Alarms, fire extinguishers, sprinklers, exit signs…No matter how well we try to prevent a fire, we must be ready … just in case. Ready, not only in our homes, but in the schools, at our places of business, and in our churches.

A few common causes of church fires are arson, faulty wiring, faulty furnaces and stoves, overheated organ motors, careless use of candles and holiday decorations, lightning, and carelessness with smoking materials. Does your team carry out regular fire risk assessments in your church? Check out this week’s topic to learn how.

Some church safety ministries are named “Eyes and Ears.” How appropriate! Take our eyes and ears through the church building, into closets and empty classrooms, into restrooms that should be unoccupied, and into every potential hiding place we come across. Keep our eyes open for things that don’t belong and Keep our ears open for unusual sounds.

Lack of communication, poor transmission, incorrect information, misunderstanding, and other failures to communicate effectively can lead to lack of response, improper response, needless response, and other errors. The consequences range from harmlessly comical to tragic. For a church safety ministry, an improper or inadequate response to an emergency may possibly lead to greater property damage, personal injury and/or death, lawsuits, and insurance claims.

For things to be done decently and in order in our churches, we need bylaws (or charters), policies, and procedures. Some of these should concern issues of safety and security. Members of the church safety and security team need to know these policies and procedures and follow them.

When we join or begin work in an organization, including a church safety ministry, there is some kind of orientation: Who we are, what we believe, our mission, our values, what we do. When persons join the church safety team, they may have a background in security, military or law enforcement. However, they should also know how safety and security is a ministry and how it interacts with their faith and doctrine.

Now that the church is organizing a safety ministry, who will serve? How will we fill the positions created? Three ways of recruiting volunteers are Announce the need, Invite people to serve, and Search for qualified persons.

There are times when “unprepared” is a very tragic word. Preparation for emergencies takes preparation. This means assembling concerned persons, assessing the risks, planning how to meet the risks, and putting these plans into action. Since this is a group effort, the group needs direction and guidance. This means organization, whether formal or informal.

Your Safety Ministry Proposal Team has identified and analyzed the safety and security risks and readiness of the congregation with a Church Security Assessment. What’s next? We use the information and analysis to compose the proposal we present to the church leadership.

Does your church have a safety or security ministry? If not, it has a lot of company. A few years ago, over 75% of churches did not have plans to meet emergencies or provide security. During the past couple of years that has been slowly changing. Yet most churches are still without plans to protect the congregation from crime, severe weather, and other risks.