For centuries, churches have always been considered a safe haven, a place where you can check your worries at the door, a respite from all the world’s troubles. However, given the turn of events over the years with random shootings and the like. Is it time for churches to come out from behind their “cloak if invisibility” and respond to the changes within our world for the safety and security of their parishioners?

The following is a statement from a professional in the church safety and security arena:

“I don’t think we have the luxury any longer to rely on faith,” said Bob Cirtin, owner of Safe at Church, a church security consulting firm, and director of the criminal justice program at Evangel University in Springfield, Mo.  “I am a born-again Christian,” he said, “So I understand faith in God and I understand that God can take care of us. But I also understand that God doesn’t always take care of us and God gives us common sense so that we can take care of ourselves.”

While we may not all agree with Mr. Cirtin’s statement, it has been abundantly clear that there has been a silent movement among churches to ensure the safety of their parishioners and also even the pastors depending upon their ability to get people riled up on hot topic issues.

Vaughn Baker, co-founder of Strategos Inc., a Missouri-based church security firm, said that the need for companies like his has increased in recent years.  “Unfortunately, it is a growing industry,” Baker said. “It used to be unthinkable that someone would attack a church. One of the things we have to overcome [with church leaders] is the Big D - denial - not believing it can happen here.”

Our research at SmartSecurityPeople.com has found that most churches believe that they do need some sort of security and safety policy and more than likely will be working on it at some point in the future. However, what we found to be the biggest obstacle for the church leaders is how to protect and safeguard their church from the unknown while also trying to provide a warm and welcoming atmosphere for parishioners, their families, and guest. It certainly provides for a “catch 22″ scenario and will promote great discussion amongst the congregation and the church leaders.

If you are at a smaller church and are looking for the proper steps to safeguarding your congregation, we encourage you to consider the following:

The Church Security Alliance is an organization that dedicates itself to providing assistance to churches looking to implement a church-wide safety and security policy. There services are not free but they make it pretty simple to purchase their boilerplate policies and manuals. In addition, they provide an online forum for members to discuss safety and security matters pertaining to their church. While services like these are widely available to churches, we encourage churches to also check with their local/regional/state synods and governing boards and networks to try and locate similar programs for free or greatly discounted. Generally, smaller churches are quick to share resources amongst each other if it is for the benefit of the common good.

Larger congregations can certainly utilize the same approach as the smaller churches but since your needs will be different and your resources are expectantly more abundant, you will probably want to enlist the help of a professional security consultant firm that specializes their efforts on church campuses. They will more than likely be able to do a site visit, provide training for your congregation, and follow-up to make sure that everything is going as intended. In addition, these professionals should be current and up-to-date with the most recent challenges large congregations are facing in regard to security and safety. Their experience and knowledge should make implementation of your safety and security program a breeze. However, anyone that is used to doing the work of the church knows that nothing ever comes easy. So be prepared for some challenges along the way.

So, I guess the question is still at hand.. Should Churches Have Security Policies?

SmartSecurityPeople.com thinks the answer is probably going to have to be yes. But, we think it is up to each individual church and congregation to decide what level of security and safety measures they want to implement at their church. Some churches may just post some extra greeters at the door before, during, and after service and consider that to be appropriate while others may adopt a more extensive program and employ armed security to be present at any church function. Even though these approaches are drastically different, they are both currently being used by churches…

What do you think? Should churches have a security policy? To what extent should a church go to safeguard it’s congregation?