Personal Data Protection Policy
Child Protection Policy
Whistleblowing Policy
Personal Data Protection Policy
Child Protection Policy
General Purpose
- i. Children are a gift to the Church from a loving God (Psalm 127:3). But child abuse or neglect can and does happen within the Christian community, even within the premises of the Gospel Light Christian Church (thereafter referred to as “Gospel Light” or “the church”)
- serves to provide a safe environment for the physical and emotional well-being of all children participating in church activities. The church exists to protect the reputation of the gospel of Jesus Christ by maintaining the highest ethical standards such that volunteers and staff always live and serve above reproach.
- ii. Future revisions to this policy may be made with the authorization of the church leadership.
- iii. This Child Protection Policy shall be available in the church office to all visitors, volunteers, members, and staff of the
Policy Statement
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i. Gospel Light takes all indicators and reports of child abuse or neglect The church is aware that children who are ill-treated in one way are significantly vulnerable to maltreatment in other forms. As such, this Child Protection Policy helps to direct the church in taking extra steps to protect the child from known risks, and be extra attentive to and supportive of the child.
Scope
i. The scope of this policy covers all Gospel Light endorsed activities that take place on-site at 39 Punggol Field Walk or off-site.
Definitions
- i. The term “child” or “children” shall include all persons under the age of eighteen (18) years.
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- Abuse means
- a. physical abuse, which includes conduct or behaviour that (i) causes or threatens to cause, personal injury or physical pain to an individual; (ii) coerces or attempts to coerce, an individual to engage in sexual activity; or
(iii) threatens an individual with the death or injury of the individual;
- b. emotional or psychological abuse, which means conduct or behaviour by an individual towards another individual that torments, intimidates, harasses, or is offensive to the individual; or that causes or may reasonably be expected to cause mental harm to the other individual, including thoughts of suicide or inflicting self-harm;
c. conduct or behaviour in an individual that in any other way controls or dominates another individual and causes the other individual to fear for his or her safety or wellbeing; or
d. conduct of behaviour in an individual that unreasonably deprives, or threatens to unreasonably deprive, another individual of that other individual’s liberty of movement or wellbeing. (See Appendix 1 for Indicators of Abuse)
- iii. Neglect, in relation to an individual, means the lack of provision to the individual of essential care (such as but not limited to food, clothing, medical aid, lodging and other necessities of life), to the extent of causing or being reasonably likely to cause personal injury or physical pain to, or injury to the mental or physical health of, the
- iv. Grooming of children, is the befriending and establishing of an emotional connection with a child, and sometimes the family, to lower the child’s inhibitions with the objective of sexual abuse.
Gospel Light Christian Church has a Reporting Team, comprising of 2 volunteers and a member of the Board of Elders as follows:
Chairman: Members:
Kenii Takashima (Legal Counsel) Irene Louis (Counsellor)
Pastor Jason Lim (Board of Elder Representative)
The Reporting Team can be contacted via phone at 9117 6000 or via email at [email protected] during office hours from Monday to Friday, 8am to 5pm.
If an allegation of child abuse or neglect is brought to a member of this team, that member is responsible to convene a meeting of the Reporting Team within twenty-four
(24) hours of the report. The team will be responsible for reviewing the allegation and determining next steps.
The list of numbers and persons to contact is given in Appendix 2.
Guidelines/ Reporting of incidents
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i. The abuse of children is not only a sin, but a crime (Matthew 18:6). Gospeliters should contact the Reporting Team within twenty-four (24) hours when:
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a. a child discloses abuse/neglect;
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b. when they witness signs of abuse/neglect (See Appendix 1).;
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c. when they observe signs of abuse/neglect (See Appendix 1).
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d. when they hear a first-hand witness account of abuse/neglect.
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ii. Before reporting a witnessing of abuse, the child’s safety must be Once the child is protected, the abuse/neglect must be reported to the Reporting Team immediately. If the reporter believes that the child is in immediate danger, they should first contact the police to report the situation (see Direct Reporting to Authorities) and only thereafter follow up with reports to the Reporting Team as soon as possible, and no later than than twenty-four (24) hours after the incident is disclosed, witnessed, observed or heard about.
