Ministry Transitions – Congregation – This packet is requested by search committees who are looking for a new pastor. This is designed to help them discern if they need a transitional pastor, or what next steps they need to take to have a successful pastorate.
Pastor Congregation Evaluations – This packet is a spin-off of the PCRC packet and is targeted for the pastor review and evaluation process.
Pastor Congregation Relations – This packet addresses the relationship between the pastor and the congregation. It includes a pastor’s job description, as well as the responsibilities of the pastor congregation relations committee, negotiating the pastor’s salary, and addresses sabbatical and study leaves.
Ministerial Credentialing – This packet is called for by the area conference or congregation. Ministerial Credentialing works with the preparation of the pastor’s journey of credentialing, whether it is the process of licensing or ordination.
Safe Church Resources
Prevention and Accountability– This page gives congregations resources for how to deal with accusations of sexual abuse and what steps they can take to deal with it; as well as guidelines for accountability groups.
Safe Church, Mennonite Church USA’s newly formed abuse prevention ministry, now has a webpage available on the MC USA website. The webpage offers resources to help faith communities keep children, youth and vulnerable adults safe from all abuse. Among other materials, the webpage contains a major update to the Circle of Grace curriculum.
Background Check Renewal – As congregations develop their Safe Church policies, they may have questions about how often to renew background checks on volunteers. Here’s a link to pertinent state laws on renewing background checks based on the locations of CDC congregations. While these are the state maximums for renewing background checks, please check with your insurance carrier to see what their requirements are to ensure child safety.
