Keeping Central Safe

The church globally has had to reckon with what happens when safety isn’t taken seriously — and we don’t want to look away from that. Protecting each other isn’t just about avoiding legal or insurance trouble. It’s because every person here carries real dignity, and when we protect one another, we honor that.

We’ve worked to rethink how we handle safety in Central Kids — new background-check processes, and training that specifically looks for signs of grooming and other warning signs, not just after-the-fact problems.

And this isn’t only about children. Adults can be put in vulnerable places too. So we’ve built a way to report not just abusive behavior, but the behavior that comes before it — the moments that make someone feel uncomfortable or unsafe, before they ever become something worse.

That’s what our Safe Team is for — a small group set apart specifically to receive these reports and follow up on them, so nothing gets swept under the rug or forgotten. The Safe Team is separate from the security team you see on Sunday mornings, though the two work together.

We know a page like this can feel awkward to read, and reporting something can feel even more uncomfortable. But if we avoid the uncomfortable conversations because they’re uncomfortable, people get hurt. We’d rather do this work — even imperfectly, even when it’s hard — than let something go unaddressed. We want Central to be a safe place, for kids and adults alike.