The documents in this section explain how we live and work together as a Christian community.
By choosing to follow these guidelines and rules, we make the inevitable misunderstandings and conflicts easier to deal with, and also ensure we grow and develop in a positive and inclusive way.
When using the i-church forums on the external or internal site or chat rooms, and in any communications with other members, we insist that the following code of conduct is observed in every situation:
Central to i-church is be respectful at all times.
Remember that we are posting from different countries, with different cultures and in different denominations. Cultural confusion is common on the internet so if you don’t understand something, ask.
Preview post is there to be used. Posts can only be edited in the 60 minute editing window available.
Please use full sentences in your posting and avoid abbreviations that might not be understood easily. English is not the first language of all posters and people with dyslexia and other visual processing problems find ‘text speak’ difficult to understand.
Interaction online can get intense at times. Think before posting and if you disagree with someone then disagree with the argument and not the person. Disagreement is fine on the discussion threads. Personal attacks are not acceptable and will be treated seriously by the moderators – see Complaints Procedure below.
Prayer threads are not the place for discussion. They are there for prayers.
Any item posted in the public sections of i-church is openly available for viewing by anyone with internet access. Remember this when posting: If you wouldn’t want to see it in your local newspaper tomorrow, then don’t post it online in i-church or anywhere else.
Remember that the internet and i-church may appear safe but not everybody is as they appear. Do not reveal more personal information than you are comfortable with and if in doubt err on the side of caution.
For the protection and privacy of all members, the posting of postal addresses, phone numbers or email addresses (even your own!) in a forum or chat room is not permitted. Moderators will remove such personal contact details except in the following special circumstances:
Remember that this is a forum for conversation and is not a venue for counselling or medical services. i-church is not responsible for any advice given by its members.
Netiquette: Brief posts will get better responses than essays or 7 point refutations with dozens of proof texts. Discuss, argue, listen and do not flame. Do no SHOUT ON THE DISCUSSION BOARDS.
Within the main i-church site there are pastoral groups and small special interest groups such as spiritual direction groups. These are wonderful places to make friends and share experiences and faith. These groups insist on confidentiality of content and any member of the small groups abusing this privilege will be subject to our Disciplinary Policy which may involve exclusion from i-church.
Complaints procedure
Sometimes feelings run high on discussion boards. Any user who is upset by a posted message is encouraged to, in the first instance, chill, drink tea, walk the dog or do whatever is needed to calm down. Do not post in anger. What is written cannot be taken back and stays in written form long after the moment has passed.
It is strongly recommended that members try to sort disagreements out by PM (private messaging) or in chat between themselves. Without body language it is easy to give offence which was not intended. The written word can be very stark. Try and sort out any disagreements like the adults you are, remembering Jesus commanded us to love our neighbour.
If this doesn’t reach a resolution to the problem then you should contact the forum’s moderator who may discuss possible courses of action with the moderator’s group and will make a decision about the action, if any, to be taken. Public arguments about posts in the forums break the “Respect Rule” and will not be tolerated.
If you are unhappy with the decision of a forum’s moderator then you may contact the Lead Moderator who will make the final decision on the matter, having discussed with the moderators’ group.
Sanctions
Experience has shown that although the majority of people work within the Code of Conduct guidelines, there are a small number who do not. Breaches of the Terms and Conditions which you agree to at the front of the site will be treated very seriously.
Moderators will issue warnings and if these are not heeded the moderators will consider temporary or permanent banning from the external or internal i-church sites. If you wish to appeal against a temporary or permanent ban you should contact the Lead Moderator.
Breakdowns in relationships on the site are dealt with through the Complaints Policy above.
Forum Personnel
Each forum has at least one moderator who is responsible for seeing the terms and conditions are adhered to. They are also there to help in resolving personal difficulties resulting from posts. They do not have a pastoral role. If you wish to discuss a pastoral issue then contact the Pastoral Team. Moderators are supported and supervised by the Lead Moderator.
