Covenant of Care
The safety and protection of children, youth, and vulnerable adults is a top priority for SGAGMC Churches.
“‘Do no harm’ is foundational in our Wesleyan DNA.”
Covenant of Care Policy
“Do no harm” is foundational to our Wesleyan heritage. While this commitment shapes every aspect of our ministry, it is especially important in our responsibility to protect children, students, and vulnerable adults entrusted to our care.
Every church should be a place where individuals and families can worship, grow, and serve with confidence. Establishing thoughtful policies and practices that promote safety, accountability, and healthy ministry environments is an essential part of that calling.
To support this commitment, the South Georgia Annual Conference Policies and Procedures require every member church to implement a MinistrySafe-based program, or another equivalent program approved by the Connectional Council, that provides volunteer management, abuse prevention training, and background screenings for those serving with children, youth, and vulnerable adults.
The South Georgia Annual Conference has established a Covenant of Care Committee to develop and maintain the Conference’s own Covenant of Care policy while also providing a model policy that can be adapted by local churches. This template is designed to help congregations implement best practices in abuse prevention and safety while satisfying the requirements of the South Georgia Annual Conference Policies and Procedures.
What is MinistrySafe?
A Child Safety System Tool
The South Georgia Annual Conference encourages every congregation to utilize the MinistrySafe tool as a trusted resource for implementing and strengthening its Covenant of Care policy. Through comprehensive background screenings, abuse prevention training, and volunteer management tools, MinistrySafe equips churches to protect those in their care while fostering healthy, Christ-centered ministry environments where individuals and families can grow in faith with confidence.
GLOBAL METHODIST CHURCH ANNOUNCES NEW CHILD SAFETY AND PROTECTION PROGRAM AVAILABLE TO ALL MEMBER CONGREGATIONS
The Global Methodist Church has entered into a multi-year agreement to provide every congregational member of the GM Church with access to an outstanding multi-faceted program to address child safety and protection in its provisional annual conferences and churches (including pre-schools and day cares, church schools, camps and other entities operated by such churches). The GM Church is partnering with MinistrySafe to offer this comprehensive set of tools to the provisional annual conferences and congregational members of the GM Church.
The MinistrySafe program consists of a five-part safety system that GM Church entities may take advantage of at no cost. The attached flyer describes the 5-part safety system, which includes access to model policies and procedures, skillful screening, sexual abuse awareness training, and monitoring and oversight. The system also includes background checks; however, the initiating ministry must choose the level of background check that will be performed and pay the cost of each background check. The GM Church and its churches are receiving significant discounts on the cost of each background check. Two discounted background check options are available: a 7-year background check for any county of residence in the last 7 years ($26.95 per search) and an unlimited lifetime background check ($35.00 per search).
To learn more about the resources offered by MinistrySafe through this partnership, go to www.ministrysafe.com/gmc. You can register your church and related ministries by selecting “Become a MinistrySafe Member” and then entering the discount code “GMC2026” when prompted.
MinistrySafe provides numerous videos to help you understand the unique dashboard created for your church and related entities. As soon as you become a MinistrySafe Member, which costs your church nothing, you immediately have access to all of the resources including the discounted pricing on background checks.
The GM Church strongly recommends that every member church take advantage of this significant resource which is provided as one of the benefits of being a member of the GM Church and which is paid for by the GM Church with general church connectional funding resources.
SGAGMC recommends a church to utilize a background check level that covers enough for the position the person will serve. MinistrySafe encourages customizing levels based on what the person will be doing. MinistrySafe offers a free consultative service for identifying what level a church should run.
If a church has a program equivalent to MinistrySafe for its policy, practices, and background checks, the church can submit an equivalent request to be reviewed by the Connectional Council by filling out this FORM.