Effective supervision and thoughtful discipline are key to building a youth ministry that’s both safe and spiritually enriching. This checklist helps your team establish clear expectations, select qualified leaders, and maintain appropriate boundaries—ensuring that every young person is protected, respected, and guided with care. By prioritizing safety and accountability, your ministry not only reduces risk but also fosters an environment where trust can grow and lives can be transformed.
Do you conduct comprehensive background checks for all your employees, regardless of position, and volunteers who work with youth?
Do you require all event volunteers to attend your church for at least six months before allowing them to serve in a leadership role?
Do you look for workers who demonstrate maturity and good judgment?
Do you avoid putting teenagers in leadership/supervisory roles?
Do you appoint workers who have the ability to maintain control of the group?
If you do not require the presence of two adults, do you require that the ‘Rule of 3” be followed—requiring that a youth ministry worker is never alone with an individual minor?
For each of your youth programs and activities, do you have a ratio of at least one adult chaperone for every eight young people?
Do you appoint more than two adult workers for events that involve a greater degree of risk or involve younger children?
Do you meet with your workers before the event to evaluate risks, establish discipline procedures, and plan for emergency situations?
Do you try to enlist workers who have special training like CPR, AED first aid, or special skills that pertain to the activity?
Do you ask parents/guardians to fill out activity participation agreements and note any known medical conditions or allergies before allowing children to participate in any activity?
Do your youth activity leaders and chaperones give participants clear guidelines to follow so that young people have a good understanding of what’s expected of them at all times?
Have your chaperones been instructed to avoid the use of accusation, criticism, blame, shame, sarcasm, and other forms of negative discipline?
Posted 2022
This is a sample document only. Your organization is responsible for compliance with all applicable laws. Accordingly, this checklist should not be used or adopted by your organization without first being reviewed and approved by a licensed attorney in your state. Brotherhood Mutual Insurance Company assumes no liability in the preparation and distribution of this checklist.
