Communicating with Minors

Who is a minor?

A minor is anyone under the age of 18.

How do I know someone is a minor?

You can politely ask a guest what their age is. For example, “Hi [name], do you happen to be over 18 years old?”

General guidelines:

When interacting with minors, please follow these two primary rules for the safety of the minor and the volunteer: 

  1. Always include a third person in private conversations.

    • Invite another prayer team member into the conversation. Both team members should then stay in the conversation together.

    • In email, carbon-copy (CC) another Life West Online volunteer or staff on any emails you send to a minor.

  2. Only communicate with minors of the same gender. 

    • Only male volunteers should communicate with male minors. Only female volunteers should communicate with female minors. The second adult does not need to be the same gender unless the conversation content demands it.  

    • If the guest isn’t the same gender as you, let them know that you’d like to introduce them to another volunteer of their same gender that they can continue the conversation with. Then, invite a volunteer of that gender to take your place in the conversation.

    • If your team doesn’t have a volunteer who’s the same gender as a guest, encourage the guest to reach out to our staff at hello@lifewest.church instead.

If you believe a minor may be in imminent danger of self-harm or harm by others:

  • Call the church offices at (616)379-9293

  • Follow the same steps found in the Threat to Harm Others procedure.

  • Try to obtain their parent’s contact information and forward it to hello@lifewest.church.

If a minor tells you about past self-harm or harm by others:

  • Try to obtain their location and contact information.

  • Try to obtain their parent’s contact information.

  • Email hello@lifewest.church with a summary of the conversation and any contact information obtained.

One last note:

There’s no harm in reporting situations to our staff team. If you’re not sure if you should report something or not, go ahead and email hello@lifewest.church. We’d rather know too much than too little.

Thank you for helping us make Life West an excellent, safe, prayerful environment for all our congregants and guests!