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In March, 2006, the Abuse
Prevention Office, Grand Rapids,
announced that the name "Abuse Response Team" has been changed to "Safe
Church Team." The name change reflects a greater responsibility for the
teams to provide education to create safer, healthier churches and not just
to respond to abuse when it occurs. So we no longer have Classical Abuse
Response Teams and instead have Safe Church Teams.
Safe Church Team Members for
Classis Hamilton:
Bette Vander Giessen
(Chairperson),
Bethel CRC, Waterdown. Email:
bettev346@gmail.com
John Benjamins, Immanuel CRC, Hamilton
Jackie Bootsma, Ancaster CRC
Roelie DeKleine, Meadowlands Fellowship CRC, Ancaster
Steve Flokstra, Mount Hamilton CRC, Hamilton
Monica Heeg-Admiral, Hagersville Community CRC, Hagersville
Brenda Hofland, Ebenezer CRC, Jarvis
Jake Termorshuizen, Maranatha CRC, York
Elaine VanWyngaarden, Hope CRC, Brantford
Elizabeth Wagner, First CRC, Hamilton If you would like to join the team or would like more information, please
call Bette Vander Giessen. Ideally, we would like a representative from each church in
Classis Hamilton.

Resources:
Communicator: Each Fall we publish a newsletter called
the Communicator that is distributed to each member in our
Classis Hamilton churches. The latest newsletter is available from
your church secretary or click on the name to download your own copy (each
Communicator is two pages). If there is a topic that students, teachers or
other organizations might benefit from, please feel free to distribute it to
them.
Current Communicator: Fall 2008
(cyberbullying and what victims of cyberbullying can do now)
Previous Communicators:
Fall 2007
(what is emotional neglect and what can you do about emotional neglect)
Fall 2006 (what is child abuse and what
you should do if you suspect child abuse)
Fall 2005 (suggested procedures and
guidelines for handling abuse allegations of a child against a church leader)
Fall 2004 (what you need to know if
you are a victim)
Previous Safe Church Team
Reports To Classis Hamilton: January 2009;
September 2008; May 2008, January 2008;
September 2007; May, 2007;
January, 2007, September, 2006, May, 2006 January, 2006,
September, 2005, May, 2005,
January, 2005, September,
2004, May 2004, January
2004, September 2003, May
2003, January 2003, September
2002, May 2002
Classis
Hamilton Safe Church Team
Report to
Classis
May,
2009
Dear Classis
Delegates,
Here is an update of our activities since the January classis report.
-
Recall that
last September we distributed flyers on Child Abuse and Domestic Violence to
all classis church members. Many churches used these flyers as bulletin
inserts. Beth Swagman, Director of Abuse Prevention, stated that close to
55,000 inserts were distributed throughout Canada and the United States
which is a record for Abuse Prevention.
-
Twenty-three
Safe Church Team (SCT) people from 18 classes met at the Prince Center at
Calvin College. They shared many stories — both triumphs and
disappointments — and talked at length about how to strengthen and improve
our Classical SCTs. Although it was acknowledged that there is a long way
to go, participants encouraged one another and the evaluations reflected
that the time was well spent. We want to continue this mass-joint-effort to
revise and revive the SCTs. One decision made was to continue to talk to
each other via Google communication (shared documents on-line) and
bi-monthly teleconference calls to discuss concerns and share information.
-
At the
request of Beth, our own Pastor Ken Benjamins agreed to let his sermon on
Abuse Awareness that he preached on Abuse Awareness Sunday last September be
available online. The Abuse Prevention office is in the process of
re-working the Abuse Prevention website and plans to include several sermons
on Abuse Prevention and Awareness.
-
The CRC
Board of Trustees convened a task force to consider how best to respond to
victims of abuse by church leaders in the CRC. The goal of the task force
is to help CRC churches respond appropriately to cases of abuse by church
leaders within the church community. The task force now has a draft of a
report which will be further revised before submission to Synod 2010. This
report deals with how the church responds to abuse, with particular
attention to pastoral care, financial issues, restitution, and the
application of restorative justice principles. If you would like a copy of
this report, please email John Gilson. The SCT will be studying this report
at their next meeting on April 20.
-
Interesting
stats from the Abuse Prevention Office:
-
552 out of
the 1100 congregations in Canada and the U.S. now have a Child Safety
Policy.
-
21 of the
47 classes have Safe Church Teams in place.
-
10 out of
12 Canadian classes have a Safe Church Team. 1/3 of U.S. classes do.
In His
Service
On behalf of
the Classis Hamilton Safe Church Team
John Gilson,
Chairperson
Email:
classishamilton@bfree.on.ca
Website:
www.classishamilton.ca
(click on the link to the Classis Safe Church Team)
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