December is the time for joyful festivities and the celebration of Jesus’ birth, where we remember, honour, and celebrate in awe that God sent his only Son to earth to save the world. Many celebrations include Christmas trees, Christmas lights, nativity sets, candy canes, stockings, wreaths and garlands hanging on doors and around the home. When I think of garlands, I think of Christmas decorations, but I also think of Proverbs 1, where the encouragement of children and youth listening to the teachings of their fathers and mothers is a central focus and uses the imagery of wearing a graceful garland on your head and a pendant on your neck. 

“Listen, my son, to your father’s instruction, and do not forsake your mother’s teaching. They are a garland to grace your head and a chain to adorn your neck.” Proverbs 1: 8-9 NIV

The imagery of having a garland to grace our heads and a necklace to adorn our necks is beautiful and meant as a status of honour. This prize of honour is Godly wisdom.  Proverbs 1 highlights that as parents, it is our Holy duty to encourage our children to pursue wisdom and for children to heed Godly wisdom. I think this wise guidance and the recognizing and safeguarding against evil behaviours is also a Holy duty of all church leaders involved in children and youth programs.

The other focuses of Proverbs 1 are the pursuit of Godly wisdom and recognizing and avoiding evil behaviours and the consequences of rejecting Godly wisdom. In Proverbs 1, the imagery of Godly wisdom is portrayed as a woman publicly calling out to those around her on the street. She is offering blessings to those who will listen and turn away from folly. If we want the children and youth of our churches to heed Godly advice and instruction, then we must first ensure that as parents and church leaders, we’re also pursuing Godly wisdom. This pursuit is not something that just happens, it’s an intentional process and a Holy gift from God. Parents and leaders of the church are therefore encouraged to instruct and teach the children and youth of their church in the knowledge, habits and character values related to safety, boundaries, healthy relationships, accountability and avenues to feel seen, heard, and believed. 

As church leaders, some of the ways to equip ourselves with safe church knowledge and practices are through ongoing abuse prevention training and workshops, developing and maintaining a safe church committee and safe church policy, participating in Safe Church Sunday and collaborating with church leadership to speak about abuse prevention from the pulpit. 

Once church leaders and children’s ministry programs are equipped with this knowledge, it can then be shared and taught to the children and youth of the church. This can be done in a variety of ways and will differ based on the ages and discernment of parents and church leaders. Some real-life examples of instructing wise safety guidelines to children include: 

• Utilizing the Circle of Grace Curriculum that teaches children at different age levels how to identify and maintain boundaries, how to recognize when a boundary has been crossed, and what actions to take. 

• Participating in abuse prevention training specifically for youth who work with children, such as Plan to Protect®. 

• Hosting Internet Safety Workshops through local Police Services.  

• Encouraging local youth conferences around safety, such as an engineering workshop that was held at a local college targeted to female youth that spoke about data encryption and how social media messages can be private or open for all to see.  

• Involving local abuse prevention agencies with your youth group to include them in service projects, such as one company that engages youth by creating jewelry that raises awareness of human sex trafficking. 

• Introducing recommended abuse prevention books aimed for children such as “God Made All of Me: A Book To Help Children Protect Their Bodies” by Justin and Lindsey Holcolm as recommended by G.R.A.C.E.

There are multiple ways and examples on how to instruct church leaders, children and youth on abuse prevention. As a body of Christ, may the Holy Spirit place graceful garlands on our children’s heads and pendants on their necks by encouraging and sharing God’s wisdom on healthy boundaries and relationships, recognizing unhealthy boundaries and relationships, what actions to take if abuse occurs, and how to support and advocate for those most vulnerable amongst us. As a denomination and body of Christ, may we receive the blessings of God’s wisdom by allowing ourselves to be guided by the Holy Spirit and turning away from foolishness. 

For more information, please reach out to your local Safe Church Team, your Classis Safe Church Coordinator or you can go to Thrive's Safer Churches website at https://www.crcna.org/SafeChurch. If you have concerns about a situation of abuse, you can also call 1-877-272-6206.