Why Your Church Needs a Security Plan

A new Christian security consultancy wants church security plans to operate on more than just a wing and a prayer

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By Joan Goodchild, Senior Editor

January 27, 2009 — CSO —

Church security: The FBI does not keep statistics that specifically correlate violent incidents in churches. But Jeffrey Hawkins believes a glance at the headlines on many days will turn up at least one incident involving a faith-based organization.

Hawkins, most recently a chief security officer for a large international Christian ministry, has more than 27 years in security, risk management, and law enforcement. He recently launched the Christian Security Network, a niche organization he says will fill a gap in the security-services industry.

The Christian Security Network will offer consulting and training for faith-based organizations, with an emphasis on Christian churches. Hawkins spoke with CSO about CSN, and why churches are in more danger now than ever before.

There are already few other organizations out there specializing in church security. So, what was your inspiration for starting Christian Security Network?
I've spent many years in security in the secular world in a corporate environment. About four years ago, I began doing work for a Christian ministry. That opened my eyes to the need for security management in the Christian church community. I realized that, compared to the secular world, churches are so far behind the curve in terms of security and emergency planning.

Approximately 80 percent of this country claims to be Christian. But when it comes to churches having security plans in place, over 75 percent say they have nothing. Our mission is to bring security awareness into the forefront of the minds of the Christian community.

For some, the idea of security for a church might seem unnecessary. Churches have always been viewed as places of safety.
For many years, they were. I grew up in Chicago and churches were my refuge. Church used to be place where I could go to get away from gangs and other problems. Churches were considered a safe haven. People respected that 20-30 years ago. That is not case anymore.

What happened?
Our society in general has changed. As issues become more controversial, the church becomes more controversial, too. Christian churches can take varying views on issues and those views might be perceived by some as too liberal, or even too conservative. So, as controversy around a church starts to develop, there is a rift that comes with it.

As I said earlier, over 75 percent of churches don't have risk management in place. They have become a soft target.

We've seen church shootings, church torchings, as two examples, in recent years. Are these particularly troubled times for faith-based organizations?
What we see in the headlines here in this country is only the tip of iceberg. We monitor intelligence from around the world. That is only what happens in the US. Two years ago, I sat in on a press briefing and then Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice said faith-based organizations are one of the top-five at-risk sectors in the world. Sectors can cover every type of business or industry.

Studies in World Christianity

Volume 13, Number 3, 2007

E-ISSN: 1750-0230 Print ISSN: 1354-9901

DOI: 10.1353/swc.2007.0034

Hutchings, Tim.
Creating Church Online: A Case-Study Approach to Religious Experience
Studies in World Christianity - Volume 13, Number 3, 2007, pp. 243-260

Edinburgh University Press

Tim Hutchings - Creating Church Online: A Case-Study Approach to Religious Experience - Studies in World Christianity 13:3 Studies in World Christianity 13.3 (2007) 243-260 Muse Search Journals This Journal Contents Creating Church Online: A Case-Study Approach to Religious Experience Tim Hutchings Introduction Over the last three years the practice of online churchgoing has grown rapidly through the arrival of a number of large, well-financed projects supported by well-known real-world Christian groups. Initial Christian responses to online religion lacked systematic observational grounding and drew heavily on assumptions regarding the importance of face-to-face meeting, the nature of online community, the efficacy of the Internet as a medium for proselytism and the effects of the Internet on authority and accountability. There is urgent need for new theological appraisals of these important issues, based on sound sociological understanding of the nature of online behaviour and on detailed ethnography of specific online groups, and my current research seeks to contribute to this project. In this article, I will first outline the origins of the online church. Second, I briefly describe some of the earliest Christian responses to the Internet. On these foundations, I then consider three case studies based on my own participant observation and interviewing conducted over the past two years. In relation to these examples I conclude by discussing sacred...

the related study

The Tightrope: A Case Study in Church Discipline
A true account of confronting adultery.
Tim Stafford

July 1, 1984

The following account of a church's experience with disciplinary action is based on Lee and Bev Hotchkiss's memory of events. Names and other identifications have been changed because of the sensitive nature of what happened.

Lee Hotchkiss, pastor of the Evangelical Free Church in Pineview, Colorado, knew Georgina's sobbing voice immediately, even though it was 2:00 A.M. and her call had awakened him from a sound sleep. She sounded hysterical. "Jack just told me he's having an affair," she cried.

She was a member of the church, her husband one of its five board members. Her voice shook as she poured out her story. She had never suspected before tonight. She still did not know who Jack was sleeping with. Lee listened, then offered what encouragement and hope he could. Trained as a marriage counselor, he was a hard man to ruffle. Georgina's wild voice seemed to calm somewhat, perhaps as she realized that even her pastor could not do much to help her at two in the morning. Lee promised to pray. Finally they said good-by.

Lee's wife, Bev, lay beside him, fully awake. He told her what Georgina had said. "Who could it be?" she asked.

"The way Georgina is going at him, I'm sure she'll weasel that out of him before morning," he said. Lee felt himself losing the calm self-assurance he had put on automatically when the telephone woke him. He sat on the edge of the bed, his chin down toward his knees. What would this mean? Jack would have to resign his church position. He had just been at the parsonage two days ago for the Saturday men's prayer breakfast, kidding, talking like a champ. Jack, an adulterer? Georgina, who had a plain face with scars from severe acne, had told everyone how happy they were together. She had said almost too ...