Protecting the Faithful: Church Safety

Description

A church safety team serves a vital role in protecting parishioners and staff during services and promoting overall church safety. While the church safety team’s job description says as much, when most people think of a church safety team, they probably imagine an armed response to an active killer. While this is certainly something that could occur, the church safety team’s mission is more nuanced than that.

In addition to standing as the final bastion against an ultimate act of evil, church safety teams also support the church’s primary function: offering a safe and welcoming worship environment. With few exceptions, most church safety teams are made up of church members taking an active interest in the safety of the church, concerned for the overall health and safety of their friends and family. They are often not professional security personnel with vast amounts of security experience.

While the threat of an active killer incident at a place of worship should be planned for, there are other threats a church safety team should consider. When planning for these unfortunate events, it’s important to remember that the actions and judgment of the church safety team members in a defensive incident are not always cut-and-dry.

Not every situation is as clear, though, and it’s important to remember that good people can still face legal challenges after such an incident. Being proactive and having a plan before an event occurs is one of the most important aspects of personal protection. That importance only increases when someone is acting to protect others, as a church safety team does.

Join us to learn how to form, organize, and train a church safety team
Identifying and responding to suspicious or dangerous behavior
De-escalation techniques that help avoid force
Legal considerations of carrying firearms in places of worship
Understanding use of force laws and responsibilities in a church setting

Topics Covered

Join us to learn how to form, organize, and train a church safety team
Identifying and responding to suspicious or dangerous behavior
De-escalation techniques that help avoid force
Legal considerations of carrying firearms in places of worship
Understanding use of force laws and responsibilities in a church setting

Types

Intermediate, Church / Business - Safety / Security, Seminars / Lectures