On December 16 at 10:00 a.m., there will be training for Safe Church, Safe Community certification held at St. James Episcopal Church in Springfield.
Safe Church, Safe Communities is offered through Praesidium Academy which the Episcopal Church has contracted with to provide these courses and manage them for the church. These trainings are intended to aid in creating safe and welcoming communities for all people and communicate adopted policies of the church that protect all people, especially those most vulnerable or susceptible to power imbalances in our communities. All baptized Christians are called to ministry and to work towards the mission of God. These trainings are offered to everyone to ensure we can continue to work towards Gods mission in West Missouri as a safe church and safe community. The following selection of scripture was chosen by the Episcopal Church in support of the work of Safe Church, Safe Communities.
Christ is just like the human body—a body is a unit and has many parts; and all the parts of the body are one body, even though there are many. If one part suffers, all the parts suffer with it; if one part gets the glory, all the parts celebrate with it. You are the body of Christ and parts of each other.
1 Corinthians 12:12, 26-27
Each of us has a unique part to play in the life of the church and in the life of our communities. We are all part of the body as a whole and we are all important to the work of the church. Each of us has gifts to bring and share. The Church is called to embody and advance God’s mission. Ministry is the vocation of the whole community: laypersons, deacons, priests, and bishops who together represent Christ and the Church in the world. The obligation to seek and serve Christ in all persons and to respect the dignity of every human being is binding for all the baptized. Christian leadership is intended to provide occasions for guidance and grace, and its abuse is always and unequivocally wrong. Safe Church, Safe Communities training are the tools available to us to ensure we remain true to the vows taken at our baptism.
These trainings are encouraged for everyone to participate and mandatory for all clergy, staff, and volunteer leaders of any church, institution, or ministry associated with the Diocese of West Missouri. All courses may be taken and completed, individually and online, so long as you or someone in your church office has reached out to Elaine Gilligan the Human Resource Administrator and Finance Assistant for the Diocese and asked her to enroll you in the Praesidium Academy courses. These courses can only be completed online or in-person with a certified live trainer. Elaine Gilligan and Fr. Collin Larimore are the two current live trainers available in the Diocese of West Missouri. The registration link provided allows individuals to provide all necessary information for Elaine to sign each person up and enroll them in their courses.
If you are seeking to enroll in in ONLINE ONLY completion of Safe Church, Safe Communities Training, please indicate that on the registration form where prompted.
If you plan to attend the IN-PERSON training on December 16th at 10am in Springfield at St. James Episcopal Church then please indicate that on the registration form. The live training will take approximately four (4) hours.