Raising concerns

 As a church, we want to encourage meaningful relationships within the church family, characterised by openness and honesty, trust and wisdom. In many cases, small concerns may be dealt with directly, within the context of these relationships.

However, there are occasions where a formal system for raising and responding to concerns is needed. These might include ongoing patterns of harmful behaviour, or where the concern may require intervention to ensure the safety and wellbeing of individuals or groups of people.
 

When to raise a concern

There are a variety of situations which might prompt you to raise a concern. These could include the behaviour of someone in the church, or a situation within or external to the church that puts a member of our church family at risk.

Some concerns may feel very small and unfounded. You may feel uncomfortable about talking to someone else within the church about another member of the body. You may also struggle to believe what you’ve seen, heard or sensed. It is still right, and your duty, to raise your concern with an appropriate person. The safeguarding team are always happy to talk informally, to help think through whether and what response is appropriate for your concern.

We want to promote a culture at Grace Church where we talk about the things that worry us, so that we can identify and address problems before they become more serious. Abusive behaviour rarely starts as abusive. Often there will be a pattern of unhelpful to unhealthy behaviour that remains unchallenged and undisciplined first. When concerns are raised about unhelpful or unhealthy behaviour, however minor, there is opportunity to support and disciple those involved before the sin escalates.

[Adapted from Lisa Oakley; Spiritual abuse in the UK: lessons from research]

How to raise a concern

A concern can be raised in a number of ways, depending on the nature of the concern. We want to provide a number of routes so that people can use the one they feel most comfortable with – see examples in the picture below.



The safeguarding team are happy to listen to any concerns that you might have, whether big or small. Anyone at Grace Church is welcome to come and talk to any individual member of the safeguarding team at any point, or to contact them by phone or email.

Sometimes it might be easier or more appropriate to talk to someone else. People you might want to talk to about your concern include:

• A trusted friend within the church. For small concerns you may be able to work through these together without involvement from anyone else. If warranted, the friend might encourage you to pass the concern onto the safeguarding team, or be able to do so on your behalf.
• Leaders within particular ministries, such as homegroups, the women’s team, CAP or Grace Kids. As above, the leader may be able to help you work through your concern, or decide if it is appropriate to involve the safeguarding team.
• Elders or Trustees. More serious concerns can be raised directly with one of the Elders or Trustees. There is an expectation that these concerns will be passed onto the safeguarding team
• For concerns regarding a member of the safeguarding team, these can be raised with an Elder or Trustee, or an alternative member of the safeguarding team. In this case, the concern will not be passed onto the other members of the safeguarding team.
• Police, adult or child social services. Whilst the safeguarding team will pass on any concerns they feel warrant involvement of these external authorities, if you believe there is imminent danger to someone, or criminal activity, it may be appropriate to raise the concern directly with these authorities yourself. The contact numbers for these are:
  • Police: 101 or online (or 999 in an emergency)
  • Child services: make a referral online
  • Adult services: make a referral online
• If you do not feel your concern has been dealt with appropriately by the church, you can report your concern to an external agency such as the Christian safeguarding charity thirtyone:eight, or the safeguarding team at another local church.
  • Thirtyone:eight helpline: 0303 003 11 11 
• For particularly serious allegations, please see our whistleblowing policy

 

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In some cases it might feel easier to raise a concern through completing a form; we have two forms which can be completed and submitted to the safeguarding team, which are appropriate for different levels of concern.

Cause for Concern form

The Cause for Concern form is intended for serious concerns about the welfare of a member or attender at Grace Church, that warrant immediate follow-up. It should be completed by the person raising the concern, using the online form, and will be seen by all members of the safeguarding team.
 
This form will also be used for keeping a record of any concerns that have been raised through speaking to someone, if it is agree that this is warranted. You may therefore be asked to complete the form following a conversation in which you have raised a concern.

Feedback form

The feedback form is an online form allowing members of Grace Church to provide general feedback or make any observations they have about all aspects of church life and culture at Grace Church. Comments made here will be filtered by the safeguarding team, and passed on in an anonymised way where appropriate. It thus also provides a route through which any concerns that are not felt to warrant a Cause for Concern form, or, for example, observations that something doesn’t quite feel right, can be raised.

It is not solely for raising concerns; comments can be good as well as bad, since we recognise that it is helpful to reflect on both aspects. They can also be about the culture as a whole, or specific individuals. The intention of this form is not to follow up on every small observation made, but we hope that it will help us in reviewing our culture and identifying areas for growth.

Comments or concerns raised using this form will be seen by the whole safeguarding team, and if required we will follow up with those who have raised the concern, and may escalate them to a Cause for Concern.
 
The Safeguarding Team and Trustees have an annual Safeguarding Review Process where areas of church culture and practice will be discussed to help grow and maintain a healthy church culture.


Safeguarding Homepage