Stronger Together: Creating a Safe Sanctuary
As we enter the “Back to School” season, it’s a crucial time for churches to reflect on the safe spaces we offer to our children and youth through programs like Sunday School and Yo…
Safe Gatherings Training
The Northern Illinois Conference is committed to ensuring that we provide safe places of worship and fellowship to everyone we serve. As part of that commitment we are providing information on Safe Gatherings as a resource for you in this important area.
Please note that this is an OPTIONAL service we are making available to your church for your convenience. You are welcome to utilize the Safe Sanctuaries Resource Team as an alternative if you prefer. Background checks through Trusted Employees is an option if you choose to do your own training.
Safe Gatherings is an online abuse prevention program that screens and educates staff and volunteers to help prevent abuse of children, youth, and vulnerable adults in group settings. When employees and volunteers are trained to identify potential abusers, recognize the signs of abuse, and know how to handle reporting, they are better equipped to prevent abuse.
When using Safe Gatherings, upon successful completion of the application, background and reference checks, and the online training program, each applicant will receive documentation of approval valid for three years, and will have continued access to the online training program for an entire year.
Screening includes obtaining background checks and professional references. The training is comprehensive, and applicants may complete the online training modules at their own pace. The training typically takes about 2 hours to complete.
Details
Application: Click on the links at the bottom of this page to access the Safe Gatherings system and complete the online application. Individuals can log in to their account at any time to check the status of their application.
All churches in the conference are set up in Safe Gatherings. Applicants must correctly choose the denomination and state where your church or group is located, and as you begin to type in the name of your church or group, it will display in a drop-down menu as you begin the application process. Click on the correct organization name, the city will auto-fill, and you may complete the balance of your application.
Approval: Upon satisfactory completion of all components of the Safe Gatherings process, applicants and their church administrator will be notified by email. Approval is valid for 3 years.
Payment: The application process fee is $39 for most applicants, or $56.65 if a motor vehicle check is also required for your position. This includes processing of two electronic references, a national and county of residence 7-year background check, national and state of residence Sex Offender Registry check, and the 2-hour online abuse prevention and boundary awareness training. (Other background check options are available)
Applicants are responsible for payment by credit card at the time of application unless your church has decided to pay the application fee for those serving your congregation. If your church is covering this cost, it will be indicated when you complete your online application.
References: The approval process requires one professional and one clergy reference to assist in qualifying all applicants. Reference requests are submitted and received electronically. It may be helpful to notify your chosen references so that they can anticipate receiving the request.
Training: Training may be completed online at your convenience once your application has been completely filled out and payment has been made. If you prefer not to complete the training in one sitting, you may log out and complete it later. Safe Gatherings allows you to either restart the training where you left off or begin again from the beginning. Once you have successfully passed the quiz, you will continue to have access to the training course for one year from your date of application so that you may use the training as a reference.
Contact
Contact the Safe Gatherings team at contact@safegatherings.com or 888.241.8258 for additional information or with questions about the program.
Start the process
When applicants follow the link to get started, they will need to select:
- Language Preference (English or Spanish),
- Type of Organization (Church or Faith Based Organization),
- Denomination
- State where their church is located
In the next field, they will start typing the most unique part of the church/organization name, ex: “Asbury”, and a list will appear in a dropdown menu where they will select the organization name where they are seeking approval to serve.
Individuals can log in to their account at any time to check the status of their application.
Click button below to start the Safe Gatherings process
Click button below to log in to your Safe Gatherings application
Other Trainings and Assistance Through Safe Gatherings
Clergy Ethics
Safe Gatherings also provides a 2-hour online course called “Clergy & Ministerial Ethics.” Learn more about the course here or contact Safe Gatherings for more details.
Policy Builder
Safe Gatherings has a new product introduced in 2022 called Policy Builder. The cost-effective online Policy Builder can help churches and organization create, store and manage their policies. Learn more about Policy Builder here.
CongregationU
Safe Gatherings's sister company, Congregation U, provides more than 45 online courses on practical topics relevant to your church. Topics include human resources, security and safety, risk management, health and wellness, and more. Several courses are also available in Spanish.
Rooftop pricing enables your church or organization to cost-effectively train everyone in your congregation, including leaders, volunteers and members. Pricing is based on average weekly attendance and provides unlimited uses of each of the courses included in the rooftop package. You will also receive a 20% discount on the purchase of this package. Or, you can purchase courses for individual users. Most are around $12 per course.
Click here to set up an account and purchase training courses.
Contact the CongregationU team at contact@congregationu.com or 866.862.5855 for additional information or with questions.