This looks like an inspiring picture. A father and mother holding the hands of their young daughter as they walk down a road. Now imagine that these are two strangers that lured this young girl away from where she was safely playing and are now walking away from where her parents believe she is safe. Your feelings may be stirred and the image becomes more disturbing.
So often in a small church, people shy away from putting policies and procedures in place to try to protect children. The general comment is that “we’re a small church, we all know one another”. That may be the case, but what happens when a visitor stops by who no one knows? What happens if a family in this small church is going through marital issues that many do not know about? What if a child simply walks away, out of the building, without being seen and is no where to be found? There are many reasons to have a policy in place. When I was part of a church plant, we initiated a child protection policy early on. There was some push-back, but not as much as there would have been if we had waited to initiate it.
Our check-in systems was simple using a clipboard and duplicate numbered wristbands. There are also digital solutions that can provide you with a solid check-in system. When selecting a sign in/out method there are many things to consider. Children’s Ministry Magazine has published a great article to help you in this area.
Church Tech Today also posted Children’s Check-In Church Management Software Round Up where they’ve “taken some time to round up some of the most popular kids check-in software options available today. There are lots of church software options, and the landscape can be quite confusing, but with good discernment and some time available to pore over helps like our website and other software review sites like Capterra (they counted 71 children’s check-in software options when they ran a search), you can make a great well-informed decision for your church.”
No matter what number of attendees and children a church draws, keeping the children safe in today’s culture is critical.
Feel free to comment below about check-in processes you utilize and why, or pose any questions you may have about the need for check-in systems.
