Safeguarding

Christ My Soon Coming King Ministry is committed to the safety of every child, young person and vulnerable adult who comes to us — in the building and on this platform.

Safeguarding is not a policy that sits in a drawer. It is everybody's business, including yours, and it starts with knowing what to do when something worries you.

If a child or vulnerable adult is in immediate danger, contact your local emergency services first. Then tell a pastor. Do not wait for the ministry to act before you call for help.

Our commitment

• Every child and vulnerable adult is treated with respect and listened to.
• Anyone working with children or vulnerable adults is recruited carefully, checked as far as the law of our country allows, and does not work unsupervised until that is complete.
• Concerns are taken seriously, recorded, and acted on. Nobody who raises a concern in good faith will be treated badly for it — however it turns out.
• We cooperate fully with statutory authorities. Safeguarding is not something a church settles internally.

Online, on this platform

The platform is built with a number of protections in place:

• Under-13s cannot create accounts. The registration form asks for a date of birth and refuses anyone younger.
• 13 to 17 requires a parent or guardian to know about and agree to the account.
• Contact details, including home addresses, are hidden by default on every profile.
• Direct messaging can be limited, and any member can be reported or blocked.
• Every post, comment and message carries a Report control that reaches moderators.
• Photographs of recognisable children must not be uploaded without a parent's written permission. This applies to the ministry's own photography as much as to members'.

If you are a parent, you are welcome to ask a leader to sit down and walk you through exactly what your child's account can see and do.

In person

• Children are signed in and signed out of children's ministry by a known adult.
• Workers do not spend time alone and unobserved with a child.
• Any injury, allegation or concern is recorded and reported.
• Trips and events involving under-18s require written parental consent.

What to do if you are worried about a child

1. If they are in immediate danger, call your local emergency services.
2. Tell a pastor or the safeguarding lead as soon as you can — the same day.
3. Write down what you saw or were told, in the words used, with the date and time. Do this while it is fresh.
4. Do not investigate it yourself. Do not question the child repeatedly. Do not confront the person you are worried about.
5. Do not discuss it with anyone who does not need to know. Not a spouse, not a small group, not a prayer chain.

If a child tells you something

• Listen. Do not interrupt, and do not push for detail.
• Take it seriously, whatever it is and whoever it is about.
• Do not promise to keep it secret. You cannot, and saying you will breaks trust twice over. Tell them you have to tell someone whose job it is to keep them safe.
• Reassure them they were right to tell you.
• Write it down afterwards, and pass it on the same day.

Vulnerable adults

The same care applies to any adult who may be at risk because of age, illness, disability, isolation, or circumstance. Financial exploitation and coercive control are safeguarding matters as much as physical harm, and both turn up in church life more often than anybody expects.

Who to contact

Speak to a pastor, or email ccmscktv@gmail.com marking it Safeguarding. Call +000 000 0000.

8 Awoni Murphy Street, Haruna Bus Stop, College Road, Ogba, Lagos

A note for the ministry: name your designated safeguarding lead and their direct contact details here, together with the statutory reporting body for your country. A safeguarding page that does not say who to ring is not finished.