Code of Conduct

We expect all members of our Renovus community, especially Renovus leaders and volunteers, to conduct a lifestyle and make choices that employ wisdom, and discernment and always prioritize the well-being of themselves, members, group dynamics, and overall health and safety.

  • Culture of Dignity/Respect/Allyship: Always seek to dignify the humanity of others in all situations at all times, inside and outside of Renovus spaces. Harassment, micro-aggression, insinuations, intimidation, threats, and/or violence are hurtful and interfere with the experience and participation of others in Renovus.

    • Refrain from comments, jokes, and expressions that disrespect, denigrate, or dismiss someone based on their race, sex, gender, sexual/romantic orientation, or any other facet of their identity.

    • Demonstrate love, respect, and allyship to others and to yourself (Matthew 22:39 - “Love your neighbor as yourself”).

    • Respect the diversity of thought, perspective, politics, and faith traditions of members within the community.

    • We encourage anyone who has been disrespected or hears/learns of disrespectful behavior to raise this with the person causing that disrespect and/or Renovus leadership in the spirit of showing grace and helping every member of our Renovus community to learn and grow from their mistakes.

  • Culture of Consent: Consent is a freely given agreement or permission between two or more parties in how they interact with one another. In order to create a culture where all feel safe engaging in our community and have their humanity and bodily autonomy respected, we expect all members to respect each other’s consent.

    • Consent applies – but is not limited to – all sexual interactions, romantic advances, physical contact, conversive interactions (i.e., comments, language, conversations), and virtual activity.

    • Consent means that “no” is a complete sentence.

    • Consent can be revoked at any time, even after a “yes.”

    • Consent means dignifying the humanity of others and respecting the desires, wishes, and words of another person in perpetuity.

  • Substance Use/Alcohol: We expect everyone to be fully present at events, home groups, and any other Renovus-related gathering. This means one should restrict, limit, and/or moderate their alcohol and substance use in these contexts appropriately, being mindful of those who may struggle with those substances.

Leader Qualifications & Expectations

Who does this apply to?

Those who assume a Board, staff, director, or home group facilitator role. While other volunteers and committee members are not considered leaders in this context, we do have a Code of Conduct for all Renovus members.

Why do we have qualifications and expectations?

  • To help ensure the care and safety of our participants, and further their relationship with Jesus and our community.

  • To protect/preserve the reputation of our organization and its important work

  • For current leaders – to guide them, but not meant to be rules to be dictated

  • For prospective leaders – to establish a consistent presence and trusted reputation

What are our qualifications and expectations for leaders?

  • Alignment: Know and be in alignment with our organization’s mission, vision, and belief statement and honor these leadership expectations.

  • Faith: Be a professing Christian, as we are a Jesus-centered organization and seek to shepherd our community in the way of Christ. Review the Renovus Belief Statement.

  • Engagement: Commit to being fully engaged in the role you assume and within the broader organization as is most possible for you.

  • Relationships:

    • Use discretion when considering engaging in romantic and/or physical relationships with others – including those in Renovus leadership, within yours or another’s home group, or in the wider Renovus community – understanding the impact of those relational dynamics and seeking to model love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, gentleness and self-control.

    • Please refer to the Code of Conduct for expectations on principles that guide relational interactions, including consent.

  • Code of Conduct: Follow all aspects of the Renovus Code of Conduct.

What support and accountability should you expect?

  • If a leader cannot meet these expectations at any time, we ask that person or anyone in our Renovus membership to raise this with Renovus leadership, especially to the Executive Director or a Board Member, to be sure the situation can be addressed.

  • An inability to meet these expectations may result in a variety of avenues to address the situation including a conversation, referral to resources, a pause or removal from a leadership role, or other actions as deemed appropriate by Renovus leadership.

  • Anyone who raises a concern should expect that their privacy will be respected and that Renovus does not tolerate retaliation against someone who raises a reasonable concern.