Safeguarding Sunday 15 November 2026

On Sunday 15 November 2026 and the following weeks, thousands of churches from diverse backgrounds and traditions across the UK will join together to shout about protecting vulnerable people.

This initiative, spearheaded by Thirtyone:eight, a Christian safeguarding charity, invites communities to come together to reflect on their safeguarding journey, and highlight all the good work that is being done to create safer places.

Why Safeguarding Sunday?

Defending the rights of vulnerable people is integral to Christian faith and teaching. Sadly, the church hasn’t always done this well. But we have a chance to change that. We are already seeing many churches take the responsibility to safeguard those in their care seriously, but there is a long way to go.

Sadly, many churches feel a safeguarding policy and DBS checks are all it takes to keep people safe. And we hear that leaders view safeguarding as a barrier to ministry. We believe safeguarding is a cultural issue, and that protecting the vulnerable is foundational to Christian ministry. This has been discussed and debated in many places, and people are still being harmed.

This year, our theme is Love Protects, rooted in the well-known passage from 1 Corinthians 13, which reminds us that “love always protects.” Safeguarding isn’t bureaucracy. It isn’t a distraction from ministry. It is ministry — a Christian act of love in action.

Get involved

Last year around 5,400 churches took part in Safeguarding Sunday, with an estimated reach of 250,000 people.

Love Protects. We can no longer afford to pay lip service to safeguarding. It’s time to put it front and centre, to act and to create safer places.

What could you do?

• Encourage your networks of churches to take part. The free comms pack will give you all you need to share about the campaign. Give your churches plenty of notice so they have time to plan their service using our free resources.
• Plan to run a whole or part of a service on the day. Use the free resources for all types of meetings, ages and groups. You don’t have to do it on the day, you could choose a day that suits you better.
• Create your own resources for the day, using the Thirtyone:eight ones as inspiration.
• Raise awareness of the campaign by sharing one of the films, or the graphics from the communications pack, on your social media channels.

More information and resources

Please see the Safeguarding Sunday website.