Training Mentors: please take the time to carefully read all of this page before completing the form further down. Incorrectly submitting a declaration form will slow the process of setting up your church with the Junior Leaders training system.
The Junior Leaders Online course is designed to assist young leaders navigate their way through the challenges of doing ministry well and safely.
There is no charge for this course – but it is currently only available for use in Anglican churches.
A Junior Leader is a person 13-17 years of age, who has been appointed to a leadership role in children’s or youth ministry in a parish.
See this article for more details.
The online Junior Leaders course is structured to address the need to effectively care for the young leaders in training, and meet obligations as noted in the recommendations from the Royal Commission into Institutional Responses to Child Sexual Abuse.
The Junior Leaders course is run differently to the adult Essentials and Refresher course. Because it is geared to serve people who by their age are classed as ‘vulnerable’, it is a vital aspect of this course that the local church is actively involved in the process, and the primary responsibility for pastoral support of young people undertaking the course is with the local church.
NOTE: Once your church is set up in our system, you do not have to submit further declarations.
If you are a Training Mentor, please download this document for details of how you can administer your own Junior Leaders once your church is set up.
Enrolling Junior Leaders
When the declaration form has been submitted and checked by a member of the Safe Ministry team, the Training Mentor will be given instructions on how to enrol their Junior Leaders in the course via their Group Leaders account.
All Junior Leaders must have a Safe Ministry account to be enrolled in a course and will automatically be notified by email when they can commence their training.
Training Mentor
The Training Mentor will be kept up to date (via email) with each Leader’s progress in the course. They can also view progress for each person in their training group via their Group Management page accessible via their ‘Course Dashboard’ page
At the conclusion of the self-paced topics, Junior Leaders must meet with the Training Mentor to ensure they understand key aspects of the training, and have an opportunity to raise questions. Material will be emailed to Training Mentors to help facilitate this discussion time.
How Does It Work?
Training Mentor
This is THE key role in the Junior Leader training system.
The Senior Minister needs to appoint a suitable person to act as a Training Mentor to the Junior Leader(s). They must have a current WWCC clearance, Safe Ministry Training and be cleared to work with children in their church through the Safe Ministry Check.
They must also have an account on this website.
The Training Mentor is required to pastorally care for the Junior Leader(s) if they need to talk about any issues raised in the training, and meet with the Junior Leader(s) near the completion of their course, to discuss the topics covered and to consolidate their learning. If more than one Junior Leader is completing training this meeting could be with a small group. For more information about this role, please refer to our Training Mentor Role Description.
This appointment is entirely an internal parish arrangement and made by the Senior Minister.
Training Mentors should download this document for details of how they can administer your own Junior Leaders once your church group is set up.
The Training mentor is the person who should complete the declaration form further down this page.
Church Responsibilities
Someone in your church will need to take responsibility for coordinating the Junior Leader course pre-enrolment process each time a junior leader enrols in the course. This involves:
- obtaining the written permission of each Junior Leaders parent(s)/guardian.
- obtaining written authorisation of the Senior Minister.
- Ensuring that each Junior Leader creates an account on the Training website and supplies the Training Mentor with the email address used for that account.
The online declaration below must be completed by the Training Mentor to confirm that the church understands and commits to these pre-requisites.
This declaration form only needs to be completed once.
The person coordinating the pre-enrolment process should be at least 21 years of age and can be the same individual as the Training Mentor. It could also be a leader who directly supervises the Junior Leader(s) in their ministry role.
Note: All documents obtained in this process should be stored as part of the parish Safe Ministry Records, either as paper or scanned documents. If the church prefers, they can create an online version of these forms for use with their Church Management System (eg: Elvanto)
Summary of steps for a church
The following steps must occur before Junior Leaders undertake the training:
- Appoint a Training Mentor – who must have an account on the Safe Ministry Training website.
- Ensure all of the Junior Leaders have signed permission forms from a parent/guardian.
- Ensure the Senior Minister has signed an Authorisation form for each Junior Leader
The following step must occur once to enable a church account to be created for the Junior Leader course:
- The Training Mentor to complete the declaration form (below).
Once the declaration form has been submitted, a member of the Safe Ministry Team will then set up the parish in the training system.
This will enable the Training Mentor to manage their Junior Leader’s enrolment and track their course progress (see Enrolling Junior Leaders below).
More Information
Enrolling Junior Leaders
When the declaration form has been submitted and checked by a member of the Safe Ministry team, the Training Mentor will be given instructions on how to enrol their Junior Leaders in the course via their Group Leaders account.
All Junior Leaders must have a Safe Ministry account to be enrolled in a course and will automatically be notified by email when they can commence their training.
Training Mentor
The Training Mentor will be kept up to date (via email) with each Leader’s progress in the course. They can also view progress for each person in their training group via their Group Management page accessible via their ‘Course Dashboard’ page
At the conclusion of the self-paced topics, Junior Leaders must meet with the Training Mentor to ensure they understand key aspects of the training, and have an opportunity to raise questions. Material will be emailed to Training Mentors to help facilitate this discussion time.
Certified
As part of meeting with their Training Mentor Junior Leaders will receive a code to access the last Topic in the course and release their Safe Ministry Training certificate.
A copy of their certificate (or the certificate code) should be passed onto the parish Safe Ministry Representative as soon as possible.
That certificate will be valid for three years or until the Junior Leader turns 18 (at which time they need to undertake the Essentials course.)
Church Declaration Form – Junior Leaders Course
If you are a Junior Leader, DO NOT complete this form. Ask your Training Mentor to do so.