The Lead Moderator’s authority to arbitrate on the terms and conditions rules is final.
Respect the moderators. They volunteer their time and talents so that the rest of us can have an ongoing conversation together. Be grateful.
This procedure describes what will happen if you break any of the rules laid out in i-church's Code of Conduct (Forum Rules):
“Sanctions
Experience has shown that although the majority of people work within the Code of Conduct guidelines there is a small number who do not. Breaches of the terms and conditions which you agreed to at the front of the site will be treated very seriously.
Moderators will issue warnings and if these are not heeded the moderators will consider temporary or permanent banning from the internal or external i-church sites. If you wish to appeal against a temporary or permanent ban you should contact the Lead Moderator under the Grievance Procedure.”
i-church works hard to maintain an accessible and open culture where a wide range of people can feel safe, comfortable and welcome.
We have a duty to all of our Visitors and Members to ensure i-church is comfortable, relaxing and non-threatening. We also have to balance this with our stated aim of encouraging the widest range of people to participate in i-church. Furthermore, we cannot allow anything to happen in i-church which is illegal.
To help us stay on the right side of all these things, we've developed our i-church Code of Conduct.
If anybody in i-church fails or refuses to abide by those rules and expectations of behaviour, we need to have a fair and transparent way of asking people to adhere to our rules, or to leave i-church if they are unable or unwilling to.
If your behaviour fails to meet our Code of Conduct, one of the following things may happen.
For minor bad behaviour an i-church Moderator might give you an Informal Warning by personal message. This isn't meant to do more than tell you that some aspect of your behaviour isn't really acceptable, and give you plenty of opportunity to improve.
If you have received one or more Informal Warnings and you continue to behave in an unacceptable manner, a Moderator may give you a Formal Warning – either by email or by post. This will be done after at least 3 members of the Moderation Team have discussed the situation. At this stage, you will be advised that further unacceptable behaviour might lead to your exclusion from i-church.
You may also get a Formal Warning straight away if your behaviour is sufficiently serious.
An i-church Moderator may block your user account for a certain period of time, or you may be permanently banned – preventing you from signing in to i-church.
There are two situations where this might happen:
Except in the case of very serious bad behaviour, we will not make the decision to exclude you immediately – the Moderation Team will ask you to take “Time Out” and they will discuss the situation while you are away.
An i-church Moderator may, if necessary, ask you to not log in to i-church for a short period of time – say, for a day or two, or a few days.
This will happen if the Moderation Team feels that a short “cooling off” period is adequate to resolve the situation without the need for further action.
For very serious bad behaviour, it may be that the Moderation Team asks you to take “Time Out” while they discuss whether your behaviour warrants exclusion from i-church.
If you've received any kind of warning, or if you have been excluded from i-church, you have a right to appeal. This should be done by making an Official Complaint. The process for making a complaint is detailed in our Grievance Procedure.
This procedure describes how to make an official complaint at i-church.
It is expected that the vast majority of complaints will be resolved by members under the complaints procedure outlined in the Code of Conduct for i-church members.
Sometimes feelings run high on discussion boards. Any user who is upset by a posted message is encouraged to in the first instance chill, drink tea, walk the dog or do whatever is needed to calm down. Do not post in anger. What is written cannot be taken back and stays in written form long after the moment has passed.
It is strongly recommended that members try to sort disagreements out by PM (private messaging) or in chat between themselves. Without body language it is easy to give offence which was not intended. The written word can be very stark. Try and sort out any disagreements like the adults you are remembering that the second commandment is to love your neighbor.
If this doesn’t reach a resolution to the problem then you should contact the forum's moderator who will discuss possible courses of action with the moderators' group and make a decision about the action, if any, to be taken. Public arguments about posts in the forums break the “Respect Rule” (see above) and will not be tolerated.
If you are unhappy with the outcome of the moderators’ group decision then you may contact the Lead Moderator who will make the final decision on the matter.
