Thank you for choosing to entrust your student(s) to Keystone Church! Our mission is to partner with parents like you to help students know and follow Jesus. We do this through our values of belong, believe, become. Keystone Youth provides a space for your student(s) to belong, Gospel truth to believe and the tools to become who God has designed them to be.

Keystone’s Youth ministry takes place in three contexts: large group gatherings led by Keystone staff, small groups (connection groups) led by volunteers, and 1-on-1 discipleship led by both staff and volunteers.

Student safety is a top priority within Keystone and specifically at Keystone Youth. Following is helpful information to understand how we are creating and ensuring a safe environment for your student(s).

Policy

In an effort to support all minors at Keystone Church, we have adopted a Child Protection Policy. Some highlights of that policy impacting Youth include:

• A minimum of three people. This includes one leader and two youth or two leaders and one youth for any activity or environment.
• No overnights are allowed outside of ministry specific camps, mission trips or overnight retreats.
• Any private or sensitive conversation between a student and adult, will be held in an observable location.

Leaders

Your student’s connection group leader is a volunteer committed to reaching the next generation. These key volunteers will lead their same group of students for as long as they are involved in our youth ministry. This gives them the opportunity to build deep, meaningful relationships over time. This is a huge responsibility and our leaders are trained and vetted to ensure they model Christ and represent Keystone well to your student(s).

• Every adult must complete an application, interview with a staff member, pass a background check and have references contacted.
• Leaders must participate in an adult Keystone connection group for their own personal, spiritual growth and accountability.
• Leaders undergo annual training and event specific training to ensure they can lead and shepherd students effectively and safety through most common situations.
• These volunteers are trained on clear escalation and reporting procedures for mental health and safety concerns (abuse, suicide, self-harm).

Gatherings

Keystone provides a safety team at our weekly gatherings and all large scale events to ensure that trained professionals are able to respond to medical issues, threats, or other situations that may arise. These teams undergo thorough training so that our students can worship and gather without fear.

Communications

To facilitate belonging, encouragement, accountability and provide real-time communication of information and events, students will be added to a group chat using GroupMe. All communication will adhere to the rule of three, unless parental consent is given for 1-on-1 communication. Students and leaders are also not allowed to “follow” one another on any social media platform to foster relationships and communication that is above reproach.

Information & Releases

Additional Questions

If you have any questions or concerns about the information listed above, please reach out to Erin Carlson, Senior Director of Family Ministries, at erin@keystonelife.com.