Safe Church Training

Information for Congregational and Organizational Safe Church Administrators

The Episcopal Church has always strived to be a safe place for all to gather, to learn, and to worship. To that end, for decades we have had programs in place to set standards and provide education for protecting the vulnerable among us. As with all things, these programs must be reviewed and improved periodically. General Convention in 2015 called for this review, the result of which was a set of Model Policies and associated training to be enacted church wide. Diocesan Council approved the new Safe Church policies for the Episcopal Diocese of Oklahoma in November of 2022.

These new policies replace outdated policies and training from the early 2000's. These newer policies call for a higher level of accountability in our ministries, parishes, and in the diocese. With them, we will be protecting a greater range of people including both children and adults to keep those who are most vulnerable safe from harm.

Guarding them is work and requires attention to detail. An increase in accountability, by necessity brings additional responsibility to maintain accurate and timely records as well as to implement and follow the policies and procedures. We should remember that we are not being penalized for what has been done in the past, we simply seek improvement.

While implementation may at first feel complicated and onerous, by our Baptismal Covenant we are called to strive for justice and peace. In this case that means to strive to improve our protection of the vulnerable from “good” to better – even to best practices.

Please scroll down and you will find resources and more information for your congregation related to the on-going Safe Church transition and how to implement these in your congregation if you have not already begun this process. This is a big change for our Diocese in terms of how we do Safe Church protection and this program requires much more management than before. We have tried as best as possible to give you step by step information. Please bear in mind, no one is alone in this, support can be found at Diocesan Office as we navigate these new and updated policies. We have three staff members who assist with different aspects of Safe Church:

Teresa Phares, Coordinator of Children and Youth Ministries, for questions regarding: Background Checks, Praesidium Administrators, and Praesidium Academy Modules, both for content and who is required to take which modules. Email: tphares@epiok.org

Kate Bond, Director of Faith Formation and Discipleship, for questions regarding: Safe Church policies, Best Practices, and Policy Adoption/Implementation. Email: kbond@epiok.org

Judith Rodriguez, Executive Assistant to the Canon to the Ordinary, for questions regarding: Assistance for all clergy and/or persons in the ordination process. Email: jdelgado@epiok.org

Safe Church Policies: