Lifeline Handbook

Our mission: To ground students’ identity in Christ.

This mission happens through truth, relationships, and experiences

LIFELINE VOLUNTEER EXPECTATIONS

Committing to lead students or leaders is a big deal. You are not only a facilitator of discussion, you are an example to others in how you live your life and follow through on your commitments!

As a leader or coach in Lifeline, our students will be looking to you as a role model in how you live as a follower of Jesus. You have a significant opportunity to help students ground their identity in Christ by how you ground your own identity in Christ– not just on Wednesdays or Sundays, but with your whole life.

Faith Commitment

  • I believe salvation is found in Jesus, by grace, through faith..

    Ephesians 2:8-9

  • I believe Jesus’ death on the cross paid the penalty for my sins. He died in my place and took the punishment I deserve. This substitution takes my sins away because Jesus forgave my sins and took the wrath that I deserve on himself. This makes me holy and righteous before God, which allows me to be in a loving communion with a Holy God now and forever.
    Romans 3:25-26 , Colossians 1:22, Romans 5:6-11

  • I believe Jesus physically resurrected from the dead after 3 days.

    1 Corinthians 15:1-6

  • I believe the Bible is the inspired, authoritative Word of God.

    2 Peter 1:20-21, 2 Timothy 3:15-16

YOUR COMMITMENT TO LIFELINE

As a leader of the ministry, we ask that you commit to leading by example in four areas of your life.

  1. 1. Sexuality– Being an example to students by abstaining from sex outside of marriage.
    That is why a man leaves his father and mother and is united to his wife, and they become one flesh. Genesis 2:24

    “Haven’t you read,” (Jesus) replied, “that at the beginning the Creator ‘made them male and female,’ and said, ‘For this reason a man will leave his father and mother and be united to his wife, and the two will become one flesh’? So they are no longer two, but one flesh. Therefore what God has joined together, let no one separate.” Matthew 19:4-6

  2. Substances– Being an example to students by not using illegal drugs of any kind or abusing alcohol.

    Do not get drunk on wine, which leads to debauchery. Instead, be filled with the Spirit Ephesians 5:18

  3. Online Presence– Being an example to students by not posting photos or statuses containing inappropriate imagery or language, hateful or divisive speech, or excessive alcohol.

    Finally, brothers and sisters, whatever is true, whatever is noble, whatever is right, whatever is pure, whatever is lovely, whatever is admirable—if anything is excellent or praiseworthy—think about such things. Philippians 4:8

    Show yourself in all respects to be a model of good works, and in your teaching show integrity, dignity, and sound speech that cannot be condemned, so that an opponent may be put to shame, having nothing evil to say about us. Titus 2: 7-8

  4. Lifeline Attendance– Being an example to students by following through on the role that you are committing to: Consistent attendance and involvement during this ministry year with no more than 4 absences. If you cannot make these commitments, talk with a Lifeline staff member and we can have a conversation about what role is best for you during this season of your life

LIFELINE’S COMMITMENT TO YOU

As a Lifeline team, we commit to helping you in your role as a leader in our ministry in four ways.

  1. Praying for you regularly as a team and as individuals.

  2. Caring for you, not just as a Lifeline leader, but as a human being, and Christ Follower.

  3. Offering the tools, resources, and advice to lead others in the ministry.

  4. Investing in our own walk with God to lead the ministry as people who are grounded in Christ.

  5. We as a team will hold each other accountable to these commitments. If you have reason to believe that we are not following through, we invite you to speak to us and are open to what you have to say.

MIDDLE SCHOOL LIFELINE

EXPECTATIONS

Middle School students have a variety of experiences and expectations of what church is like. You have a crucial opportunity to show them that they can have fun and make friends while growing in their faith. You can do this by being consistent in attendance and balancing the tension between letting them act their age and calling them to grow! Even when the Wednesday nights feel long, you are making a difference that will last forever.

LIFELINE NIGHT BEFORE SMALL GROUP

  • Be on time for leader training

  • Greet students by name

  • Spend time with your students throughout the night

  • Help students engage in the night by modeling participation during games (by cheering), worship (by singing), and teaching (by learning) and by monitoring their behavior to ensure they are not distracting others around them.

SMALL GROUP TIME

  • Bring your bible and encourage students to bring theirs too!

  • (MS only) Refrain from phone use during small group time.

  • Set small group expectations early on and continue to reinforce them with the help of staff and coaches (small group covenant)

  • Reference small group questions provided to kick-start the conversation, and help students apply the teaching to their lives.

  • Encourage all students to share their thoughts on the teaching

  • Consider offering a personal story or perspective related to the teaching to facilitate the conversation.

  • Close small group time by asking students for praises and prayer requests, then end in prayer. (Ex: Popcorn, pair up, leader or student, etc.)

AFTER LIFELINE

  • Walk the group to the front doors and say goodbye to each student by name

  • Check in with your coach or staff members to let them know how your night went and how they can continue to support you as a leader!

  • Make note of any follow up conversations you may want to have with your students as a result of small group time.

OUTSIDE OF LIFELINE NIGHTS

  • Attend Ada Bible Church

  • Maintain contact with your students through texting, emailing, or reaching out to them on social media

  • Prepare for Lifeline nights by reading over the small group questions and making sure you are up to date on events and news found in our leader blog.

  • Make an effort to connect with parents by introducing yourself twice a year via email

  • Remind students to sign up for events like snow camp and mission trips as we promote them on Lifeline nights.

  • Pray for your students and consider what steps God might be inviting them to take.

HIGH SCHOOL LIFELINE

EXPECTATIONS

You are a leader to your high school students: this is an identity statement that is just as true outside of Lifeline as it is on a Sunday night! Your students need your wisdom to help them navigate their high school years, they need your presence to challenge them to consider how God is calling them to live, and they need your love to show them that you are for them no matter what. Lean into the relationship, challenge them, ask the hard questions, and love them through it all!

LIFELINE NIGHT BEFORE SMALL GROUP

  • Text students with a personal invite to come to Lifeline.

  • Be on time to leader training

  • Greet students by name.

  • Spend time with your students throughout the night

  • Help students engage in the night by modeling participation during games (by cheering), worship (by singing), and teaching (by learning) and by monitoring and disciplining their behavior to ensure they are not distracting others around them.

  • On teaching discussion nights, ask thoughtful questions and let your students do a lot of the heavy lifting when it comes to processing the message. Ideally, you should be talking 20% of the time.

SMALL GROUP TIME

  • Bring your bible and encourage students to bring theirs too!

  • Set small group expectations early on and continue to reinforce them with the help of staff and coaches (small group covenant)

  • Reference small group questions provided to kick-start the conversation, and help students apply the teaching to their lives.

  • Encourage all students to share their thoughts on the teaching.

  • Consider offering a personal story or perspective related to the teaching to facilitate the conversation.

  • Close small group time by asking students for praises and prayer requests, then end in prayer. (Ex: Popcorn, pair up, leader or student, etc.)

  • If you’d like to enjoy the hang-out activities with your small group, feel free to end your discussion time early and hang-out in the atrium.

AFTER LIFELINE

  • Walk the group to the front doors and say goodbye to each student by name

  • Check in with your coach or staff members to let them know how your night went and how they can continue to support you as a leader!

  • Make note of any follow up conversations you may want to have with your students as a result of small group time.

OUTSIDE OF LIFELINE NIGHTS

  • Attend Ada Bible Church

  • Maintain contact with your students through texting, emailing, or reaching out to them on social media

  • Prepare for Lifeline nights by reading over the small group questions and making sure you are up to date on events and news found in our leader blog.

  • Make an effort to connect with parents by introducing yourself twice a year via email

  • Remind students to sign up for events like snow camp and mission trips as we promote them on Lifeline nights.

  • Pray for your students and consider what steps God might be inviting them to take.

  • Meet up with students outside of Lifeline nights to form small group community.

LIFELINE COACHES

As a Coach you are an extension of staff, helping to guide leaders and students during a night of Lifeline. You have the important role of serving our leaders by building relation­ships with them and serving our students by making them feel like they belong at Lifeline. We as Staff trust that you can make decisions that help aid in the experience of Lifeline. You are winning as a coach when your lead­ers feel known, loved, and supported by you as people and as leaders in the church.

Here are some examples of things you can do, or activities you may be asked to assist with during a night of Lifeline. We want your passions and gifts to be used!

OUTSIDE OF LIFELINE NIGHTS

  • Greet leaders by name and welcome them! Catch up on conversations from the following week.

  • Facilitate conversation during leader training/dinner and share your advice.

  • Reach out to leaders who are running late or who have not shown up.

  • Take note of any one-on-one follow up conversations that might need to happen as a result of what is shared in leader meeting.

  • Keep an eye out for opportunities for you and your leaders to share (Coach devo/leader stories/student stories).

CHECK-IN TIME

  • Greet leaders by name and welcome them! Catch up on conversations from the following week.

  • Facilitate conversation during leader training/dinner and share your advice.

DURING SESSION

  • Crowd control (includes helping leaders if they are not addressing students.

  • Be a host on stage with Lifeline staff (announcements, games etc.)

  • Engage in the session, worship, games (lead the example!).

  • Leader stories/share a part of your story.

SMALL GROUP TIME

  • Fill in for missing small group leaders or...

  • Choose a small group to sit next to during the program / teaching part of the night and make an effort to engage the students throughout the night.

  • Help clean up.

END OF THE NIGHT

  • Say goodbye to students!

  • Check in with leaders under your care before they leave at the end of the night.

Helpful Resources

Reimbursements

Both leaders and coaches have funds available to care for the people under their care. So, turn in receipts so you can get reimbursed! Submit reimbursements within 30 days of purchasing a meal/coffee. Just be sure to save your receipt and send either a picture to lifeline@adabible.org, or give the physical receipt to one of your campus staff members.

  • Small Group Care: Take your group out for ice cream, buy snacks for a party, etc.

  • One-on-one Care: Take someone out for coffee or a meal.

  • Leader Community (Coaches only): You are able to take your group of leaders out three times a year.

Leader Toolkit

This is a tool where you can easily view all of your leaders, their groups, and find contact information. You can find this here.

Lifeline Staff

Lifeline campus staff members are here for you; personally and for your leaders and groups. When in doubt if you should ask or tell them, please share

Weekly Info

Every week we post an update on Lifelinestudents.org with information about the teaching content and small group time for your upcoming night of Lifeline. We also send the link to that out in a text reminder. If you aren’t receiving these weekly texts and would like to opt in, talk with your Lifeline staff.

Lifeline Safety Protocol

  • In the event that one of our Lifeline environments has a possible “dan­gerous” person present and disrupting the service and staff/coaches are unable to remove the person, it is possible that the service would need to be paused, and the auditorium be temporarily evacuated to provide safety and security for the attendees. This type of an event is highly unlikely, but needs to be kept in mind by staff and volunteers. If you as a leader see someone suspicious, please inform a staff member immedi­ately.

  • A Security team member from Ada Bible Church is required to be present during events where parents and visitors are allowed. All Volunteers that serve at Lifeline are required to have a background check.

  • In the event of an active shooter, we will follow the guidelines suggest­ed by law enforcement, which is the following: RUN, HIDE, FIGHT. In other words, if anyone can evacuate the building safely, we want them to do so as quickly as possible and run as far as they can or until law enforcement gives them additional or different directions. If the threat is imminent and they cannot run safely, they should barricade themselves in classrooms or any area they are able to do so. If the threat is coming through the door, they should fight, using whatever “tools” they have at their disposal. What is meant by FIGHT is that when there are no other options, meaning you have tried to run and even tried maybe to barri­cade the door but the bad person is coming through, and she’s/he’s right in front of you threatening. In this case you would then need to imagine yourself getting vicious, using the tools or things around you to hurt the person. Maybe even spitting in their eyes or biting. It’s hard to imagine but you want to protect yourself and keep yourself safe.

  • In the event that a student is missing, leader will alert campus staff. Campus staff will calmly search both the inside and outside of the build­ing. If the student has a cell phone, staff would call the student to find their location. If the student still cannot be found, campus staff would call parents of student and then the police if still not located.

  • Lifeline Staff or volunteers are not allowed to message students of the opposite sex using a means of communication that “disappears” (Snap­chat & Instagram vanish mode). Texting, DMing, Snapping are to be used in the day and not late at night. For any crisis or emergencies that may happen late at night, let staff know that you are having (or had) that conversation.

  • If you meet with a student one-on-one (which includes driving a student to or from and event etc.) it is required that you fill out the one on one tracker. This will help to account for where you and the student were and what time to keep you safe. You can find the tracker here.

  • "Lifeline will provide training on this topic during the year. In the meantime, reach out to staff with all questions or concerns"
    Michigan Child Protection Law states that mandatory reporters must report instances of child abuse/neglect when “there is reasonable cause to suspect abuse or neglect.” You are considered a mandated reporter. If there is reasonable cause, you are required to tell a Staff member within 24 hours. Staff will then walk you through the process of reporting.

    If a student is in danger of hurting themselves or others and they are not with you, contact Staff who will help to contact parents. If no one answers, call 911.


    The Suicide hotline is 988 and is available 24/7, 7 days a week. Students can also text RESTORE to 741741 and someone will respond.

    There are many other resources available for assistance to students and families such as gift cards, counseling and financial assistance. Reach out to a Staff member for assistance.

  • Each Small Group space should be left unlocked or the door ajar for a Staff of Coach to be able to enter if needed. If you have one student that night, leave the door open, or consider having small group time in a more open area.

  • In the event that a leader or student has a medical emergency at one of our on-site events, we ask that you make contact with a lifeline staff member immediately. We will help you assess the situation by contact­ing the parents, and/or 911 if it is a serious emergency. If the individual cannot be removed safely, and the situation requires privacy, it is possi­ble that the event would need to pause and everyone temporarily evac­uated to provide care and privacy for the individual. This type of event would be unlikely, but needs to be kept in mind by staff and volunteers. Following any medical emergency we would need your help, as a leader or coach, to fill out an incident report. This allows us to have accurate and timely records of the events that took place.

  • In the event of a tornado warning, all individuals should remain in the building and take shelter in designated safe interior rooms like spaces with no windows and reinforced hallways (see green signage around building). Keep groups huddled together, have leaders do a headcount, and coaches will walk around to check in with leaders to ensure all students and groups are accounted for.

  • Here at Lifeline you probably have noticed that our doors are always locked. Each of you use a code to enter the building each week. Our hope is that this provides an added level of security for our students and volunteers. No one is to be in the building without an updated back­ground check [we do them every 2 years]. This includes parents, visiting potential leaders, guest speakers, etc. With this said, if you see someone in the building that does not look familiar please be sure to let a staff member or coach know immediately.

  • In the event of a fire alarm, we [as staff] will take 30-60 seconds to try to determine if it is a valid alarm before we evacuate. If a fire source is located or if we cannot make a determination if the alarm is valid or not, please direct all students [and yourselves] to exit the building via the nearest exit. We ask that as leaders and coaches you group up by small groups and make sure that all of your students who are in attendance that specific evening are present and accounted for. When you exit the nearest exit make sure you stay with your groups so that we can ensure parents can locate students in an orderly fashion. In an event such as this, we would ask coaches to survey each group and check in on all of your leaders/small groups to be sure that all students are accounted for. Parents looking for their children will be advised that students will be outside the building organized by small group for a successful pick up.

LeadersAl Shepard