What information do you need to have ready?
Everything you need to get things started!
You will be asked:
1. Your church name
2. Your name as the person completing the form
3. Your email address
4. Your phone number
5. Your role in the partnership – church leader, church sponsor, church administrator or another role. These questions help us to relate well to one another from the start.
6. The name of your LCM Church Rep, if you have one
7. We ask you to commit to these along with us:
We want to support your church in your mission activities. We want to do everything with the excellence that our Lord Jesus deserves. That includes how we partner together. So, let us commit to one another that we will partner with excellence.
Firstly, the Partner Church is responsible for the safe running of ministry activities. These are your ministries before God, and LCM will not be involved with them after the formal partnership ends. It is good for partners to share information regularly. We commit to agreeing what information will make this partnership more successful. Here are ways we plan to work together:
- Identifying and reporting on key goals and outcomes of the Missional Plan throughout the partnership
- Sharing best practice from the start about how to do ministry activities, especially in keeping staff, volunteers, and the public safe
- Handling personal data obtained through this partnership appropriately
- Clearly communicating on a regular basis between LCM and the team members of the Partner Church for mobilisation
- Sharing encouragements, challenges, feedback, and lessons learnt between both parties.
After the formal partnership ends, we hope the Partner Church will commit to:
- Reporting through the LCM Church Rep on the effect of the partnership
- Keeping up to date with London City Mission through the LCM Church Rep.
8. We ask that you tell us whether your church has a Data Protection Policy. If you do not have one, then we will agree to a date when one will be adopted. If you need help in writing this or any of the following policies, go to www.lcm.org.uk/partnership-compliance.
9. We ask that you confirm your agreement with this commitment to data protection:
Through our partnership, the LCM team will work as representatives of the Partner Church. This means we will comply with the UK General Data Protection Regulation (UK GDPR) policies that you have as the Partner Church. Please share these policies with the LCM team at the start of the partnership.
You as the Partner Church will be the controllers of the personal data that is processed – what someone tells you about themselves (as defined within the UK GDPR). This will be for the whole partnership. The LCM team will only process personal data for the purpose(s) you set as the Partner Church. The Partner Church is the data controller. It is your responsibility to understand and obey UK GDPR requirements. See https://ico.org.uk/for-organisations/uk-gdpr-guidance-and-resources/ for more information about these requirements.
LCM colleagues should not process the personal data obtained through this partnership for any purposes outside of the partnership. That is because if we use it for personal or LCM purposes, then we become controllers, and would become legally responsible for that data. The LCM team will only process anonymised, statistical data using our impact measurement surveys. Please contact dpo@lcm.org.uk should you need more information about the GDPR and Data Protection.
10. We need to have on record the full name of your Designated Safeguarding Lead (DSL)
11. DSL’s email address
12. DSL’s phone number
13. We ask that you tell us whether your church has a Safeguarding Policy. If you do not have one, then we will agree to a date when one will be adopted. As before, if you need help in writing this policy or any of the following policies, go to www.lcm.org.uk/partnership-compliance.
14. We ask that you confirm your agreement with this commitment to safeguarding:
LCM and the Partner Church commit to best practice in all areas relating to Safeguarding. The Designated Safeguarding Leads (DSLs) for the relevant parties will keep in touch as required below.
- LCM Staff and volunteers will always work to the LCM safeguarding policy. Where this raises a concern, the Partner Church lead person, and LCM Designated Safeguarding Lead (DSL) will be told.
- LCM is committed to preventing sexual harassment. LCM has a zero tolerance of sexual harassment either from our staff or towards our staff, and we will take robust action should it arise.
- The Partner Church will be responsible for risk assessments and will share them with the LCM team leader.
- LCM expect the Partner Church to have its own Safeguarding Policy and procedures. These include terms of recruitment and staffing ratios for the ministry activities.
- The Partner Church will be responsible for training LCM staff for the activity if it has not been covered by LCM.
- LCM staff will be told about the Partner Church DSL who will be the first point of contact for any concerns. Please provide named DSL and contact details below.
Pass any allegations or concerns against LCM staff or volunteers immediately to the LCM DSL team – safeguarding@lcm.org.uk or 020 7234 3595. The LCM DSL team will consult with the Partner Church DSL as appropriate.
- Report any allegations or concerns against the Partner Church’s staff or volunteers that could cause reputational damage to LCM to the LCM DSL team.
When safeguarding concerns are managed using the Partner Church’s policy, LCM will be informed of the basic details and plan of action for sharing information. This should not include sharing confidential personal information unless necessary as part of the partnership agreement.
