At Annual Conference, they voted on the new policy for keeping children and vulnerable adults safe while working with volunteers. With that policy comes the use of Safe Gatherings online training and background checks for all churches within the ARUMC Conference.

The company Safe Gatherings is currently working on setting up all of our links and conditions specific to our state and conference needs. Safe Gatherings has a two-hour extensive video training and will have all AR DHS maltreatment forms in the system along with the other basic background checks and references. You can enter a volunteer's name and email, and your work is done. When volunteer completes all the training and uploads, you will get an email that they are ready to volunteer from Safe Gatherings. It will be at no cost to check volunteers at most churches when they use the system, and it will be the only system that will be acceptable proof of a background check accepted to attend a conference event. Once a volunteer completes the assessment, they are issued a card of completion and will send email reminders when their three-year check has expired.

If all goes well, they will start to train district admins on how to set up their Safe Gatherings System to start running checks on all pastors. Once that goes smoothly, there will be training and use for all adults attending Refuge. Please note that if a person has had a background check in the last three years, they are grandfathered in until they reach the three-year expiration.

It is very likely but not absolute that Safe Gatherings background checks will be available for the Children's Ministry volunteers and all other ministries starting Jan. 1, 2023! Think of this as a slow rollout!

If you need a volunteer background check before Jan. 1, 2023, you will need to do the background check with whatever system your church has in its current policy. We are so thankful for this wonderful tool that we will all be using to keep children and vulnerable adults safe as we do ministry. Please keep a lookout for more information specifics and training opportunities that will be coming from ARUMC Conference Communications.
We have a new date for the North West Mini Beyond training. Anyone can come if the date works for you!
It will be July 19,
10:00 am-2:00 pm
First United Church Ft. Smith

Lunch and supplies will be provided.

Please RSVP
Ashley Mc Neal
amcneal@fsfumc.org
Below you will find all the links for the lessons that Dr. Rundman was going to teach us last January at Beyond. You can click on one as your time allows especially if you are not able to make it to the July 19 training.
Hello, Fabulous and Talented Children's Ministers,

I want to share with you all that it has been a joy to work with you over the last 4.5 years. However, I resigned from the position of Conference Children's Coordinator to Jim Polk at the beginning of this week. I will be pursuing some volunteer work in the Hot Springs School District. I miss working directly with children and feel that is where I should be right now.

My last day working for the conference will be July 22, 2022. My cell number will not change, so you can always get a hold of me if you need to talk or brainstorm. I will not be answering as an ARUMC employee but as your peer and friend.

It will be up to the current Children's Council if they want to hold and plan Quest 2022, so be sure to be on the lookout if that event will still happen.

Grace and Peace,
Melinda Shunk
515-707-5537