I am not one for New Year resolutions, but I do believe the start of the year is a good time to start with a fresh perspective and set some goals and make plans.

Here is a quick list of the 10 things that every church should do this year (and if you do them already you are ahead of the game).

[Note: this is not a complete list of the most important things, nor are they in any priority order - this is just a "jump start"]

1. Start a Safety Ministry

There are all types of ministries in a church; Prayer Teams, Mission Groups, Children's Ministry, but few churches have a Ministry dedicated to security & emergency planning. The Bible tells us that we are all blessed with different gifts to serve the Lord, so use the people in your church and community and establish this very important team.

2. Establish a person to head security & emergency planning efforts

You can't have a team without leadership, so someone has to be appointed to head this effort. In fact this is such an important question, CSN is conducting a poll to see how churches handle this position (see the front page of our website and make sure you tell us your experience). Preferably this is someone with relevant training, education, and experience. Some churches have to go to an outside source to get just the right person. But look around; sometimes very qualified people are in your congregation just waiting to be called.

3. Conduct a risk assessment

We address this in our training and in our book "Introduction to Security & Emergency Planning for Faith Based Organizations". It is an important first step in any overall security and emergency-planning program. You may conduct this yourself or have someone from the outside do it, but either way the completed risk assessment is a good tool to identify your vulnerabilities and risks and build a plan to reduce them.

4. Develop the five key emergency plans and train all staff and volunteers

We have stated them over and over again, but if you develop and implement these five plans, you will be prepared for almost anything that comes your way. They are Emergency Evacuation, Shelter-In-Place, Medical Assist, Lost/Missing Child, and Active Shooter/Violent Situation.

5. Train all staff and volunteers in security awareness

You might think that people working for or volunteering for your church would be aware of things going on and keep their eyes open for things that may be happening. But our experience, and incidents we have seen, shows over and over again all people going into a house of worship seem to lose all sense of security awareness the minute they pull into the parking lot. They need to be trained, and not once, but on a regular basis. This is why we publish stories in our weekly newsletter and on the front page of the CSN website. Read these and pass them along to all the people who think "It can't happen here"...because crimes and emergencies happen everywhere. No church is immune an all staff and volunteers must be made aware.

6. Conduct a background check on every staff member and volunteer connected with your church

We just ran a poll during the last quarter of 2010 and results showed that about two-thirds of all churches do this and that is great! However, it also means that over 33% do not conduct background checks on all of their staff and volunteers. CSN has a great sponsor in the background check company Protect My Ministry; they do backgrounds and so much more. Go to their CSN webpage for more information and free instruction video: http://www.christiansecuritynetwork.org/Resources/backgroundcheckprogram

7. Buy an AED and train people to use it

We have always stated that someone is more likely to die of a heart attack than a gunshot in your church, yet many churches spend a lot of time and resources on security to prepare for an Active Shooter, but then let a simple piece of equipment, like an AED, be ignored. An AED increases a person's chance of survival during cardiac arrest by as much as 80% and any lay-person can use one with no fear of liability under the Good Samaritan Act. The costs have gone down and there are grant programs out there. There is no reason that every church should not have an AED.

8. Meet with your local police and fire departments

If you have not had a sit-down meeting with your local police and fire department, reach out and schedule one. Talk about the risks that all churches are facing these days and discuss what they suggest you do to be better prepared and help them help you.

9. Review your insurance and meet with your agent

Meet face-to-face with your insurance agent and review some of the incidents we have shown you that occurs in churches almost every day and see what would actually be covered if the incident happened in your church. Many church leaders are very surprised after an incident happens and they find they have little or no coverage. Talk to the agent about things like arson, burglary, internal thefts, not doing background checks on all staff and volunteers, renting the church out for special events, etc. Ask him/her the "What if..." questions, just so you know what your liability and coverage would be after an incident.

10. Develop internal cash controls

Churches sometime spend a lot of time trying to stop the burglar from breaking into their church with alarms, cameras, and locks, yet the greatest potential for monetary loss may be the staff or volunteer who handles finances. The average loss from internal church theft is onto the hundreds of thousands of dollars. Ask your insurance agent if you would be covered if this happened to you and then put some "checks and balances" in place, like surprise audits by an outsie source.

Now, this is by no means a complete list, but it is probably enough to keep your church busy for months, if not the rest of the year. Hopefully this will either start you on a better road to a safer and more secure house of worship in 2011, or increase what you already have in place.

We look forward to working with you this next year and hope to provide you with information and resources to make you better aware and prepared.

Happy New Year!

In Christ,
Jeff Hawkins
Executive Director