Elim Leaders Summit 2024

Fostering a Healthy Church Culture

Creating a Safe Space

Ensuring Healthy Boundaries

Resisting Spiritual Abuse

Supporting People Affected by Abuse

Churches should be safe places for all, a sanctuary for those who have experienced harm, and where everyone can recover from abuse and heal from trauma.

The workshop will:

• Focus on creating a safe and welcoming church, with clear professional boundaries for those in leadership positions.

• Examine boundary violations that have resulted in spiritual abuse and the misuse of power by pastors and leaders within churches in the UK and USA.

• Equip participants with essential skills and tools to create and maintain safe boundaries.  

• It is tailored for those in leadership roles, governance positions, and those in a position of trust within a church or organisation with responsibility for children, young people, and adults who may be vulnerable. 

• The theological mandate for safeguarding. 

• Understanding the characteristics of a healthy church environment. 

• Recognising how a healthy culture can serve as a deterrent to abuse and help towards healing for those who have experienced abuse. 

• Exploring how safeguarding policy and procedure combined with a transparent and open culture can foster a healthy environment. 

• Acknowledging the importance of trauma-informed care in ministering to individuals affected by abuse.

• The importance of safe boundaries and how to respond to boundary violations, including grooming, bullying, and coercive and controlling behaviour. 

• Providing participants with the tools and a response to working with sexual offenders and those who pose a risk of harm which is trauma informed and victim focused.

• Defining spiritual abuse, identify the behaviours that constitute such abuse, understand its impact, respond well to survivors.

• Supporting victims and survivors of abuse.

• Managing fractured church communities in the aftermath of abuse and the impact on the community.

• Dealing with disappointment and disillusionment as a result of convictions against those in leadership positions.

• Implementing a safeguarding Quality Assurance Framework that is compliant with statutory and regulatory requirements, and church/ organisational expectations.

This workshop is interactive, engaging and utilises a combination of group discussions, case studies, and reflection. 

A safe and supportive learning environment for participants to engage with sensitive topics.

By the end of this workshop, participants will be equipped with the knowledge, skills, and theological framework necessary to establish and maintain safe boundaries, prevent boundary violations, and respond effectively when misconduct occurs. With the aim of contributing to a healthier and more accountable church community. 

Alongside the workshop participants will be provided with a handbook containing an overview of modules, briefing papers, practical application, reflective exercises, and further resources and reading to embed learning.