Safe Churches
The BUV Support Hub equips affiliated Baptist churches and communities of faith in Victoria with advice, training, resources and support systems with the aim of making all our churches safe places for all people. We are committed to reducing the risk of harm to anyone in a Baptist setting, particularly children and vulnerable adults. We do this in a number of ways:
Safe People
- Healthy and flourishing Pastors – The BUV’s Professional Standards Group (PSG) oversees processes related to the education of pastors and congregations, and reviews the Pastors Code of Ethics and Companion guide on a timely basis.
- Healthy and accountable church leaders – The BUV’s Creating Safe Spaces Training is a programme required to be undertaken every 4 years for all church leaders, ministry leaders or volunteers involved in leading children or vulnerable adults
- Healthy Congregations –the Professional Standards Group oversee critical processes within the union, such as the complaints process, Person of Concern and National Redress Scheme. The BUV’s Professional Standards Consultant provides support for churches in the event of allegations or incidents within their church.
Safe Places
- BeSafe – The BUV Support Hub provides a cloud-based platform to help churches manage their Essential Safety Measure (ESM), Duty of Care and people risk requirements in one place. BeSafe has been developed in conjunction with Bastion Systems.
- Baptist Insurance Services – By drawing on the experience of the BIS Board and staff, and the tremendous support of our insurance brokers and underwriters, Baptist Insurance Service help to protect the assets of the Baptist community in Australia while minimising the need to take critical funds away from the important ministries churches run.
Safe Programmes & Policies
- Resources – a range of resources are available in the Resources tab to assist churches in providing a safe, loving, ethical and compliant environment in which to run church ministries and programmes.
- Policies – The BUV provides advice about how to put safe church policies and procedures into practice in the real world, ensures churches are informed of regulatory changes and supplies explanatory resources where needed
- The Safe Church Consultant also provides regular and timely updates to Safe Church Officers across the union through individual contact, email communication and through the Safe Church Facebook Page