Guidelines Adopted on 06/9/2021 and will be reviewed Q1 2023 – Revision 2.0
1. Reason for Guidelines
These guidelines are to support safety all involved in Overseas Mission Trips organised by Revive Church, and minimize risk to all parties through clear boundaries, safeguarding and procedures.
2. Who Should Read this Guidance?
All workers, paid or voluntary who are organising, attending or volunteering on a Overseas Mission Trip organised by or that involves Revive Church should read this guidance.
3. The Guidelines
a) Accountability & Safeguarding
Tasks To Complete Pre Trip:
- Write down the accountability lines and explain to everyone on the trip.
- Revive’s Safeguarding Policy must be adhered to unless you are working with a partner agency. If this is the case, there should be a partnership agreement, in writing, between the two organisations and it must spell out which organisation’s safeguarding policy is operational for the mission trip.
- Choose a named person to be the contact for any safeguarding concerns whilst away.
Anyone going on the trip needs to be appropriately / safely recruited using Revive’s processes for volunteers. A valid DBS check must be obtained when working directly in contact with children e.g. school setting or, if working with specific vulnerable adult groups such as disabled people.
b) Planning & Preparation
Tasks to complete Pre-Trip
- Ensure all mission volunteers are recruited through a safer recruitment process and DBS checks and/or self-disclosures are applied for where appropriate.
- Obtain at least one reference for each individual going.
- Write a Code of Conduct for each trip and get volunteers to sign this. Induction training must include safeguarding training and understanding of the safeguarding policy that will be implemented for that trip. Draw up a provisional itinerary. After which a basic risk assessment should then be undertaken. This must consider the risks involved in the trip, including safeguarding risks, and how they will be managed by the team. See 31:8 guidance below.
- Maintain a pack of all this information that can be easily accessible.
c) Useful questions to ask ahead of the trip
31:8 provides useful guidance and suggests you consider the following questions and considerations as a team to ensure everything is in place.
- Has there been preparation for the visit including application forms, waivers, references, insurance, police checks and other paperwork as and where appropriate?
- Churches and teams need to know and remember where legal responsibilities lie if anything goes wrong: with the sending organisation and/or with the receiving organisation or individual. It is important to remember that the name and reputation of the church or organisation should be protected.
- Discuss and agree expectations. What are the expectations of the various parties? Share information regarding the giftings/abilities of visitors. Pass on any important information that the visitors or hosts may need to know.
- Set an itinerary. Perhaps one month before the arrival of the visitor/team, agree and distribute an itinerary for the visit. The plan will be subject to change due to local circumstances and conditions, but it will give everyone an idea of what to expect and also give everyone the opportunity to pray intelligently for the individuals/ teams.
- Have a simple risk assessment for the activities. The visiting person/organisation should undertake a risk assessment which could be shared by all parties.
Risks could include:
Travel methods (tickets booked, licences in place etc)
Travel requirements (medical matters, appropriate documentation to hand)
Climate/Weather (appropriate clothing/supplies)
Crime/Security (precautions against theft/harm)
Residential (suitability of venue, checks to ensure personal safety of all parties)
Loss of information (what to do if documents etc go missing)
Emergencies (procedures in place how to deal with any emergency)
d) In the field
The abuse of vulnerable people is never acceptable. Practices such as female genital mutilation; domestic violence; forced marriage; or any abuse of children including beliefs about witchcraft and spirit possession can never be justified.
Revive Church members on a mission trip are ultimately accountable to the organisation and are expected to conform to the same standards of child safety and good practice that obtain in the UK. This not only ensures everyone is working to the same high standards but also honours the people in the country you are working in.
e) Level of Risk
From a safeguarding point of view, overseas mission is high risk. Unsupervised contact between mission volunteers and children or adults at risk is not considered safe or appropriate.
Issues around contact with children or vulnerable adults need to be thought through in advance of the mission trip and, where the context involves close contact such as helping at an orphanage or school, mission team members and local leaders need to work closely together. In this context, roles, responsibilities and boundaries between local leaders and team members need to be agreed in advance and written into the Code of Conduct signed by team members.
f) Responding to concerns
Where safeguarding concerns are raised, the mission trip designated safeguarding coordinator should act as follows: If the matter relates to a member of the team, they should contact Revive’s Safeguarding Coordinator for advice through the usual means. However, if it has been decided to use an alternative policy (by way of a partnership agreement), then the relevant Safeguarding Coordinator as indicated in that agreement should be contacted for advice. If the concern relates to someone in the local community, good practice would be for the Safeguarding Coordinator for the mission team to discuss this with the local responsible person or agency (unless they are implicated).
g) Photos
As in the UK, you need the person’s permission or that of a child’s parent or guardian to take photos that are to be published. It is best practice to have a group camera for this purpose. Images of children should not be stored on private phones.
h) Insurance
Check there is adequate insurance cover for all eventualities such as personal accident (e.g. death or disablement), lost or stolen property and personal liability. Please also ensure all travelling team members have the correct travel insurance to cover the visit.
4. Resources
This section lists resources including links to related church policy documents and other related documents.
- Church documents such as policies, guidelines, working practices, contracts, etc. The most up to date information is found on the The Way We Work – https://twww.revivechurch.uk
- Contact information for relevant subject matter experts Thirtyone:eight (https://thirtyoneeight.org/)