15. We ask for your permission to take and publish photographs and videos on church premises for LCM use. LCM staff will not take and/or publish any photographs or videos taken on the Partner Church premises without the express and pre-agreed permission of the Church and the individuals involved. This includes services and training events. Where a Church has granted permission, then individuals should be asked if they want to move out of camera view or to give their consent before being photographed or caught on video.
16. We need to have on record the full name of the person in your church who oversees Health and Safety.
17. Their email address
18. Their phone number
19. We ask that you tell us whether your church has a Health and Safety Policy, arrangements, and/or risk assessments for agreed ministry activities. If you do not have one, then we will agree to a date when one will be adopted. As before, if you need help in writing this policy, go to www.lcm.org.uk/partnership-compliance.
20. We ask that you tell us whether your agreement with this commitment to health and safety:
LCM and the Partner Church commit to best practice standards for health and safety of staff, volunteers, and all persons attending or partaking in activities and events. There will be regular, clear communication about health and safety.
The specific responsibilities are:
- The Partner Church will ensure that appropriate Health and Safety arrangements are in place for all partnership activities.
- Where a new ministry is starting, LCM will share best practice principles with the Church. The Partner Church will share all risk assessments and other Health and Safety plans with LCM staff.
- The Partner Church will share the details of their Health and Safety Competent Person with LCM below. They will be the first point of contact for any assessments, plans, or concerns. The LCM Competent Person can be contacted at health.safety@lcm.org.uk or 020 3832 3592.
- The Partner Church should organise any specialist or technical training required for partnership activities. This could include First Aid or Food Safety training. Where LCM is organising such training for its own staff, then spare places may be offered to Partner Churches at cost.
- LCM staff and volunteers are expected to follow LCM policies. If LCM policies and the Partner Church’s plans are different, then please discuss these with the LCM Team Leader or the LCM Health and Safety Manager as soon as possible.
- The Partner Church will tell LCM about any incidents or safety concerns which occur during any partnership activity. This includes if LCM staff are present or not or if the incident might cause reputational damage to either organisation. All reports shared with LCM should be made anonymous to ensure GDPR compliance. Please use health.safety@lcm.org.uk or 020 3832 3592 to notify LCM.
21. We ask that you confirm your agreement that LCM holds the rights to use any intellectual property developed by our staff through this partnership to further its mission. This would most often include training materials developed to equip your church.
22. We have a series of questions about the financial donation that your church will make to LCM as co-labourers in Christ. This will help us plan well how we use our most precious resources in LCM – our missionary team. We will start by asking for your Charity Number. If you have a charity number, please provide it here. You may be able to identify your number from the Charity Commission website: https://register-of-charities.charitycommission.gov.uk.
23. We ask for you to signify what range is your church’s annual income. This will help us to have a conversation about what amount of donation you intend to make to LCM.
24. And we ask how often you will make the gift during the Partnership – monthly, quarterly, annually, or another frequency. For a framework of partnership gifts, showing suggested gift amounts, see the LCM Gospel Partnership Principles brochure (available at www.lcm.org.uk/principles).
25. We ask for the amount in £ that you intend to give before God (monthly, quarterly, annually, otherwise) towards the cost of LCM staff time and mission across London.
26. And the date when you plan to make the first gift.
27. We ask that you confirm your agreement with this section about financial donation.
28. We ask that you confirm your agreement about termination of the partnership. The goal of this agreement is to love and support according to Jesus’ golden rule in Matthew 7. LCM and the Partner Church both have the right to end the agreement with one month’s notice in exceptional circumstances (for example, where Christian witness and reputation is compromised).
29. When you have provided all the information and submitted the Form, then we in LCM will send it to someone to approve. Please provide the email for the person from the church who is responsible for confirming approval of the contents.
30. The LCM and Partner Church sponsors are responsible for ensuring that these commitments are met. If there is concern how to deliver on these commitments, we will work on a solution together. We will agree review dates to discuss what we learn through our ministry together. The Partner Church and the LCM Team will meet on a regular basis. We ask that you confirm your agreement about strategic dates and partnership sponsors.
31. Finally, we want to confirm commitment to true gospel partnership. For LCM, this includes agreement to the partnership principles as outlined in the LCM Gospel Partnership Principles brochure, including the LCM Statement of Faith, the LCM Statement on Same Sex Relationships, and the Evangelical Alliance statement on sexuality (which can be found at www.lcm.org.uk/principles).
32. And we want to work to the same Missional Plan for the partnership, so we ask for confirmation that we are committed to excellence throughout the partnership.
Why are we asking for this information?
It is important that we account for all areas of responsibility. This form is the place for LCM to turn if we need to contact the relevant Partner Church person in case of an emergency, for instance.
