Do you feel safe where you worship?
Two years ago, I helped put together a health
and safety team for our church in suburban Chicago. We had several minor
incidents, mostly involving panhandlers, prior to the team’s creation. We have
been blessedly trouble free since the team has been in service.
If your place of worship has experienced car
break-ins, panhandlers bothering your leaders, or even threats to members of the
congregation, statistics complied by the National Organization for Church
Safety and Security Management (NOCSSM) indicate you’re not alone. Sadly,
violence is no stranger to places of worship.
If you’re considering ways to keep your
congregation safe, here is some of the takeaway from our experiences over the
past two years:
Have a
plan.
As with most human endeavors involving more than two people, it’s wise to
create guidelines. In our case, church elders wanted paperwork in hand before
they would allow us to proceed. A policy statement also helped the church’s
insurance carrier when we requested an additional liability rider. One rule we wrote
immediately was that team members who are not law-enforcement officers would
not carry weapons. Another that took a little longer to realize was inclusion
of our health professionals and a name change from safety to health and safety.
Choose
members wisely.
We look for regular attendees who have law-enforcement, safety or medical backgrounds
and those who may serve in a similar, or volunteer, capacity at their place of
employment (divisional safety monitors, building fire marshals). Students are
often eager to step forward. The goal is to attract prayerful, serious, but
friendly individuals who easily interact with the rest of the congregation. What
we don’t want is “church cops.” Good observational and people skills are
excellent qualifiers. So is medical training.
Decide appropriate
staffing based on your neighborhood risk assessment, the size of your facility
and the number of attendees. We’re fortunate that a number of our ushers are
also safety team members and that allows flexibility in scheduling. Our goal is
to be unobtrusive but always available.
What
equipment is required? While we don’t arm our personnel (some larger places of
worship do and the conversation is worth having), we ask that everyone carry a
cell phone and a durable flashlight. We also assign each member a two-way
radio. The radios, along with their “secret service style” ear buds and
microphones may seem unnecessary in a small facility but we decided to use them
because they free us from fumbling with phones when moments count. Radios allow
us to stay in immediate touch with one another. We can also alert the office
and Sunday School classrooms with the push of a button in the event of an
emergency. The ear buds make it easy for members to participate in the service,
if they wish, and still hear and communicate with the team. The radios serve a
more subtle function, too. Along with our ID badges, they identify us both to
the congregation and to any outsiders with a non-spiritual agenda.
Establish
a routine and stick with it, no matter how unnecessary it may seem. Assume anything could
happen. It probably won’t but, if it does, you’ll have a plan in place to deal
with it. We check all doors and all rooms, especially rest rooms, constantly. We
monitor exterior doors nearest the children’s church. Team members stroll the
parking lot to assist arriving and departing worshippers, especially the
seniors, and to make sure we intercept strangers with ill intent. Members are
on duty in the foyer as long as the church’s doors are open. We have procedures
in place for fire, weather and intruder emergencies and to protect our pastors.
Cooperate with
public safety officials. We met with local police shortly after we formed the team.
We shared the names and phone numbers of pastors, elders and safety leaders as
well as facilities information critical for first responders. We also provided blueprints
of the building. We work with the fire department on maintaining our alarm
systems and conducting emergency evacuation drills.
Meet
regularly and train together as a team. Our members are CPR and AED certified and have
attended workshops on a variety of topics relevant to our mission with
instructors that include police officers and former federal agents. Our health volunteers
include a doctor, nurses, eldercare specialists, a physical therapist and a
combat medic. A health professional is seated in an easy to reach pew in the
sanctuary each Sunday. A well-stocked first aid kit is available in the office
with smaller kits in each classroom.
Flexibility is crucial to any health and safety
operation. To cover all the bases, think like an outsider, imagine everything
that could go wrong on any given Sunday and how you’ll respond if it does, keep
smiling and stay in touch with the Lord!
