Group News

With proper security measures in place, a church or religious organization can deter or prevent a potential incident from happening, said security experts.

Earlier public occurrences, such as Paducah, Kentucky’s Heath High School shooting in 1997, or the Columbine High School shooting in 1999 forced security precautions to be instituted in places like schools, malls, theaters and other public arenas.

Now, incidents such as the First Baptist Church of Maryville, Ill., and Colorado Springs New Life Church shooting in 2008 and similar tragedies have caused officials to step up security measures in churches and other religious institutions.

In today’s culture, church leaders need to be armed against the potential dangers of a stranger or intruder. They also need be aware and protect themselves against possible threats and accusations, as well as insure the church is a safe place for everyone, according to Rick Anderson, co-founder/owner, Church Security Solutions, LLC.

Anderson said there are several things churches can do to lessen the likelihood of an attack. He suggests following several steps, including assessing your church’s areas of security vulnerability, developing a volunteer safety and security team, and providing your key staff and volunteers of the knowledge of what to look for in a threat.

Anderson, a former mega-church pastor of administration of 18 years and his partner, Raul Ramirez founded the Salem, Oregon-based Church Security Solutions, LLC. in 2007. The company helps churches across the country become proactive with their security by offering services through their private consulting firm that is dedicated to protecting the church. One of their clients is Sherwood Baptist Church in Albany, Ga., whose media arm has produced the Christian blockbusters "Facing the Giants" and "Fireproof."

"As a pastor, and as someone who has been through seminary, I know you don’t get classes on 'Security 101,'" Anderson said. "We felt a burden to come alongside of pastors and to assist them, unfortunately, against what we think is probably going to increase as time goes on, and that is these acts of violence against the church. As society becomes more secular, and moves away from a Christian worldview, it is going to increasingly become uncomfortable with this icon of righteousness, and that would be the church. And, it will lash out at this benchmark of morality and strike at it."

He said churches need to take a proactive approach, and that they have a responsibility to insure congregants are safe.

As a result of his own experiences, Ron Aguiar, mega-church director of security at the 18,000-member Southeast Christian Church in Louisville, Ky., has recently released a book on church safety called "Keeping Your Church Safe." The book serves as a blueprint for implementing security protocols and processes in churches of all sizes across the nation.

"In a world when a gunman can enter a church and go on a shooting rampage or a person can walk in and steal a child from the church nursery without any obstacles, we need to be sure that protecting our houses of worship is one of our top priorities," said Ron Aguiar. "Keeping Your Church Safe" suggests ways to protect every corner of a church building, its members, its employees and its volunteers. Topics covered in the book include risk management, how to implement a medical program, how to protect the children of the church, protecting the church’s money, and dealing with protests and terrorism.

Aguiar has over 20 years of experience with a combined background in personal security, public law enforcement and church security. He offers readers advice as well as real-life experiences and lessons learned throughout the course of his career.

"During the last ten years, I’ve had many requests from churches that call and ask for help in specific areas related to safety and security, or risk management in general," Aguiar said. "I finally said, 'I need to put this into a book, it would be easier, and if someone requests information, I can tell them to pick it up and it covers A to Z.'"

Dennis Richards, lead director of connections; Joe Mauldin, director of facilities; and Robyn Holmes, director of operations  for kid’s kinistry, of Bent Tree Bible Fellowship in Carrollton, TX, agreed that safety in the church is vital. They work together on a regular basis to make sure their 5,000 member church is safe, and said safety is an issue that all churches, large or small, need to consider.

"Church safety is very important. Our goal is to have our people trained and have a set of guidelines in place that we can go into action mode if anything happened," they said. "Churches need guidelines which keeps the environment as safe as possible."

In regard to that security, Bent Tree Bible Fellowship has a team in place that spans the Operations and Facilities team, Connections Team (guest services and communications) and Missions, with an alliance from their Public Relations Agency.

One of the particular security measures taken at Bent Tree Bible Fellowship is the presence of police officers.

"We have eight police on site every Sunday. Their main role is traffic control as we are flanked by two other large churches, so Sunday morning traffic is an issue. When those officers are not directing traffic they are posted around our campus. We keep them low profile, but their presence is definitely there," the staff said. "Two years ago we did a topical series on issues that had political ties. We brought in for the first time a plain-clothes officer into our services. From that learning we decided to continue that practice. One of the awesome results of that is after a recent service the officer approached our Senior Pastor and said ‘I need to get right with Jesus right now.’ He prayed and now is a brother is Christ. No amount of planning or guidelines can account for that fruit."

Security experts offer many tips to keep your church safe. Here are just a few:

Take a pro-active approach to safety and security. Refrain from the notion "This will not happen to us." Work with local authorities—Police/law enforcement and fire departments, insurance companies, FBI etc. on safety and security assessment and training. Have a third party evaluation/security audit done of your building/facilities—Either from police, fire department or a consultant. Run criminal/background checks on all volunteers. (It’s also best if they are church members for at least six months.) Identify church members or leaders who are doctors, nurses, EMT’s, and those who know CPR in case of medical emergencies. Have first aid supplies on hand, and know when to call 911.

"Pastors need to take this seriously," Anderson said. "They are going to be identified as a target, because they are that personification of this gold standard of morality."

By now you’ve likely heard the headlines about the extensive research by the American Religious Identification Survey (ARIS) describing the significant decline of religion and the rise in secularism in America.

A summary of the study by USA Today (Cathy Grossman) states, “The percentage of people who call themselves in some way Christian has dropped more than 11% in a generation. The faithful have scattered out of their traditional bases: The Bible Belt is less Baptist. The Rust Belt is less Catholic. And everywhere, more people are exploring spiritual frontiers – or falling off the faith map completely.”

Experts agree that the cultural influence of Christianity is sliding as more people are describing themselves as non-religious (now at 15%).  The Washington Post commented, “The only group that grew in every U.S. state since the 2001 survey was people saying they had ‘no’ religion.” 

Mark Silk, researcher and expert on public values, helped supervise the survey.  In the Washington Post he noted, “The survey substantiated several general trends already identified by sociologists: the slipping importance of denominations in America, the growing number of people who say they have ‘no’ religion and the increase in religious minorities including Muslims, Mormons and such movements as Wicca and paganism."

Another Washington Post writer (Michele Boorstein) noted, “The percentage of Americans who call themselves Christians has dropped dramatically over the past two decades, and those who do are increasingly identifying themselves without traditional denomination labels."

Of course, you can read the articles and watch the news stories on your own.

The Concurrent Disappearance of Truth

At this same time The Barna Research Group released another study of the “Biblical Worldview” of Americans, finding that only 9% of all American adults have a biblical worldview (to see Barna’s definition of this and the details of his study, go to www.Barna.org – “Survey Examines Changes in Worldview Among Christians over the Past 13 Years”).  Among “born again Christians”, fewer than one out of every five (19%) had such an outlook on life.  Among the “Mosaic Generation” (ages 18 to 23) "less than one-half of one percent has a biblical worldview, compared to about one out of every nine older adults."

 

An obvious question is: “What do we do about this?” Let me weigh in with a few thoughts.

A Few Misguided Responses

There may be a few instinctive reactions that we all feel. I would not recommend the following:

Panic – While this negative news may be cause for concern, we are assured that God is still on the throne, truth ultimately triumphs over error, and light still dispels darkness.  We know from history that these trends could be dramatically reversed by another spiritual awakening in our nation.

Anger – Pointing a hostile finger at atheistic writers, the government, other religions, or the anti-religious sentiment in the media as the cause of this decline is irresponsible.  (Whenever we point a finger we have three pointing back at us – and our thumb pointing heavenward, reminding us of our personal accountability to God!)  If anything, we must be angry at our own failure to demonstrate the glory of the gospel in ways that positively transform the culture.

