First United Methodist Church, Mays Landing, NJ, is blest to have many dedicated people who give themselves to the task of teaching our children, counseling our youth, and providing a nursery ministry to our youngest toddlers and infants. Our staff works hard to make our ministry to our children meaningful and full of joy.
Our church has an expanding presence of young families with children. Praise God! With that presence comes the awesome responsibility of making our church a place where our children will learn the stories of Jesus, experience God's love, grow in faith, and have a great time doing it!
Church should be a wonderful experience for all--especially children! The sad fact is that across the nation there is an epidemic of child sexual abuse. The church is not immune to this epidemic. The scandal that exists in the church today because of child abuse makes sensational headlines. This diminishes the ministry of the church. But underneath the headlines there is a more compelling story to be heard. It is the story of countless victims whose lives have been forever changed. Robbed of their childhood, these victims live with the aftermath of abuse for a lifetime.
To safeguard this from happening to children under our care, First United Methodist Church has implemented a policy (Safe Sanctuary) that will reduce the likelihood of child sexual abuse in our church. In short, Safe Sanctuary's goal is to make the church an inhospitable environment for child sexual predators. It is proactive in its approach, and effective in providing a safer environment for our children.
We have a mandate from our Lord himself who said, "Let the little children come to me and do not hinder them, for the kingdom of God belongs to such as these." (Mark 10:14)
To that end we commit ourselves.
