An effective policy and procedure manual is an essential
management tool. As a piece of required
reading for all security team members, it states the safety and security team goals
and policies, and communicates appropriate standards of action and behavior for
all team members. These procedures help
promote the physical safety and security of persons using the church facility and/or
persons involved in church activities. The
intent is to provide instructions for how to deal with various situations.
People visit churches for comfort, safety, and a sense of
belonging. That's why it is important
that your security plan combine effectiveness in preventing and containing
threats, without changing the experience for your members. Aside from the most violent acts of an active
shooter, churches can also store valuable items of cultural and religious
heritage that could be attractive to thieves and burglars, which is an
additional reason to have good security policies in place.
Today there are few churches that are open 24/7. But when the doors are open they welcome a
large number of people at the same time and this can trigger crowd-related
security issues. Therefore, churches
must plan, create and implement strict security policies and procedures to
secure churches as places of worship and community. Essentially, your policy and procedures
manual is really about good communication. Your manual communicates your standards. Your team
members need to know what you expect of them, and your team leaders need a
manual to reference for managing day-to-day routines. With a policy and procedures manual in
place, your team members will have somewhere to go when the unexpected happens
or, in other words, when they wonder, "What do I do now?" or,
"How do I handle this?"
New church members must be introduced to security
procedures as they join so they don't endanger the security of other members. Mega-Churches with thousands of visitors
employ a large security staff and install complex CCTV surveillance systems to
monitor the ministry. And many even have
off duty police officers who attend services there. Not all people respect sacred places and some
don’t shy away from abusing the freedom and the open welcome, and church
administrations must pay due diligence to set security policies and procedures.
Here is a list
of some of the most important aspects of
church security that will affect policies and procedures:
1) Develop a church
security plan.
Security plans should
be a part of the security policy and should help people behave safely when a
security issue arises. Though, a plan is just the backbone of church security
2) Install video
surveillance.
CCTV systems are a
convenient monitoring option because they enable staff to oversee all areas
from one room and respond instantly by giving a command via the central
dashboard (if applicable).
3) Create a
security policy in the event of a fire or other incident.
Fires, earthquakes,
storms, fights, attacks, and shootings must
be given special attention. Failure to
do so may result in greater damage and harm to people and property.
4) Design a plan to
cooperate with local law enforcement.
Ask them to join large scale gatherings and enforce an Incident Response
Plan (IRP) so that they can help you tackle serious incidents.
5) Train church
leaders about security aspects.
In a special
educational section of your security policy, explain the role of church
leaders and hold them accountable.
6) Separate public
and private Wi-fi use.
This will help the
church administration have control over who can share sensitive information
over the public network and restrict the church security system to private Wi-fi networks.
7) Assign
patrolling staff.
It’s vital to include
church staff in the security procedures because they have authority and
influence due to the role they play in the community and can motivate people to
cooperate in sensitive security situations.
8) Protect funds
and other material resources.
Church funding and
member donations should be kept protected in a safe area, in which only
authorized personnel can get access.
9) Audit the church
access control system.
Conduct audits to
physical locations with higher rates of usage, occasionally review the security policies, and make sure that you
establish periodical maintenance check rules to the installed access control
solution.
More religious
institutions are facing the reality of security in today’s churches. A vulnerable place is an open invitation for
an attack. Subsequently, churches
stop relying on people’s goodwill and start implementing up-to-date access control solutions, considering security
from a corporate perspective. Cloud access control is an advantageous solution
for church security as it can tackle a number of security challenges churches
face at once. By using the church’s private Wi-fi network, security staff can manage all access
control aspects from one location. The
church doesn’t need to hire a large number of security staff members.
Even if it’s a small
church, one person can control all locks and alarms from a desktop computer or
a smartphone. Cloud-based solutions
consist of electronic components that use sensors to detect dangers and
electromagnetic doors and locks to create barriers. There is no need for construction work or
messing with centuries of cultural heritage to make the church safe.
The installation is
neat and elegant, just as it suits a sacred peaceful place. The person in charge can create role-based authorizations
for staff and assign each member a role that corresponds to a specific location
and task. All data is collected and used
for analytical purposes to find vulnerable points and improve church security.
Be safe!
