Over the last few weeks, I’ve been blogging about the top ten dumbest things I’ve done in student ministry. My intention is not to make myself look like an idiot (although I’m sure that’s entertaining) but rather to help other student ministry workers avoid the same mistakes I’ve made. My topic for today is liability. Now, I realize that I might sound like your paranoid grandmother, blogging about this topic (not the blogging–I can’t really see your grams blogging, but rather the liability paranoia) but I’ve come to realize that liability is something worth talking about because the truth is that, while it isn’t a very fun topic, our churches and student ministries are one bad lawsuit away from being shut down. It happens. I don’t want it to happen to me and I don’t want it to happen to you because what we do, as student pastors and volunteers is too important to jeopardize. So, indulge me. Let me share a little story…
One thing you should know about me is that I love mission trips. I love how they transform lives. The combination of having your eyes opened to needs in the world, feeling like God can actually use you, and the experience of traveling and serving together with a small group of people changes the trajectory of a life, over and over again. I absolutely love it.
As a younger student pastor, my assumption was that the more intense the mission trip experience, the more impactful it would be in the lives of my students. I suppose that to some degree, this is probably true. The problem, I discovered, is that there’s a line, and beyond that line, well, you’re just asking for trouble.
Early in my career, an opportunity arose to take students to Honduras to help local church planters build churches among the Lenca people. I was so pumped! This was exactly the type of trip I was looking for. And to be fair, these trips were incredibly life-changing for my students, volunteers and me. However, looking back, I realized that a few of these trips to Honduras slipped across the line and became too dangerous for students. Let me explain. Here’s what I remember from these trips:
- students riding in the back of pickups with indigenous drivers on horrendous mountain roads
- never knowing exactly where I was
- being 2 hours away from the nearest hospital while doing semi-dangerous construction work
- being stranded in the jungle completely alone with two students for several hours
- framing a church with a chainsaw…because that’s what we had
- sliding backwards down a slippery mountain road in our team vehicle
- students walking on planking two stories above ground while we worked
- not having appropriate safety gear for students
- being stranded in a mountain village for a few days because a monsoon washed away the roads
- building a church in a mountain village that I later learned had tried to kill one of the missionaries
- did I mention that I brought 9th grades?
- oh, and Honduras has the highest murder rate in the world..
Look…I know this list makes me look like a complete idiot but I assure you that the results from this trip made me look like a hero with parents, leadership and the students. In fact, some of them will probably want to fight me if they read this. This trip really did impact students for life. Also, you should know that the missionaries we were working with are incredible people who are doing amazing work. It’s just that these trips weren’t a good fit for high school students.
Looking back, I realized that we were one small mishap away from major problems. What if a kid had fallen? What if our team vehicle had slipped off the road and into the ravine? What if someone had been maimed by that chainsaw?
First off, the tragedy would have been unspeakable. Secondly, a grieving or angry parent could have ended our entire church with a lawsuit that we never could have won. Also, a 2 or 3 million dollar lawsuit would sink most churches. In a court of law, my case would have been indefensible. “You were where?” “You were doing what?” “What were you thinking?!?” I mean, let’s be real, we didn’t even have a release of liability form!
I encourage you to consider liability as you plan events and trips. Do you have a plan? Does your church have liability insurance? Do you require a release of liability form? What is your emergency protocol? Do you run background checks on your volunteers? Do you have someone in your context asking you hard questions about your liability for events and trips? In my opinion, we have to be able to answer all of these questions intelligently and effectively because what we do is so important. It isn’t worth jeopardizing because of negligence or recklessness.
image credited to Shawn Carpenter via Flickr
