Page 5 - Presbyterian Connection

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WINTER 2021
Connection
PRESBYTERIAN
5
LEADERSHIP
Addressing Harassment in the Church
By the Rev. Ian Ross-McDonald, General Secretary, Life and Mission Agency
In the New Testament, the church is compared to the body of Christ and to a flock of sheep under the guidance of Christ’s shepherding. John Calvin compared the church to a nur turing mother. And yet, we all know Christian communities fall shor t of what they aspire to be, and the church is not always an easy or safe place to be. Sadly, most of us have witnessed or experienced bullying and harassment in congregation, committees, choirs, groups and courts of the church.
This year, the General Assembly approved a policy with procedures for addressing harassment in the church that applies to members, adherents, staff and volunteers of The Presbyte- rian Church in Canada. In short: “The policy of The Presbyterian Church in Canada is that harassment of any kind shall not be tolerated and will be addressed.” The new policy covers both bullying and harassment.
Harassment means: physical or verbal behaviours against a mem- ber, volunteer or employee in the church that are unwelcome or should be known to be unwelcome. For example, harassment occurs when someone:
• makes unwelcome remarks and jokes or threatens and in- timidates people because of race, religion, sex, age, sexual orientation, gender identity, dis- ability or any other of the prohib- ited grounds of discrimination (which may vary from province to province); and,
•makes unwelcome physical
contact, such as touching, pat-
ting or pinching.
Generally, harassment is a behav-
iour that persists over time. How- ever, serious one-time incidents can create a “poisoned environment” and be considered harassment. Harassment is like bullying because someone hur ts another person through cruel, offensive and insult- ing behaviours. But harassment dif- fers from bullying in that it is often a form of discrimination.
There are different types of bully- ing, including:
• Physical bullying: using physi- cal force or physical aggression against others (e.g., hitting);
• Verbal bullying: using words to hurt others (e.g., name-calling); • Social/relational bullying: seek- ing to intimidate or harm others by excluding them, spreading rumours or ignoring them (e.g.,
gossiping);
• Cyberbullying: using electronic
media to threaten, embarrass, intimidate or exclude others, in- cluding seeking to damage their reputation (e.g., sending threat- ening text messages).
Responding promptly, carefully and appropriately to harassment of any kind helps the church become the body Christ called it to be. The policy outlines the steps and proce- dures that are to be taken when har- assment and bullying occur. Learning about the policy and how to apply it now will help bodies in the church re- spond well when called upon to ad- dress a situation of harassment. To be equipped to use the policy, com- mittees, Sessions and courts might consider:
• Hosting a workshop to review the policy (arranged through the Life and Mission Agency by contact- ing imcdonald@presbyterian.ca);
• Workshopping a case study and working through the policy’s steps;
• Annually reviewing the policy.
The policy says that employers, Sessions and members of courts and committees of the church will not only take steps to address in- cidences of harassment within the church, wherever they may take place, but also take steps to prevent them. To this end, groups and indi- viduals in the church might consider:
• Hosting or attending workshops lead by teachers, social work- ers and others in the community who are knowledgeable about harassment/bullying;
• Reading or creating a book study on preventing and addressing harassment and bullying;
• Learning about and being inten- tional about nurturing healthy communities
We are all responsible for creating and maintaining safe and respectful workplaces and communities. Bul- lying can exist only in environments that tolerate it.
The policy and its procedures
for addressing harassment in the church are found at presbyterian.ca/ leading-with-care, and will be pub- lished as part of the Leading with Care policy.
RESOURCES
Consult web pages such as the American Psychological Associa- tion (apa.org/topics/bullying) and The Red Cross (redcross.ca/how- we-help/violence-bullying-and- abuse-prevention) and redcross.ca/ how-we-help/violence-bullying-and- abuse-prevention/in-the-workplace).
Review provincial government re- sources and programs on bullying
and harassment in the workplace. Books that may be of interest and
help, include:
Bullied: What Every Parent, Teach- er, and Kid Needs to Know about Ending the Cycle of Fear by Carrie Goldman
Managing Workplace Bullying: How to Identify, Respond to and Manage Bullying Behaviour in the Workplace by Aryanne Oade
Bullying in Teams: How to Survive It and Thrive by Aryanne Oade
Working in Adversarial Relation- ships: Operating Effectively in Re- lationships Characterized by Little Trust or Support by Aryanne Oade
Reasonable Action
In the context of employment in the church, conduct is considered harassment if it creates a hostile, intimidating or offensive work environment or unreasonably interferes with an employee’s work performance. However, a “reasonable action” taken by an employer or supervisor relating to the management and direction of workers or the workplace is not workplace harassment. A staff correction or staff performance review may be an example of reasonable actions.
The Presbyterian Church in Canada already has a policy and procedures for addressing sexual harassment. Since 1993, when the Policy for Dealing with Sexual Abuse and Sexual Harassment was first approved by the General Assembly, the church has committed to following this established policy when addressing all complaints it receives of sexual abuse or sexual harassment. For this reason, whenever the alleged behaviour is of a sexual nature or pertains to an individual’s sex, sexual orientation, gender identity or gender expression, as stipulated in the above definition of sexual harassment, the church is directed to use the policy for dealing with sexual abuse and sexual harassment. In all other cases, when the alleged behaviour does not contain elements of a sexual nature or pertain to an individual’s sex, sexual orientation, gender identity or gender expression, the policy and procedures for addressing harassment in the church shall be followed.
The Sexual Abuse and Harassment Policy can be found at presbyterian.ca/sash.