Resolve – Another dose of fleshly cleverness, additional new and novel methods and mere human resolve is not in order.  We have more education, money, technology, methodology, and refined technique today than at any other time in the history of the church, yet the impact of our best efforts are yielding disappointing results.  We are reminded of God’s clear word that it is “not by might nor by power, but by My Spirit,” (Zech. 4:6).

Some Recommended Responses

Become Deeply Broken – I believe this is a time for us to return to brokenness over the spiritual condition of our nation, our inadequate impact on the culture, and our need to return to holiness, truth, and spiritual renewal.  God still resists the proud, but gives grace to the humble (James 4:6). 

Become Increasingly Desperate – A well-known Ugandan pastor, who survived the tragedy of Idi Amin’s rule and then watched the spiritual resurgence of his nation, often issues this call to American Christians: “Desperation or devastation.”  Truly this is a good time to recommit to desperate praying for the spiritual revival of the church in America.  We must get to a place where churches are renowned as houses of prayer more than centers for programming and Christian entertainment.  This is a prime time for pastors to re-establish biblical priorities according to Acts 6:4 (“prayer and the ministry of the word’) and to lead their people into consistent, powerful experiences of balanced, biblical prayer.

Become Biblically Educated – While we know that “knowledge puffs up” (2 Corinthians 8:1) and that powerless theological education can be counterproductive – we still must be resolute as approved workers who are “rightly dividing the word of truth” (2 Timothy 2:15).  We must demonstrate the power and value of a biblical worldview. Then, as we “sanctify the Lord God” in our hearts we will “always be ready to give a defense to everyone who asks” for the reason for the hope that we demonstrate in this life.  We must offer these answers with “meekness and fear” (1 Peter 3:15).

Become Meaningfully Engaged – Prayer is not a substitute for meaningful ministry; rather, it is the source of spiritually-empowered ministry.  This is not a time to hide out, but a time to pray up and go out.  We need to engage with lost friends, the non-religious, and those who are ignorant of the real meaning of the cross.  They are not the enemy but are victims of The Enemy.  As Acts 4:13 demonstrates, we may not impress them with our own acumen or status, but we must impress them “that we have been with Jesus.”  Acts 4:20 gives us this example: “We cannot help but speak of what we have seen and heard.”  This boldness, experienced and empowered by our time in His truth and presence, is a positive force for transforming a culture in spiritual decline.

Become Spiritually Empowered – As we all “with unveiled faces” experience “as in a mirror the glory of the Lord” – we will be “transformed from glory to glory, even as by the Spirit of the Lord” (2 Corinthians 3:18).  As a result, we will understand a new definition of ministry.  This ministry is described in 2 Corinthians 4:1-6 with powerful verbiage that tells us that we do not lose heart, we expose the darkness with light, we are servants with a bold gospel message, and we are shining with the glory of Jesus Christ.  That kind of living has the power to turn things around in our nation.

Bad News – Good News

Yes, the headlines are touting some bad news for people of faith.  But our hearts can interpret this as an opportunity for a fresh dose of good news.  We must become the recipients of this good work, then serve as catalysts of this good message, accomplishing great things in a culture that is still spiritually hungry and looking for real answers.

Copyright © 2009 Daniel Henderson. All rights reserved.

Hello ladies..Join the sister site!!! it is:

www.mothers4thelord.ning.com

All you have to do is click on the link and enter some info..in minuites you will have your own "space"..It can be fully customized to whatever you would like it to look like. There are 20+ sub-groups inside,ranging from testimonies..to Loss of a Child to Bible Study. Theres groups for everyone.

This site is the sister site to this one,started by the founders,Clemons2008 and myself,with a few members from here and some we have met along the way.It has been active for some months now and we look forward to seeing and greeting and Praising with every one of you!

Have a blessed day and please..Join us as we fight the devil and praise the Father..our Lord!