There is a grievance procedure that can be used if you are unhappy with the way that your complaint has been dealt with by the Lead Moderator.”
The following procedure should be used if:
Write a personal message to the Lay Chairman of council within 2 working days if possible as the more promptly the complaint is made, the easier it is to investigate. of the incident taking place with supporting evidence of your grievance. The Lay Chairman will follow up your grievance by:
You are very welcome to ask somebody else to help you make your complaint. This could be another member of i-church, a personal representative/spokesperson[A2] , or anybody else.
i-church Council Members have the right to suspend anybody from i-church during any investigation. However, this in no way suggests right or wrong on the part of the excluded individual, but is intended to give proper time to fully investigate the complaint.
Where a grievance is raised and, after investigation, is found to have been made maliciously, the Council may consider excluding that person from the website.
The moderator's group note all complaints for reporting purposes and if a pattern emerges that, in the opinion of the moderators and Lead Moderator, is indicative of a pattern of vexatious complaints then the Lead Moderator will investigate and this could lead to exclusion from i-church, although this would be seen as the last resort.
This policy echoes that of the Diocese of Oxford, which can found at
http://www.oxford.anglican.org/page/2974/
We believe that it is a fundamental Christian understanding to hold that all human beings are created in the image of God, that all are valued equally in God's love. We believe that God as our creator (Genesis 1.27) not only gave us life, but gave each person gifts to be used and developed. We believe that God longs for our well-being and fulfilment, and that we are all responsible to God for the way we treat each other. Unlawful and unfair discrimination between people is therefore contrary to God’s purpose.
In the light of this Christian affirmation, and in recognition of our Lord's commandment that we should love our neighbours as ourselves, we declare our conviction that it is a Gospel imperative to realise the potential of all human gifts, and that failure to do so is an affront to the will of God.
We recognise that Britain is a pluralistic society, diverse in race, culture, creed and interests. We are aware that individuals and groups of people are sometimes discriminated against, both directly and indirectly, in unjustifiable ways.
As a result we welcome the legislation which aims to put this right, including:
This is an ongoing process. We will abide by new legislation as it is introduced.
While recognising that there are currently some differences in conditions surrounding service between those who are lay or ordained, we will work to ensure that there is no discrimination on grounds of race, colour, nationality - including citizenship - or ethnic or national origins, disability, age, gender, sexual orientation, marital status, religious or political affiliation, lay or ordained status, or any other respect which cannot be shown to be a necessary requirement of the job or office concerned.
We declare our intention to be an Equal Opportunities employer. We will work to ensure that in all appointments the priority will be to find the best person suited to a particular post. This does not conflict with the requirement that for some roles it will be necessary for the person to be a practising Christian, nor with the requirement that anyone directly employed in i-church finances should be in sympathy with the Christian approach and ethos.
Therefore we declare that it is our intention to ensure that:
are available to all without discrimination on the above grounds, and to ensure that no-one is disadvantaged in any of these matters by conditions or requirements that cannot be shown to be justifiable. Any justifiable condition must be lawful and will be made explicit in any situation, and i-church will be ready to defend such action.
It is our intention to take positive action, within the law and as the law encourages, to ensure equality of opportunity and of treatment on the matters specified above, details of which will be set out in our Access Policy.
We look to all our staff and members of councils, boards, committees or groups appointed by us or on our behalf (whether paid or voluntary) to abide by and to promote this Policy.
Our specific action and progress following from this Policy are defined and monitored through our Access Policy, and by our Accessibility User Group, reporting each year through i-church's Annual Report.
i-church's invitation to “come as you are” reaches out to all, regardless of age, gender, ethnicity, sexuality, or ability.
Aim: To identify barriers to access and work towards reducing their impact on users. In pursuit of this aim, we will:
Aim: To involve a wide range of people in the planning and development of i-church. In pursuit of this aim, we will:
This Access Policy will be monitored by the i-church Council, and reviewed annually. Progress against our measurable objectives will be published in our Annual Report which is available to all.