, so long as it does not interfere with the investigation.
In the event a worker is accused of mistreating a child:
The person receiving the information should report it to the Children’s Coordinator, who will report it to an Equipping Staff member (not the accused) immediately.
The person should also work to document all conversations and details regarding the accusation.
The Equipping Staff member who receives the complaint should inform the Leadership Team and Equipping Staff (except for the person accused, if that person is a part of the Leadership Team or Equipping Staff), protecting the confidentiality of the child and the worker accused.
The Staff Leader will contact the church’s attorney and insurance agent. If the Staff Leader is the person accused, then the Staff Administrator will make these contacts.
The Children’s Coordinator and the Equipping Staff will assist the person suspicious of abuse in contacting Child Protective Services (no one is able to report to CPS on behalf of the person suspicious of abuse). Again, all decision, evidence, conversations, and actions should be recorded. The time table for this reporting should not exceed 48 hours from the original learning/suspicion.
After consulting the attorney, only written statements will be used to address press and the church family of the news, being careful to protect the confidentiality of all involved. Only the Staff Leader or church attorney will address the press, unless the Staff Leader is the person accused, in which case the Staff Administrator will fulfill this role.
Storyline will not conduct its own investigation, but will entrust the investigation to professionals.
Storyline will also cooperate in every possible way with the investigation process.
Storyline will seek to provide appropriate pastoral care to those involved, so long as it does not interfere with the investigation.
Any worker accused of mistreating a child will be removed from his/her position until the investigation is completed and resolved.
Any employee accused will be placed on involuntary paid leave until the allegations are cleared or substantiated.
