Hope for Congregations and Communities
About this resource
This folder contains tools and information to help as you live out your ministry to be
a Safe Haven for Children in your congregation and community. This resource book can be
stored in the right-hand pocket of the folder. The left-hand pocket in the folder holds:
- A static-cling emblem identifying your congregation as committed to being a Safe Haven
for Children.
- A reproducible Congregational Resolution, entitled "We will . . ."
- A certificate entitled "Covenant to be a Safe Haven for Children."
The pockets of this folder provide a helpful place to gather and organize ideas and
resources as you move forward to create a Safe Haven for Children in your congregation.
The entire folder will fit nicely into a file drawer for easy reference.
Help the children
At the 1997 Churchwide Assembly of the Evangelical Lutheran Church in America, voting
members adopted seven initiatives to prepare for a new century. One of those initiatives,
"Help the Children," calls upon "every congregation of the Evangelical
Lutheran Church in America to declare itself to be a 'Safe Haven for Children.'"
The initiative urges Safe Haven congregations "to build upon their assets and
resources, within the context of their local communities, as they provide support and
nurture to children and their families/care givers." (Read the complete text of the
"Help the Children" initiative on page 4 in this resource.)
Does your congregation desire to be a Safe Haven for Children? Will your congregation
commit to the youngest and most vulnerable people in the world?
Baptism and hope
As the church, we are called to bear witness to God's grace in our lives. This grace is
grounded in Holy Baptism. Many of the children to whom we offer a Safe Haven have not been
baptized. Many of their families and caregivers have not been baptized. Indeed, many of us
who work to form Safe Havens for Children have not been baptized. As we work together for
the well-being of children and their families, we invite those with whom we work and those
on whose behalf we work to receive the Sacrament of Holy Baptism.
For baptized members in our congregation, becoming a Safe Haven for Children and their
families affirms our Baptism into the priesthood of believers.
Imagine . . .
- A child knowing that he can come into your church building and find safety.
- A child confident that adults in your congregation know her by name.
- Your congregation becoming acutely aware of the needs of the children and their families
in your community.
- Your congregation taking risks and making sacrifices to "assure the youngest and
most vulnerable members of our world that they have a future."
- Learning from children.
- The mess, fun, laughter, and chaos that being a Safe Haven for Children will bring to
the life of your congregation.
How can your congregation become a Safe Haven for
Children?
Every congregation lives out its faith in a different context, a unique community. Your
Safe Haven will be like no other. How exciting! What a challenge! What a glimpse of God
your congregation can be in your neighborhood!
When your congregation makes an intentional decision to become a Safe Haven for
Children, place the enclosed static-cling Safe Haven logo in a window of your church
building, preferably near the main entrance. Know that this is only the beginning, a
symbol of your congregation's promise and commitment to children of your congregation and
community.
Once your congregation makes the decision to be a Safe Haven for Children, its faith
and life will be profoundly changed, challenged, and enriched. Everything you do to affect
the lives of children in your community will affect your congregation as well. Write down
your stories. A "Safe Haven Network" will bring those ideas and stories together
as we share our experience with one another.
"O God, the giver of all life, look with kindness upon the fathers and mothers
and caregivers of these children. Let them ever rejoice in the gift you
have given them. Make them teachers and examples of righteousness for their children.
Strengthen them in their own Baptism so they may share eternally with their children
the salvation you have given them, through Jesus Christ our Lord. Amen."
Adapted from the service for Holy Baptism, Lutheran Book of Worship, p.
124.
"You have made public profession of your faith. Do you intend to continue in the
covenant God made with you in Holy Baptism: to live among God's faithful people, to hear
his Word and share in his supper, to proclaim the good news of God in Christ through word
and deed, to serve all people, following the example of our Lord Jesus, and to strive for
justice and peace in all the earth?"
From the service for Affirmation of Baptism, Lutheran Book of Worship,
p. 201.
Children are a blessing and a gift from the Lord.
Psalm 127:3 (Contemporary English Version)
| Help the children The
social upheavals of our time and the growing gap between the rich and poor have been
especially damaging to the lives of children and families. As we prepare for the new
millennium, we must assure the youngest and most vulnerable members of our world that they
have a future.
We will call on every congregation of the Evangelical Lutheran Church in America to
declare itself to be a "safe haven" for children and youth. . . .
- We will ask these 11,000 "safe havens" to build upon their assets and
resources, within the context of their local communities, as they provide support and
nurture to children and their families/ caregivers.
- We will establish an ELCA "Safe Haven Network" and use both church media and
existing networks to share stories and models from congregations.
- We will encourage partnership in this effort with Lutheran colleges and social ministry
organizations.
- We will expand by at least 50 per year our network of preschools and day schools, which
often serve as "islands of hope."
We will create an ELCA Children's Council and, where appropriate, synodical Children's
Councils, to promote the well-being of children and to provide a clear and unified voice
for children.
We will redouble our efforts to aid children, youth and young adults at risk from
racism, hunger, violence and poverty, both at home and throughout the world.
- We will strengthen the ELCA-wide strategy relating to women and children living in
poverty (an emphasis adopted by the 1993 Churchwide Assembly for the decade of the 1990s).
- We will advocate for and support our church's efforts to meet the basic needs of
children through Lutheran social ministry organizations, as they provide adoption,
counseling and caring services for children, and through the ELCA World Hunger Program,
which carries our concerns for children throughout the world.
From Bishop H. George Anderson's fifth initiative, "Help the
Children," from the Report of the Bishop to the Churchwide Assembly, 1997.
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