Would you sign this "registration form"?

I am not a lawyer but I am not sure that registratiom is worth the paper it is written on. If they dug a hole and you fell into it I am sure they would be liable.

 

Repeatedly through the course of daily life I'm being asked to sign away legal rights to many things, yet do it without benefit of legal counsel. I'm asked to sign legal documents with a lot of fine print, often without even the few minutes needed to read it, let alone consult an attorney to evaluate it. Taking the form away and coming back another day is beyond impractical, since this happens in everything from buying tires to attending church. So yes, I sign "No." So sue me. I'll give the same response as their lawyers are asking of me: if they'll just read what I wrote, it's not deception.

But equally immoral is using lawyers to impose fine print on unsuspecting church attendees. As the Apostle Paul, a lawyer himself, pointed out, it's better to be liable than to lose your witness. And, as has been pointed out here, most of these legal "protections" are not worth the paper they're printed on. Do you really think they're going to stop lawsuits in the case of legitimate, significant negligence? Or be a true protection against a major lawsuit? Not a chance. But, as has been pointed out above, they will give a poor witness. Doing so is not in line with a mature witness.

 

The Christian Law Association has produced one that our church uses and I have taken it to every church that I have worked at as voluteer or staff. It is a legal document because it requires a witness signature, one of many reasons it is legal. The CLA is there to help churches and this is one of the areas that they do great things for the church in. Our church also has the CLA review the Constitution and By-Laws of the church once a year to make sure that the church has good legal standing in the era in which we live. By the way, none of our church forms have any fine print, we want you to know it all.

 

Does it work both ways? Don't churches need to be held accountable?
Several years ago in this area a "christian" worker out of a local church caused a scandal.

Shouldn't churches require a background check for at least those who work with children or face the consequence from the outraged parents and community for their irresponsibility?

For instance: should someone be involved in a bus ministry who has a record of DUI?

HankD

 

Our church does do background checks for anyone who wishes to work with children. If something comes in questionable, then generally they are moved to an adult ministry. I say generally because we have not had anyone that raised any concerns want to work in that area yet.

We have a number of policies in place to protect our church and our children. They work very well. In fact, we had a stranger come in one Sunday during S.S. and go to the nursery and ask for one of the babies, stating that she was the "aunt" of the child. Since the family in question was there they were contacted along with the S.S. Sup. and the lady was found out almost immediately. She was detained and the police were contacted and she was turned over to them. She had actually just walked in off the street wanting a new child to do whatever with. Our church has the attitude that we need to be protected in all areas and it works.

 

Excellent.

HankD