Russ Sharrock
Russ Sharrock
I have developed and made available to anyone interested, for FREE,
a series of Security & safety forms that can be printed for your use:
1) A Safety & Security Risk Assessment Form
2) Church Security Plan Template
3) Church Emergency Plan Template
4) A General Fire Safety Checklist
5) A Bomb Threat Checklist
6) A Bomb Threat Distance Chart: Includes various types of
explosive devises and to be referred to in an event of a bomb threat
evacuation. These are minimum distances to evacuate away from the area of
explosion.
These MS Word documents can be adapted as necessary to fit your
church size and needs. I will be adding new forms as time allows.
For a copy of any of these FREE forms, or if you have any
questions, you can contact me at:
Integrity
Security Consulting
Russ
Sharrock
405-762-2471 | integrityseccon@hotmail.com
Or you can message me on my personal FB page.
The only security and safety we have is in Christ Jesus. Whenever I see articles like this, I wonder if the early church had any such procedures in place? Yet, they boldly proclaimed Christ and were willing to serve Him with their lives.
ReplyDeleteThank you so much for your response and thoughts on this subject. Without any definitive proof it would be difficult to know if the early church use church safety teams or not. The Bible does not use the terms church security and safety teams. Yet, I strongly believe the Bible does speak to loving your neighbor (See Matthew 22:39, loving your wife as Christ loves the church (Ephesians 5:25), and caring for your family (1 Timothy 5:8). All of which I believe covers protection against a wide range of problems such as starvation, lack of proper clothing, physical attack, thirst, emotional abuse, lack of love, and most importantly, failure to raise up and educate your family about the love, grace, and the finished work of atonement on the cross by Jesus Christ, among other things.
DeleteThe proper use of self-defense has to do with wisdom, understanding, and tact. In Luke 22:36, Jesus tells His remaining disciples, “If you don’t have a sword, sell your cloak and buy one.” Jesus knew that now was the time when His followers would be threatened, and He upheld their right to self-defense.
Just a short time later, Jesus is arrested, and Peter takes a sword and cuts off someone’s ear. Jesus rebukes Peter for that act (verses 49–51). Why? In his zeal to defend the Lord, Peter was standing in the way of God’s will. Jesus had told His disciples multiple times that He must be arrested, put on trial, and die (See Matthew 17:22–23). In other words, Peter acted unwisely in that situation. We must have wisdom regarding when to fight and when not to.
Exodus 22 gives some clues about God’s attitude toward self-defense, “If a thief is caught breaking in at night and is struck a fatal blow, the defender is not guilty of bloodshed; but if it happens after sunrise, the defender is guilty of bloodshed.” (Exodus 22:2–3)
Two basic principles taught in this text are the right to own private property and the right to defend that property. The full exercise of the right to self-defense, however, depended on the situation. No one should be too quick to use deadly force against another, even someone who means to do him harm. If someone was set upon by a thief in the middle of the night and, in the confusion of the moment the would-be thief was killed, the Law did not charge the homeowner with murder. But, if the thief was caught in the house during the day, when the homeowner was unlikely to be awoken from sleep, then the Law forbade the killing of the thief.
Essentially, the Law said that homeowners shouldn’t be quick to kill or attack thieves in their home. Both situations could be considered self-defense, but deadly force was expected to be a last resort, used only in the event of a panicked “surprise attack” scenario where the homeowner is likely to be confused and disoriented.
Jesus’ command to “turn the other cheek” (See Matthew 5:39) has to do with our response to personal slights and offenses. Some situations may call for self-defense, but not retaliation (And never revenge) in kind. The context of Jesus’ command is His teaching against the idea of “eye for eye, and tooth for tooth.” (Verse 38) Our self-defense is not a vengeful reaction to an offense. In fact, many offenses can simply be absorbed in forbearance and love.
The Bible never forbids self-defense, and believers are allowed to defend themselves and their families. But the fact that we are permitted to defend ourselves does not necessarily mean we must do so in every situation. Knowing God’s heart through reading His Word and relying on “the wisdom that comes from heaven” (See James 3:17) will help us know how to best respond in situations that might call for self-defense. I have written quite extensively on this topic in the past. If you would like to read further on this here is a link from another article I wrote several years ago. https://russministry.blogspot.com/2015/12/self-defense-and-bible.html Thanks again and God bless you!