What would you give to keep a child safe? What would you give to help the wounded heal? Northern Illinois Conference’s Bishop Dan Schwerin asks churches to prayerfully consider these questions as they make a pledge to the conference’s Repair the Harm campaign. The campaign is raising $754,348 toward a survivors’ fund for those who endured abuse while participating in Boy Scout activities.
Read MoreWhile we prepare our children for their classes, teachers, administrators, and a vast array of staff prepare buildings, classrooms, and lesson plans. They review the safety and security of the school buildings and playgrounds. Today is a good day to stop and think about all that goes into providing our children with a safe and welcoming environment for learning. Today is a good day to thank those who do this work.
Read MoreThe Boy Scouts of America recently settled a lawsuit related to accusations of sexual abuse of children. The United Methodist Church—one of the parties in the suit—is committed to caring for the children who were harmed and to preventing abuse in the future. The Northern Illinois Conference Trustees and Council on Finance and Administration, in collaboration with Bishop Dan Schwerin and the conference staff, created the Repair the Harm to Children Campaign to respond to the victims’ needs.
Read MoreOne of the goals of the Northern Illinois Conference for 2022 was to ramp up our Safe Sanctuaries training and increase the number of volunteers who have gone through this valuable course. Online training through Safe Gatherings is an ongoing tool for this training. In addition, eight Safe Sanctuaries Trainings were held in 2022 throughout the summer and fall to train over 1,850 lay and staff. This brings our number of people leaders in the past 2 years to over 2,790!
Read MoreYou are phenomenal! This year we challenged all church leaders to ramp up their Safe Sanctuaries training and increase the number of volunteers who have gone through this valuable course. We started the year with a report of 1,362 trained volunteers, and as I write this article, eight months into the year, we have gained 800 more trained volunteers raising the number to 2,162 leaders working with children, youth and vulnerable adults.
Read MoreUnited Methodist leaders and the Boy Scouts of America (BSA) have reached an agreement about new Affiliation and Facility Use Agreements between congregations, scouting units and the BSA.
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