Some training is required for most church safety and security teams – it should be for all. The real questions are, “What training is needed?” and “Where can we find it?”

How much of the church building can you see from just one position? How many safety team members would it take to see the entire place? For thousands of years, those responsible for security and safety have been patrolling – moving around, alert for signs of danger, and purposefully inspecting defenses and seeking evidence. Even with modern means of surveillance, patrolling is just as important today as it was then.

Communication has always been an ingredient in all kinds of organizations – commercial, governmental, military, social, religious – and in relationships. For a Church Safety Ministry, communication can be in person, by written notes and memos, over two-way radio, and in reports. How does your team communicate?

As a Church Safety Ministry, we need policies and procedures to conduct our ministry “decently and in order,” and we should follow these. In some cases, not following them can lead to public embarrassment, legal issues, or injuries – perhaps even someone’s death.

In a Church Safety Ministry, new members need orientation to the ministry. This includes recruitment, the application process, and learning the qualifications and responsibilities of being a Safety Team member.

It is easy to envision a simplistic view of setting up a safety ministry in a church: A few concerned church members agree that we should work together to protect its congregants, so they put together a team. In actuality, becoming an effective group with staying power requires some forethought and preparation.

If anyone wants something done about safety or security in your church, it is because they have at least one safety concern. A few of the more common concerns are fire safety, child safety, medical emergencies, vandalism and burglary, disruptive behaviors, and armed attacks. The ad hoc approach (which generates more support) is to address a top safety or security concern before proposing an organized ministry.

A church safety ministry does not just happen. Someone has to have some kind of idea what it will be and how it will work. It requires coordination and agreement on how things are done, even if it is just two persons. Even just one person should know what to do in a situation. This means planning.

Most of us tend to think of a church as a sanctuary, not only as a religious center but as a safe place. In recent years, however, the “safe place” does not seem so safe anymore. Churches may now be, on the average, more fireproof and better able to withstand storms, but criminal activity has become more of a threat during the past few decades.

He trains my hands for war, so that my arms can bend a bow of bronze (2 Samuel 22:35 and Psalm 18:34). As David was trained for war, we should be trained for defense.