Oak Life Harm Reporting and Response Protocol

This following protocol is used by Oak Life Church to help create a culture that supports accountability for persons doing harm and support for those who have experienced harm. Harm within Oak Life, or by people that are affiliated with the church community, will be addressed using the accountability processes in the following reporting and response protocol. This policy was approved by the Oak Life Leadership Team and may be updated in the future as needed.

If you would like to fill out a report go here: Harm Reporting Form

Glossary of Key Terms

Accountability: For people involved, thinking about the ways they may have contributed to harm, recognizing their roles, acknowledging the ways they may need to make amends for their actions and make changes toward ensuring that harm does not continue and that healthy alternatives can take its place.

Harm: Some form of injury to a person, group or community. This injury can be of many types: physical, financial, emotional, sexual, spiritual, and so on. 

Leadership Team: A collection of Oak Life volunteers responsible for supporting the pastoral staff in guiding the Oak Life community.

Oppression:  Exercise of power and authority over another person(s).

Pastoral Staff: The person(s) on staff with the title of “pastor”. The current pastoral staff consists of co-pastors Chris Scott and Greg Steward.

Person(s) Doing Harm: The primary person(s) committing or perpetrating harm or the people directly committing or perpetrating harm in a situation of interpersonal violence. Other people may also be involved as people doing harm, perhaps in a less direct way, by encouraging or tolerating harm or by discouraging efforts to address, stop or prevent harm.

Restoration: This pertains to the parties involved in a particular incident as well as the relational health of the broader community. The restorative process begins by examining the harmful impact of an incident, then determining what can be done to repair that harm while addressing the root cause(s) allowing the harm to have occurred. 


Anti-Oppression Policy

The Oak Life Church (OLC), pastoral staff, and Leadership Team (LT), are committed to a non-oppressive faith community and culture as it relates to gender, race, ethnicity, class, immigration status, education, national origin, religion, age, and physical ability. OLC will not tolerate oppressive, demeaning, degrading, discriminating, harassing, and sexualized attitudes/behavior that cause harm within our OLC community or are perpetuated by members of our pastoral staff, LT team, or those representing OLC. This commitment is in alignment with OLC's stated values of Deep Community, Compassion, Peace and Justice, Creation Care, and Diversity. 


Process for Addressing Violations of Anti-Oppression Policy

If any individual or group of individuals feels that this anti-oppression policy has been violated, they should address this through OLC’s Harm Reporting Form to start the assessment process. Alternatively, harm incidents may be reported directly to pastoral staff Chris Scott (chris@oaklifechurch.com) and/or Greg Steward (greg@oaklifechurch.com); or our Leadership Team (leadership@oaklifechurch.com or individual leadership members). Individual(s) should expect a response as to next steps within two weeks of the issue being raised. 


If said individual(s) does not want to go through the process of reporting, the pastoral staff will attempt to connect and assess the situation, then report back to LT for further direction. If the grievance is against the pastoral staff, the board chair will be responsible for leading the assessment process with the LT. 


If you have accommodation/access needs for the reporting process, please reach out to our pastoral staff, LT, or specific LT members as comfortable. 


Assessment & Follow-up Process

OLC will engage in the following actions after a harm incident is reported either through the Harm Reporting Form or directly to pastoral staff or LT. 


Assessment Process

  1. OLC will assess whether the incident is in violation of the Anti-Oppression Policy. If the harm incident falls outside the policy, OLC will encourage the individual(s), if appropriate, to engage in a direct conversation and/or restorative action. 

  2. If there is a conflict of interest LT will form a committee to address or discuss in session without pastor(s) and/or members of LT if named in the incident. OLC will assess whether outside support will be an option in this situation (other pastors or professional services).


Follow up Process
If in the assessment the incident is perceived to be in violation of the Anti-Oppression Policy, OLC will engage in the following follow-up process:

Immediate Support (as appropriate): Pastoral staff or LT will provide any timely personal support to the individual(s) involved. This could include, but not limited to: ensuring safety, connecting individual(s) with community resources/interventions, providing pastoral counseling, etc.  


Incident Investigation: Pastoral staff or LT, as appropriate to the situation, will begin a prompt and thorough investigation. The investigation may include interviews with named individual(s), including the alleged person doing harm, or any individual(s) who are aware of facts or incidents alleged to have occurred. All documentation of incident records will be retained for transparency and accountability. The primary focus is on gathering the information necessary for assessment while prioritizing the wellbeing of our community and offering special care for those involved. 


Debrief: A debrief will be provided to LT members within 12 to 72 hours of incident reporting, with the following guidelines:

  • For general protection regarding the identity of those involved, all information shared with the LT will be as de-identified as possible in an effort to reduce spreading of potentially false/partial information. All conversation will start by focusing on the specifics of the situation first, adding identity factors only when appropriate to the assessment process, and will be kept confidential by all LT members.

  • If the situation presents a threat of severely impacting the OLC community, all pertinent information will be shared with the LT.

  • If LT members are named in the incident or pose a conflict of interest, they will be recused from the conversation and/or subsequent deliberations. 

Final Follow-up Steps: Outcomes will vary depending on the situation but could include:

  • If the parties involved are open to mediation and it is appropriate for the situation, the pastoral staff will work with the parties involved to move toward restoration.This is for the individual(s) involved as well as the relational health of the broader community, as most incidents are not isolated.

  • If one or more of the parties are not interested in any form of restorative work, we will honor any requests of space made by either party, and provide support where needed in the realm of pastoral care. 

  • If the support needed for the incident is deemed outside of the scope of pastoral care, we will engage with outside groups and/or work to provide professional resources to the best of our ability.

  • Once the process has been completed, and no more action can be taken, the LT will debrief the situation in its entirety to (a) see if there is any residual care that is needed among the LT, and (b) to make any adjustments to our process for future potential incidents.

  • All efforts to complete this process within 2 months will be taken


Please note: Reports of harm, including alleged harassment, sexual harassment, or discrimination will be treated seriously. Confidentiality will be maintained to the extent possible. However, to conduct a thorough investigation, certain information may need to be disclosed to other individuals, including the alleged person doing harm. Consequently, absolute confidentiality cannot be promised and cannot be guaranteed.