Pastoral Care
This part of the course explores the role of elders and the Elders' meeting in ensuring pastoral care takes place within the congregation and looks at ways in which this can be effective
9. Aspects of pastoral care
9.1. Safeguarding and referral
When exercising any form of pastoral care it is always important to be mindful of matters relating to Safeguarding. Safeguarding is everyone's responsibility but the Elders' meeting has a particular duty within the local church to ensure that safeguarding policies and procedures are in place.
The opening paragraph of the URC's Safeguarding Policy Statement (2021) states -
The United Reformed Church (URC) is committed to safeguarding in every area of its life and ministry. Safeguarding is the action taken to promote and protect the wellbeing and human rights of individuals. This means we will:
- Do all we can to create and maintain a safe and caring environment for all people
- Respond promptly and effectively to any form of abuse and neglect, including reporting abuse
- to statutory agencies as necessary
- Seek to prevent abuse in any form from occurring.
As elders it is important that we know and
understand URC, synod, and local
policies and our responsibilities within them
There is further discussion of these topics in the Governance section where you can also find a link to Good Practice 6.
The URC's foundation-level online Safeguarding Course can be found here