Church: Unique Security Challenges

A church presents unique security challenges and concerns, as the risks to churches are more varied than private homes, businesses, or schools. For while homes, offices, and campuses require security of the occupants and property, a church survives -- and even thrives -- on good will.

Churches produce no product, provide few compensatory services, and rarely hold enough capital to operate on dividends alone. Good will -- or positive testimony or reputation -- is the primary value a church uses to maintain and sustain its ministry.

A church with an unfavorable reputation will experience a reduction in attendance, less money in donations, fewer activities, and fewer volunteers.

Over 4,000 churches close in the US annually, while barely 1,000 open, for a net loss of 3,000 fewer churches each year. See: "Statistics and Reasons for Church Decline" in Church Leadership.

While changing demographics close some churches, we can assume between a quarter to half of the closed churches reached the end after one or more events fatally damaged the reputation of the church in the community.

Therefore, the testimony of a church is an asset to be protected. This observation in a Harvard Business Review article entitled "Reputation and its Risks", while focused on business,  applies to churches:

"Effectively managing reputational risk begins with recognizing that reputation is a matter of perception. A company’s overall reputation is a function of its reputation among its various stakeholders (investors, customers, suppliers, employees, regulators, politicians, nongovernmental organizations, the communities in which the firm operates) in specific categories (product quality, corporate governance, employee relations, customer service, intellectual capital, financial performance, handling of environmental and social issues). A strong positive reputation among stakeholders across multiple categories will result in a strong positive reputation for the company overall."

Most businesses can recover from a reputation setback ("New Coke," BP, Dow Chemical, Chrysler, Toyota, Chipotle) if they provide a product or service that is unique and in demand. Given the mobility of Americans in and through various churches in a lifetime, it is the rare church which can recover from a significant reputation setback.

The Tension

Churches must be welcoming to strangers, with easy access and no off-putting security checkpoints, metal detectors, or bag searches. Any church that implements heavy-handed security protocols will damage its reputation for "friendliness." Consider the TSA, one of the more maligned bureaucracies in the US federal government.

Few people rate look forward to encountering TSA. It's an annoyance that must be endured to get to something else. Many people choose alternate means of transportation just to avoid the hassles of airport security. It almost doesn't matter how pleasant the TSA person is -- the degradation of being treated as a suspect is hassle enough.

Always a Joy...

Attending church is voluntary. If we subject attendees to scrutiny -- even passive scrutiny -- they will reconsider attending. The very suggestion visible security implies -- that "no one is trustworthy" -- is abhorrent, especially in a place dedicated to relationships.

Reality

Recent events suggest security concerns are real and must be considered, for the sake of the congregation and the testimony of the church.

Sutherland Springs Baptist Church, Sutherland, Texas

These are difficult questions with no simple solutions. Still, pretending the problems do not exist will not reduce risk.

An effective church security approach must carefully weigh the impacts to various ministries, resource constraints, and visitor and member perception before imposing security protocols.

Recommendations

Establish a Security Committee

A Security committee should be constituted as a leadership subcommittee charged with developing and implementing safety and security policies, protocols, and procedures. In addition, security committee members should be able to make on-the-spot changes to procedures should conditions warrant.

The committee should be led by a board member (or qualified representative), and have representation from pastoral staff, ushers and greeters, Christian education, and any interested volunteer with law enforcement or security training and certification. While ideally, law enforcement officers participate on the committee,  the committee should represent the diverse sensitivities, concerns, and interests of the church.

The committee should meet regularly and present meeting minutes and all policy recommendations to the board. The committee should also develop and present training to church staff, volunteers, and members.

Forbid Open Carry and Offensive Weapons On Church Property

Open carry by civilians (those not on official law enforcement or security duty) is pointless in a church. It causes needless concern, draws unnecessary attention to the firearm carrier, and may tarnish the testimony of the church. Acceptance of this practice by not clearly forbidding it could be construed as tacit approval.

The Security committee should develop a protocol on what to do if the policy is violated that determines how the incident should be reported and who should respond.

The church should also forbid certain classes of offensive weapons (Pennsylvania Title 18 defines "offensive weapons" as "Any bomb, grenade, machine gun, sawed-off shotgun with a barrel less than 18 inches, firearm specially made or specially adapted for concealment or silent discharge, any blackjack, sandbag, metal knuckles, dagger, knife, razor or cutting instrument, the blade of which is exposed in an automatic way by switch, push-button, spring mechanism, or otherwise, any stun gun, stun baton, taser or other electronic or electric weapon or other implement for the infliction of serious bodily injury which serves no common lawful purpose.") The church can choose to permit defensive weapons such as concealed firearms by lawful permit holders, and OC sprays.

Therefore, a church should publish a policy that specifies that open carry is not permitted on church property, with exceptions for federal, state, and local law enforcement officers on duty and armed guards hired by the church

Require Certification for Security Volunteers

Unless the church requires a minimum standard prior to volunteering for church security, the church should not provide any training that recognizes concealed carry in the church. Otherwise, such training will be construed as sanctioning anyone who attends, in which case the church may be liable for any imprudent act (negligent discharge, misuse of force, brandishing) involving a firearm (or any lethal weapon, including tasers, billy clubs, knives, and pepper spray). This is a very dangerous situation, both for the church and for the volunteer.

The church should establish guidelines, conduct training events, and otherwise work with security volunteers to ensure consistency of mission and methods.

The church should establish minimum qualifications to ensure the person is competent in the legal, ethical, and practical factors affecting the use of deterrence, de-escalation, less-than-lethal, and deadly force. This will reduce the church’s liability exposure, help ensure only qualified people respond to threats, help maintain coordination and communication during a high-pressure event, and help avoid (but not guarantee) potential catastrophic results to life and testimony.

Those who volunteer will be best served by acquiring certification recognized as the standard for armed security guards in the locality. This establishes a minimum threshold, aligns with private security, and helps raise the level of care established by the church.

Most certified armed security officer programs require a psychological exam, a physical exam, and a criminal background check. The church should have its own vetting process that ensures security volunteers maintain a commitment to the mission of the church, which may reduce the effectiveness of the security posture.

Requiring certification achieves several key objectives:

• Maintains a minimum standard of training 
• Demonstrates the church’s commitment to adhering to a recognized standard 
• Acts as a barrier to entry for volunteers who are enthusiastic, but not committed or capable
• Provides a legally recognized certification that helps shield against liability suits 

Provide training for all volunteers on safety and security awareness

Training should be provided to help church leaders, staff, and volunteers recognize and address security risks in a way that maintains Christian testimony, accords with all jurisdictional laws, is ethically sound, minimizes overt security measures, and can be implemented within a resource-constrained environment.