Safeguarding and New Places for New People

Eunice Attwood, Church at the Margins Officer, shares her thoughts 10 years on from the Past Cases Review and considers New Places for New People.

The emergence of New Places for New People is a hope‑filled movement across the Methodist Church, where new Christian communities are taking root in shops, hair salons, forests, beaches, and digital spaces. These pioneering gatherings are marked by creativity and openness, and their flourishing depends on embedding a culture of safeguarding practices that ensure safety, dignity, and trust for all who participate.

The Past Cases Review, Courage, Cost and Hope, reminds us of the painful and traumatising consequences when safeguarding fails. Survivors’ voices call us to courage in facing past harm, honesty about the cost borne, and hope in building safer futures. New communities draw deeply on this learning, recognising that safeguarding is not a hurdle to mission but a Gospel foundation for it.

Good practice is already emerging. Trauma‑informed approaches and everyday conversations are prioritising the physical, emotional, and spiritual safety of community life. Regional safeguarding surgeries, adapted training, practical templates, and peer networks are equipping pioneers to navigate healthy boundaries and complex realities.

By holding appropriate risk and responsible grace together, these new communities embody the gospel of Christ. Safeguarding becomes the soil in which trust grows, ensuring that New Places for New People are not only creative and welcoming, but also places of healing, belonging, and hope.

Reflection

• How can safeguarding be seen not as a hurdle but as a gospel-shaped foundation for mission?
• What simple, everyday safeguarding practices could you embed in your own community life?