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iii. Appendix 3 gives the template to be used for reporting a case of
Internal Response to an Allegation
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i. When the allegation is made, the Reporting Team shall:
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a. Ensure the safety of the suspected victim and if imminent threat exists, to immediately call the police to ensure the safety of the suspected victim, if this is not done by the Reporter;
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b. Immediately ensure that the suspected perpetrator of the abuse/neglect has no further contact with the suspected victim and suspend the suspected perpetrator
from any child-related activities, pending an investigation, and instruct him/her to remain away from the church premises during the investigation;
- c. Conduct expedient follow-up to determine whether or not the suspicions of abuse/neglect are Discussions with relevant Elders or Ministry Leaders might be required;
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d. Notify the child’s parents except in those cases where it is suspected that the parents might be the perpetrators of the abuse/neglect and/or are allowing the abuse/neglect to continue;
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e. Report the outcome of the investigation by the Reporting Team to the Board of Elders. In the event that the report of suspected abuse/neglect is deemed to be unfounded, the Board of Elders can provide a second opinion;
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f. Liaise with the Board of Elders to care for and address the congregation where An appointed member of the Board of Elders will be the spokesperson to address the congregation as well as to provide any media response. He will seek legal input from Legal Counsel in the Reporting Team;
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g. Notify the reporter of the suspected abuse of the decision to report/not report to the In the event that the suspicions are deemed to be unfounded, a reason should be given to the reporter and they should be counselled on their options to independently report their suspicions;
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h. Provide contacts of external counselling services to the family of the alleged victim for purpose of care and support;
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i. Inform the alleged victim’s family as well as affected members of the availability of pastoral Pastoral care meted out should function in a strictly pastoral nature without regard to the truth of any accusation or circumstances surround the incident. The primary focus is to care and support the victim and family as well as affected members;
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j. The Reporting Team will document in writing all reports of suspected abuse or neglect and all steps taken by the team in response to the
Appendix 4 shows the steps to be taken by the various parties involved:
- Person who discovers the abuse/neglect (Reporter)
- Ministry Leader
- Reporting Team
- Board of Elders
Determination of Status of the Accused
Depending on the accused’s position, the following actions will be taken if the accused admits guilt, does not contest guilt, or there is a finding of guilt in a criminal court:
| Accused’s Position | Action Taken by Gospel Light |
| Spiritual Leadership | • Removal from ministry and laicised • Not be permitted to preach in any capacity for Gospel Light Even if found not guilty, they may also be removed from the ministry and debarred from working with or having unsupervised contact with children, if the church leadership deems them to be a danger to children. |
| Staff | • Immediate termination • Immediately prohibited from working with, or having unsupervised contact with children • Head (HR) will include this information as part of the Staff’s personnel file and take steps to ensure that the individual be not employed or permitted to volunteer for Gospel Liqht in any capacity |
| Member | • To be highlighted to BOE for removal from membership roll • Immediately prohibited from working with or having unsupervised contact with children |
| Regular worshipper/ volunteer | • Immediately prohibited from working with or having unsupervised contact with children |
| Visitor | • Inform all parents so that accused will not be able to communicate or contact their children • Inform all Children’s Ministry volunteers to be on the lookout to ensure that visitor is not permitted in any of our children activities • Barred from the church premises (unless under exceptional circumstances decided by the church leadership) |
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i. If the accused’s position falls under multiple categories e.g. both a staff and a member of the church, the actions taken would be
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ii. In cases where the accused is a Christian in a spiritual leadership position, a member of the church, a regular worshipper, volunteer or a Staff, Gospel Light will undertake to pray for, encourage and offer pastoral support to those convicted of such offences if there is credible evidence of
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iii. If the accused leaves Gospel Light and attends another church, Gospel Light’s church leadership will disclose allegations or self-admission or criminal conviction of neglect or abuse to the leadership of the other church if the accused is found guilty.
Managing Safe Bahaviour
- i. Gospel Light requires at least 2 unrelated adults to supervise all child For youth activities (age 12 to 18), supervision by 1 adult will be sufficient.
