Management of the use of force in a Church Safety Ministry begins with training. This leads to practice with situation drills and individual practice of use-of-force skills and discernment exercises. Finally, Church Safety Ministry leadership exercises control over the use of force.

Not only do we have a moral obligation as Christians to act within the limits of the law, but there are criminal and civil liabilities for not doing so. Therefore, we need to know how the law applies to the use of any level of force before we need to decide how to use it.

In church safety and security, there are times we have to prevent a person from harming himself or herself and/or others, to cause someone to stop an unsafe action, or to keep a situation from getting out of hand. We are using some kind of force when we do this. This brings up the question of what kind of force do we use and at what level.

Attacks on churches in this nation have become more violent over the past two decades as mass killings in general have increased. Obviously, places of worship are not exempt from the dangers faced by society as a whole. The question for us is, “Will we be ready if deadly force visits our church?”

Even when we establish policies and procedures in the church to protect our children from abuse, even when we diligently carry out these policies and procedures, and even though we are ever watchful and alert, abuse can still happen. So, what now?

In the Old West, stage coaches and supply wagons with valuable cargo had a guard sitting next to the driver. Serving as a guard came to be called “riding shotgun,” because this guard was often armed with a shotgun. Riding shotgun in child protection is guarding our young ones while we are in the process of ministering to them.

Jesus extended care and protection to children – all children. They are the vulnerable ones, and we should not take unfair advantage of them, nor allow others in our jurisdiction to do so. Therefore, we need to take measures for preventing, guarding against, and responding to child abuse in the church.

Child abuse is real. It does happen, even in the church or to those the church ministers to. Listen to the cries of children being abused. Find out how to help them in your church.

As the sheepdogs of our churches, we are called upon to protect the flock. While this covers many areas of general safety, it also involves, when needed, actual physical protection against several levels of violence. In many cases, unarmed defense is sufficient, but sometimes more than hands are needed to defend ourselves and others.

Emergencies, by their very nature, are unplanned events. When there is a medical emergency in the church or during a church event, we need to be already ready. A life or lives may literally depend on it. This means both training and equipment & supplies.​