This Sunday is Safeguarding Sunday

Safeguarding Sunday is on 16 November and this year’s theme, ‘action speaks louder’, encourages people to move beyond talking about safeguarding and take meaningful steps towards creating safer spaces.

Bishop Robert, appointed this week as the Church of England’s lead Bishop for Safeguarding, said: “My hope is for the Church to receive Safeguarding not as a burden but as a gift of service – an expression of our faith in action demonstrating God’s love and care for every person in our community. By actively creating safe and welcoming spaces, we live out our calling to serve, protect, and uphold the dignity of all people.”

Brett Riches, Diocesan Safeguarding Manager and DSO, said: “As we regularly say as a Diocesan Safeguarding Team, safeguarding is ‘everyone’s business’ in the Church.

“Safeguarding Sunday is one of the ways we can shine a spotlight on the importance of building and sustaining communities and spaces that are as safe and inclusive as possible. It’s also a great opportunity to highlight the important work that Parish Safeguarding Officers do in promoting and supporting safe recruitment, activities and processes in parishes.”

Participating in Safeguarding Sunday is a chance for churches to reflect God’s care in action, empower congregations to speak up, and strengthen the culture of safety and support within their communities. It’s also a time to not just reflect but also act on improving safeguarding practices, learning from where they may have got things wrong. To build on the ways they are supporting those who have been hurt and highlight all the good work being done behind the scenes to protect vulnerable people.

The day creates a fantastic opportunity to show your community that you take safeguarding seriously as an outworking of your faith in a just and loving God. It’s a day of hope, demonstrating that good news stories do exist, and your churches are one of them.

Churches can register for Safeguarding Sunday and access a wide range of resources to enhance our existing safeguarding work. A particularly useful resource is the Safeguarding Sunday Guide, which provides practical support for including safeguarding in your services. The guide offers steps to raise awareness, celebrate good safeguarding practices, and create safer environments for everyone.

It provides biblical and practical explanations for why Safeguarding Sunday is important, and provides ideas for prayers, reflections, Bible readings, hymns, and creative worship. The guide also includes activities suitable for all ages, fundraising ideas, suggestions for services of varying lengths – from a few minutes to a full service – and a preparation checklist to ensure everything runs smoothly.