Born Again AcademyStart a Safe Beginnings Ministry
Train to Serve Mothers, Babies, and Communities in Low-Resource Settings
Safe Beginnings prepares Seventh-day Adventist mission-minded helpers to strengthen maternal-newborn wellness and safety in low-resource settings, like rural districts. This training equips students to lead community-wide childbirth education, involve fathers and family decision-makers, conduct personalized prenatal and postpartum visits, support healthy pregnancy and breastfeeding, teach birth preparation and coping skills, screen for mother-baby warning signs, discover barriers to care, connect families with local resources, and help coordinate timely transportation when medical care is needed.
Safe Beginnings Pioneers do not diagnose, treat, manage labor, supervise home births, deliver babies, or replace skilled birth attendants. They serve by educating, observing, documenting concerns, encouraging timely care-seeking, and surrounding mothers and babies with practical Christian support.
Men and Women Serving Together for Mothers and Babies
This training is designed for both men and women. In many communities, women take the lead in prenatal and postpartum visitation, offering personalized education, warning-sign screening, breastfeeding support, and follow-up care. Men also play a vital role by helping teach community awareness classes, supporting fathers and family decision-makers, coordinating transportation, and helping mobilize the community to protect mothers and babies.
The Need for Safe Beginnings
Many mothers and newborns still die from preventable or treatable causes. WHO estimates that about 260,000 women died during or following pregnancy and childbirth in 2023, with just over 90% of maternal deaths occurring in low- and lower-middle-income countries. UNICEF reports that 2.3 million babies died during the first 28 days of life in 2024 — about 6,200 newborn deaths each day. Safe Beginnings was created to address these gaps through community education, transportation coordination, and personalized visitation.
How the Safe Beginnings Ministry Model Works
Community-wide Education
Pioneers lead maternal-newborn awareness classes for mothers, fathers, families, churches, and community helpers, covering healthy pregnancy, birth preparation, breastfeeding, postpartum recovery, newborn care, warning signs, and timely care-seeking.
Emergency Transport Coordination
The ministry helps the community organize transportation support by identifying barriers, naming available helpers, creating practical transport plans, and coordinating emergency transportation.
Personalized Support through Home Visitation
Trained women provide personalized prenatal and postpartum visits to apply the education to each family's needs, screen for warning signs and barriers, support breastfeeding and recovery, connect families with local resources, and help activate the care-seeking plan when needed.
About the Safe Beginnings Maternal-Newborn Ministry Course
This 24-hour course is offered online through Moodle and includes recorded lectures, downloadable handouts, short quizzes, and practical field projects, concluding with one 2-hour live ministry planning session.
Course Topics
- Healthy Pregnancy, Happy Baby
- Birth Step-by-Step
- Pain Coping Skills that Work
- Medical Interventions
- Caring for Mom
- Welcome Baby
- Great Start Breastfeeding
- Maternal-Newborn Warning Signs
- Postpartum Natural Family Planning
- Community Resource Navigation and Cultural Contextualization
- Safe Beginnings Ministry Model
- LIVE Ministry Planning Meeting
Earn Your Certificate as a Safe Beginnings Maternal-Newborn Associate
Students who complete the recorded lessons, quizzes, field projects, Safe Beginnings Ministry Plan, and live ministry planning session receive a certificate of completion as a Safe Beginnings Pioneer. This certificate does not authorize graduates to diagnose, treat, manage labor, supervise home births, deliver babies, or replace skilled birth attendants.
Equity-Based International Tuition
- Standard Tuition, U.S. and High-Income Countries: $350
- Reduced International Tuition, Low- and Lower-Middle-Income Countries: $75
Ready to Begin?
Join the interest list to receive updates about the next cohort (November 2026 or January 2027), course availability, and enrollment details.