- a. Should there be a need for one-on-one mentoring g. tuition, the adult and child should meet at a place where the supervisor or Children Ministry Leader can interrupt the time or observe from a distance. Furthermore, the meeting will take place at a public place with high visibility. (For more details, please refer to ii. Statements of Physical Boundaries under Appendix 5: Code of Conduct)
- ii. Safe Touch
- a. Gospel Light prohibits the following:
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- i. Sexually or physically abusive touch;
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- ii. Touching a child’s thighs, stomach, bottom, or back;
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- iii. Massages on the shoulder, back, thighs, bottom and legs;
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- iv. Tickling on the back or hips;
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- v. Any touch that is unwanted by a child;
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- vi. Any touch that is done in secret;
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- vii. Lap sitting;
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- viii. Full frontal hugs;
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- ix. Corporal
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- i. Displays of affection that are observable and interruptible;
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- ii. Kind words or praises;
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- iii. High fives;
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- v. Pats on the shoulder;
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- iii. Language and Media Content
- a. Gospel Light acknowledges that sexual and violent language is a serious boundary As such, the following are prohibited:
- i. Sexually suggestive language, racy jokes, sexual innuendo, descriptions of sexual experiences;
- ii. Uploading, downloading or viewing of pornography/ gory or violent imagery;
- iii. Music/ video games or movies with sexual or violent
- b. Gospel Light encourages godly and positive verbal interactions including:
- i. Encouragement;
- ii. Kind words;
- iii. Prayer.
In the event that the child/youth expresses discomfort with any action of a staff/volunteer, the staff/volunteer should cease from that action, even if it is listed above as a safe behaviour.
Whistleblowing Policy
Whistleblowing Policy
As a church, Gospel Light is committed to upholding the highest standards of integrity and ethics in all of our activities. The purpose of this Whistleblowing Policy is to provide channels through which staff, members or external parties of Gospel Light to raise concerns, in confidence, about possible violations pertaining to financial or other matters involving Staff and Board members of Gospel Light Christian Church.
(A) General Guidelines for Whistleblowing
- Anyone can whistleblow at any time without fear of retaliation or
- It is assumed that all whistleblowing is done in good faith based on genuine
- Whistleblowing is directed at Staff or Board members of Gospel Light on matters such as (but not limited to):
- Financial malpractices or impropriety such as fraud, corruption, bribery or theft;
- Misappropriation of Gospel Light’s classified documents;
- Harassment, abuse or misrepresentation of power and authority;
- Failure to comply with laws and regulations;
- Actions detrimental to health and safety or the environment;
- Serious conflict of interest without disclosure;
- Breach of Gospel Light’s policies or Code of Conduct; and
- Concealing information about any of the above malpractice or
- All complaints raised by a whistleblower will be The follow up actions by the church will take into account the sufficiency of the information provided, the severity of the allegations and the parties involved.
- General complaints and grievances over service quality, ministry deficiency, operational matters, HR policy, staff development review, unhappiness over private conduct of fellow Gospeliters are not matters for whistleblowing. These concerns should be taken up with ministry leaders, pastors or department heads.
(B) Disclosures and Information
- All concerns must be documented using the form given
- The Whistleblower should provide specific information such as names of parties involved, places, dates, times and descriptions of alleged The ability to investigate depends on the quality and adequacy of the information provided by the Whistleblower.
- The whistleblower is strongly encouraged to provide his/her name and contact number to facilitate investigations and verification.
- Subject to Singapore laws and the Gospel Light’s Constitution, Gospel Light will protect the confidentiality of the Whistleblower.
(C) Whistleblowing Channels
- Write to Gospel Light Christian Church’s Church Committee Chairman as well as Senior Pastor via:
- Email: [email protected]
- Letter: Addressed to GLCC Church Committee Chairman at 39 Punggol Field Walk #05-00 Singapore 828753
Report Of Whistleblowing Case
Please indicate if you are a/an: Member of Gospel Light
Employee of Gospel Light
External party
Informant’s Name:
Informant’s Email:
Informant’s Contact Number:
* Identity of Informant will be kept strictly confidential as stated in the Policy.
Description Of Case
Describe the suspected improper activity or misconduct and how you know about it. Specify who, what, when, where and how. Provide evidence where available.
