In 2024, Epping Baptist Church’s Safe Church Health Check (SCHC) was due for renewal. That same year, Kirsten Long started in the role of Associate Pastor with responsibility for children and families, and one of her priorities was to lead the Safe Church Team in renewing it. When the team audited everyone who was serving in the church, she found they had three times as many volunteers as had been on the current lists. The church had also gone through a systems upgrade since their last SCHC, so the task of renewing their SCHC felt big.
A key part of Kirsten’s job was to support the over 160 volunteers along on the journey. “It was pretty easy to bring everyone on the journey of doing the SCHC for the second time round,” reflects Kirsten, “people who struggled with it the first time around now valued it and understood that this is part of how we reflect Jesus’ care for the vulnerable.”
Epping Baptist worked with the Baptist Association to achieve their SCHC. “They wanted to help us get over the line,” explains Kirsten, “but without cutting any corners. We found the Association particularly helpful and responsive when our volunteers had problems accessing the online platform or with their login”.
“We took our time,” reflects Kirsten, “we were intentional about taking the time to build up the right systems that serve us. We wanted to make it easy for everyone who wanted to serve and make it a simple process for ministry leaders, new volunteers, and any existing volunteers who had slipped through. But if we were audited by the Office of the Children’s Guardian, we could pull up all the information they needed about our volunteers in half an hour.”
In the end, Epping Baptist found the renewal process really useful, as the church’s context had evolved and changed. Being in a growing urban area, Epping Baptist is becoming increasingly multicultural, and reflecting on their practices and systems in this context was helpful.
When they received their SCHC for the second time, Kirsten emailed all the volunteers to share the achievement and thank them for their role in getting across the line. The Safe Church Team and the church’s senior leadership gathered for a special morning tea to celebrate this collective achievement and their commitment to creating a safe, caring community. “It’s important for our church to celebrate this achievement,” explains Kirsten, “the SCHC is really valuable, but it’s also a significant amount of work. Whether you’re doing it the first time or rebuilding systems, it’s a lot of work to do it intentionally.”
Implementing their new Safe Church systems has been part of the bigger picture of supporting and resourcing volunteers at Epping Baptist. In February 2026, they gathered volunteers from across all the ministries and congregations to be invested in and equipped. Their first Inspire Gathering attracted over seventy volunteers, and they plan to run these twice a year. They built the program around the idea of short “Ted talks”, and invited Nathan Reid from Baptist Mission Australia to present one of the talks on intercultural ministry.
“We want our volunteers to feel like they’re part of our team and feel equipped in their roles,” reflects Kirsten, “the people who serve in our church are those that are committed to the church already. We got heaps of good feedback, particularly from the people who had been serving for a long time, they really appreciated it”.
Epping Baptist Church has come to really value the SCHC process. “It brings great alignment amongst our team. And now, when we’re inducting volunteers, it gives us a chance to say who we are as a church and let them know how to serve well.”
And Epping Baptist’s Safe Church Team values the SCHC process as a tool they can return to. The team meets once a month and has a rhythm that ensures they check the volunteer register periodically, review policies, and monitor how they’re being implemented. They have adapted the SCHC framework into a tool they use for an annual internal Safe Church Audit. “We find it a really useful diagnostic tool,” explains Kirsten, “when we do our audit and are walking around, we think of things we could do better now, or in the future”.
Kirsten acknowledges the SCHC is hard work and can take a fair bit of time to get the church through properly. But it’s worth it. “The SCHC is a really good tool to set us free to serve well,” says Kirsten, “we know we’re compliant with the Child Safe Standards, we don’t need to worry about it and can focus on serving God and our community.”
“I’d love to reiterate that the SCHC tool is designed to empower people and churches, not simply enforce compliance and process,” says Lauren Luiker, Safe Church Coordinator for the Baptist Association, “we want churches to feel confident as they advance God’s kingdom and work with children, young people, and the vulnerable. And while the SCHC process can feel like a lot to take on — as Kristen acknowledges, it is a significant amount of intentional work — the first step is simply to reach out. From there, the process is guided with clear steps and support along the way.”
To find out more about the Safe Church Health Check, or to get support with the process, visit https://creatingsafespaces.org.au/schc/ or contact Lauren at lluiker@nswactbaptists.org.au
