Journey Phase 1 · Inquiring Candidate

Child, Youth, and Vulnerable Adult Safety Policy: Certification Steps

The three steps to Safe Ministry certification, which you need for Candidacy Summit and keep current through candidacy.

Child, Youth, and Vulnerable Adult Safety Policy

Certification Steps

The Rio Texas Annual Conference is committed to the well-being of every person entrusted to its care as well as those persons entrusted to the care of the districts and local United Methodist Churches throughout our conference borders. Therefore, we will strive to create safe places for all of God's children. Our safety policy and procedures help us to do this holy and hard work.

This page is dedicated to helping individuals and faith communities know what steps to take as they seek to complete the required safety certification for ministry with children, youth, and vulnerable adults.

For certification, please complete the following steps in the order they are listed:

Step One

Complete your renewal application with Safe Gatherings (safegatherings.com)

This application includes your background check and 3 reference checks. Remember: You are asked to provide a personal and a clergy/vocational reference in addition to your church/organization’s designated reference, which is sent automatically. Please let your references know that they will receive an email from Safe Gatherings. The reference will take 2-3 minutes of their time and is an essential part of the certification process.

Questions? Contact your Church administrator or Safe Gatherings

Step Two

Complete Safe Gatherings online training course and test.

This is a 60-90 minute presentation of information on safety guidelines and best practices as defined by the state of Texas. Persons will take a test at the end of this training.

Step Three

Complete the Rio Texas Conference training module.

This is a 30-minute interactive training on safety guidelines and best practices as defined by the Rio Texas Conference for ministry in our churches, districts, and beyond. This training will become available via a link on your Safe Gatherings dashboard once you have completed step two of the process. You will need to complete this module in one sitting as it does not save your progress and will require you to start over if you navigate away from the training window.

Need help?

Tutorials are available at: riotexas.org/safesteps

Questions? Please contact:

For more information please visit: riotexas.org/safe